Isla de Cabras
From top, left to right: Aerial view of Isla Cabras from the Cathedral of Rum in Cataño; panoramic view of the islet from La Fortaleza palace in Old San Juan; view of the islet from Paseo de la Princesa promenade in Old San Juan; view of central part of the islet from the Walls of Old San Juan; and view of northern part of the islet from El Morro fortress in Old San Juan at the entrance to San Juan Bay | |
| Geography | |
|---|---|
| Location | San Juan Bay in San Juan, Puerto Rico |
| Coordinates | 18°28′20.51″N 66°8′12.3″W / 18.4723639°N 66.136750°W |
| Administration | |
| Commonwealth | Puerto Rico |
| Municipality | Toa Baja |
| Barrio | Palo Seco |
Isla de Cabras (Spanish for "goat island") is a small islet in the middle of the mouth of San Juan Bay in northeastern Puerto Rico. Part of the Palo Seco barrio in the Toa Baja municipality, the islet is located at the entrance to San Juan Bay, across from the Old San Juan historic quarter in San Juan Islet in San Juan, the capital municipality of the archipelago and island. Home to Isla de Cabras National Park, a recreational area opened in 1957, it contains El Cañuelo fort, which alongside El Morro fortress on San Juan Islet, protected San Juan Bay, the harbor of Old San Juan, from invasion by competing world powers during the Age of Sail. The ruins of a 19th-century leprosy colony and a World War II fort are located in the islet, which also houses a police firing range since 1950. The Bacardi’s Cathedral of Rum in the adjacent Cataño municipality is directly south of the islet.
Surrounded by reefs and shoals, Isla de Cabras originally consisted of the rocky headland in the north of the islet. However, it was naturally connected to El Cañuelo fort by a shoal historically identified as Bajo del Cañuelo ("Cañuelo Shoal"). In 1943, this narrow, submerged sandbank was landfilled, elevating the partially underwater fort above sea level and creating a road linking the islet and fort with the main island of Puerto Rico at Punta Palo Seco ("dry weed point") in the Toa Baja municipality.