Kingston Travel Guide

Port Royal

Port Royal was once a 17th-century haven for a variety of hedonistic pirates and malcontents dedicated to looting Spanish vessels throughout the Caribbean. One morning in 1692, however, an earthquake and tidal wave destroyed most of the town along with a couple of thousand residents. Today, the former haunt of notorious pirates like Henry Morgan, Blackbeard and Calico Jack is just a fishing village, sited at the tip of a narrow peninsula stretching across the entrance to Kingston's harbour. The village can be reached by ferry from West Beach Dock, Kingston, in about 20 minutes. Plans are underway at the site to transform the village into a living history museum. Relics of the town's wicked past can be seen at the Museum of Historical Archaeology, the Maritime Museum and Giddy House (a building that tilts at an angle). Fort Charles is the last remaining of six forts originally built to protect the port.