The Rio Minho is the longest river in Jamaica — almost 93 kilometres from the Bull Head Mountain in the centre of the island to the sea at Carlisle Bay. May Pen sits at one of its main crossings, and the old May Pen Bridge over the river still carries the road south.
Most of the year the river is shallow and gentle, with stretches that are good for cooling off in. After heavy rain it floods aggressively and has more than once cut May Pen off from Kingston for a day or two — the riverside walk gives you a sense of why.