Discovery Bay

Originally named Puerto Seco (Dry Harbor) by Christopher Columbus, Discovery Bay was renamed to reflect the debated assertion that this was the first point in Jamaica where the explorer made landfall. Many experts believe that the actual first point of entry was in Rio Bueno, a few kilometers farther west, where Columbus could have sought freshwater. Irrespective of this disputed historical detail, Discovery Bay has played an important role in Jamaica's more recent history, first as a bustling export port where barrels of sugar and rum departed for Europe, and then from the early part of the 20th century as a bauxite port. It remains one of the few active bauxite facilities in Jamaica following the global economic downturn of 2009, when half the island's alumina and bauxite operations went idle. The industrious port is the curious backdrop for perhaps Jamaica's staunchest enclave of old Jamaican money, with several of the country's wealthiest families owning beachfront villas facing the bay.