Isla de Caja de Muertos, Puerto Rico

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Coordinates: 17°53′41″N, 66°31′8″W

Beachgoers enjoy the beach in Caja de Muerto

View from the top of the lighthouse

Protected part

Cactus

Isla de Caja de Muertos, or Caja de Muertos for short, is an uninhabited island off the southern coast of Puerto Rico. The island is protected by the Reserva Natural Caja de Muertos natural reserve, because of its native turtle traffic. Its name translates to "Coffin of Dead Men" or "Dead Men's Chest" in English. The island is located 8.4 km south of the Puerto Rican mainland and is part of Playa barrio of Ponce, Puerto Rico, municipality. It is 2.75 km long northeast-southwest, and up to 860 meters wide (560 meters on the average). It has an area of 1.54 km². Close by are Morrillito Key (180 m off the southwest point, 0.04 km²) and Berbería Key (6.2 km to the northeast, 0.30 km²), both part of the Caja de Muertos Natural Reserve. Berbería Key belongs to Rio Canas Abajo barrio of Juana Diaz municipality. The climate is dry and the island supports dry forest. A still-functioning lighthouse, Muertos Island Light, established in 1887 and automated in 1945, sits atop the highest hill on the island. The island is called Caja de Muerto (Box of the Dead, Coffin, or more popularly the Dead Man's Chest) because it resembles someone lying down when seen from the main island. At the belly sits the lighthouse.

It has also been suggested the island's name is related to the sea shanty "Dead man's chest", probably first written by Robert Louis Stevenson for his novel Treasure Island. Stevenson found the name "Dead Man's Chest" in a book by Charles Kingsley and said "Treasure Island came out of Kingsley's At Last: A Christmas in the West Indies (1871).^[1]