Port Royal Cays

Port Royal Cays

NASA Visible Color Landsat image of Port Royal Cays, with islets and shoals
Port Royal Cays Show map of Jamaica Port Royal Cays Show map of Caribbean
Geography
Location	Caribbean
Coordinates	17°55′06.36″N 76°49′11.96″W / 17.9184333°N 76.8199889°W / 17.9184333; -76.8199889
Archipelago	Port Royal Cays
Total islands	8
Major islands	Lime Cay
Area	0.03 km2 (0.012 sq mi)
Administration
Jamaica
Parish	Kingston
Neighborhood	Port Royal
Demographics
Population	0

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.

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)

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

• Sailing Directions, Caribbean Sea, Vol. I
• Gazetteer: Geographic Names of Jamaica