Alligator Pond is a fishing village on the southwestern coast of Jamaica

Jamaica

Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...

 in the parish

Parishes of Jamaica

Administratively, Jamaica is divided into fourteen parishes. They are grouped into three historic counties, which have no administrative relevance :...

 of Saint Elizabeth.

Unlike the tourist-oriented coasts in the northern part of the country, Alligator Pond's shoreline is as much about work as play; here fishermen

Fisherman

A fisherman or fisher is someone who captures fish and other animals from a body of water, or gathers shellfish. Worldwide, there are about 38 million commercial and subsistence fishermen and fish farmers. The term can also be applied to recreational fishermen and may be used to describe both men...

 launch their boats to catch some of the island's best-regarded fish while women conduct the wholesale business of the catch. Weather-worn cookshops and bars line the sand's edge, supplying food staples such as curried goat and Red Stripe

Red Stripe

Red Stripe is a Jamaican lager beer whose logo is a bold, diagonal red stripe. It is brewed by Desnoes & Geddes Limited, originally a soft drink manufacturer incorporated on July 31, 1918, by Kingston, Jamaica natives Eugene Peter Desnoes and Thomas Hargreaves Geddes...

 beer.

Geography

Alligator Pond lies at the foot of the Don Figueroa Mountains to the north-east, some 35 km from Mandeville

Mandeville, Jamaica

Mandeville is the capital and largest town in the parish of Manchester in the county of Middlesex, Jamaica. In 2005, the town had an estimated population of 50,000, and including the immediate suburbs within a radius of the total population is about 72,000. It is located on an inland plateau at an...

. The name is said by locals to derive from the shape of the mountain range, which viewed from the beach has bumps which suggest an alligator's back.

The Alligator Pond River is a bathing spot about 2 miles west of the village off the road leading to Port Kaiser.

The Little Ochie

The Little Ochie, a fish restaurant, is located in several huts on the beach, some made from the hulls of fishing boats with thatched roofs. It has expanded to seat several hundred and attracts a clientele from far and wide, including some tourist tours.

See also

• List of cities and towns in Jamaica
• List of beaches #Jamaica

External links

• Photo essay on life in Alligator Pond, Jamaica

• MSN Map