Nonsuch Caves

Athenry Cave


Useful Information

Location: Athenry Gardens, Nonsuch, Port Antonio, Portland.
About 5 km south east of Port Antonio. From Port Antonio follow Red Hassel Road, after 1.5 km at Breastworks community at Y-fork, turn left, cross a narrow bridge, and left again. 6 km towards Nonsuch.
(18.1571693, -76.4262211)
Open: closed.
[2024]
Fee: closed.
[2024]
Classification: SpeleologyKarst Cave
Light: LightIncandescent
Dimension: A=180 m, L=76 m.
Guided tours: D=30 min.
Photography:
Accessibility:
Bibliography: Alan G. Fincham, Grenville Draper, Ross Macphee, Donald McFarlane, Stewart Peck, Ronald Read, Trevor Shaw, Geoffrey Wadge (1977): Jamaica Underground: The Caves, Sinkholes and Underground Rivers of the Island,
University Press of the West Indies, ISBN: 9766400369 Paperback, 465 pages, reprint 1998, p 273.
Worldamazon.com (paperback) Worldamazon.com (hardcover).
Address: Athenry Gardens, Nonsuch, Jamaica, Tel: +1-876-779-7144, Tel: +1-876-919-6656.
Nonsuch Cave, Port Antonio, Jamaika, Tel: +1-876-585-4027.
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then.
Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

1957 discovered by a goat that had lost its way.
2005 closed.

Description

Athenry Gardens is a former coconut plantation and agricultural research center, located south-east of Port Antonio. High on the hills it offers a breathtaking view on the coastline and the sea. The plantation was transformed into a botanical garden which is open for the public.

Beneath the botanical garden lies a cave, named Nonsuch Caves after the nearby village Nonsuch. This cave offers bizarre rock formations, speleothems and Arawak Indian drawings and other archaeological remains. A series of 14 decorated chambers leads to a second, artificial entrance. The cave is home to a bat colony, which lives in the Cathedral Chamber in 13 m height at the gothic shaped ceiling.

According to the current owner, the gardens and the cave are closed at the moment and are likely to remain so for quite an extended period. As there are still many websites and guidebooks listing the place, we will leave this page to inform you of the closure.

This area southeast of Port Antonio is a karst area with numerous caves, sinkholes, river sinks, and karst springs. In our opinion, there are enough spectacular sites to make this a geopark and a major tourist draw. In reality, there is not a single site which is actually developed for tourism.