Lameshur Bay

Lameshur is on St John's south shore, reached by several kilometres of steep dirt track from Coral Bay, which keeps almost everybody away. Two bays sit side by side, Great and Little Lameshur, on a former plantation whose name is said to come from British sailors' cry of limes ashore, with a small research station between them and reef off the points. In 1969 the Tektite programme installed underwater habitats in Great Lameshur Bay, remembered now in a small museum at the research camp, where aquanauts lived on the sea floor for two months in a NASA-supported experiment that also studied how small isolated crews behave, work later applied to spaceflight. The Lameshur trail climbs from here to the Reef Bay petroglyphs, which is the shorter route to them.

The landscape

• The two bays - Great and Little Lameshur, with reef off the points.
• The Tektite site - where aquanauts lived on the sea floor in 1969.
• The trail to the petroglyphs - the short route up to the Reef Bay carvings.
• The emptiness - almost nobody comes this far round the island.

When to go

December to April is the dry season. The south shore is more sheltered from winter ground swell than the north, which makes this a good option when the popular beaches are rough. Go early; the track takes time.

Before you go

The road in is unmaintained, steep and rutted; a proper four-wheel drive is needed and after rain it is worse. There are no facilities of any kind. The beach is rocky in places rather than the fine sand of the north shore.

Nearby

Coral Bay is 30 minutes back up the track; the Reef Bay trail connects overland.

Key facts