The Port Royal Cays are a small group of uninhabited islands or cays off Port Royal, Jamaica, located at 17°55′06.36″N 76°49′11.96″W / 17.9184333°N 76.8199889°W / 17.9184333; -76.8199889 and arranged in the shape of an atoll with a diameter between 4 and 5 km, and a total area of 12 km2. The land area is about 0.03 km2. There are eight named cays, including South Cay Rock which is sometimes subsumed with South Cay.

Port Royal Cays
NASA Visible Color Landsat image of
Port Royal Cays, with islets and shoals
Port Royal Cays is located in Jamaica
Port Royal Cays
Port Royal Cays
Port Royal Cays is located in Caribbean
Port Royal Cays
Port Royal Cays
Geography
LocationCaribbean
Coordinates17°55′06.36″N 76°49′11.96″W / 17.9184333°N 76.8199889°W / 17.9184333; -76.8199889
ArchipelagoPort Royal Cays
Total islands8
Major islandsLime Cay
Area0.03 km2 (0.012 sq mi)
Administration
ParishKingston
NeighborhoodPort Royal
Demographics
Population0
Port Royal Cays on a map of 1774

Gun Cay, the northernmost, is only 400 metres from the Jamaican mainland.

The main cay is Lime Cay, on the northeastern rim. It measures 380 metres northwest–southeast, and is up to 80 metres wide, measuring 2 ha in area. About half of the area is wooded, the rest is sand and coral. On the western beach is a wooden hut.

The individual cays, clockwise starting in the north:

  1. Gun Cay (northernmost)
  2. Lime Cay (largest, most important)
  3. Maiden Cay
  4. Southeast Cay (easternmost)
  5. South Cay (almost connected with South Cay Rock)
  6. South Cay Rock (unvegetated, southernmost)
  7. Drunkenmans Cay (westernmost)
  8. Rackhams Cay (smallest)

Literature

edit
  • T. Goreau and Kevin Burke: "Pleistocene and Holocene Geology of the Island Shelf near Kingston, Jamaica", Marine Geol. 4 (1966), 207-225
edit