Green Grotto Caves Excursion from Ocho Rios

Here guest will discover cave paintings, tools and fragments of pottery that indicates the original inhabitants of the caves were the Taino Indians who would have used the caves for shelter. The next known inhabitants were the Spanish who, at the time of the British invasion of Jamaica (in 1655), hid in the caves to avoid capture. There is an underground tunnel which links the caves to the sand at Runaway Bay. It is believed that the Spanish used the tunnel in their attempt to escape the Island and flee to Cuba. Runaway slaves have also used the caves to hide from their former masters. During World War 2, Rum barrels were stored here for safekeeping by the Jamaican Government.