  We present the results of numerical simulations of the electrostatics and
dynamics of water hydration shells surrounding Kihara cavities given by a
Lennard-Jones (LJ) layer at the surface of a hard-sphere cavity. The local
dielectric response of the hydration layer substantially exceeds that of bulk
water, with the magnitude of the dielectric constant peak in the shell
increasing with the growing cavity size. The polar shell propagates into bulk
water to approximately the cavity radius. The statistics of the electrostatic
field produced by water inside the cavity follow linear response and approach
the prediction of continuum electrostatics with increasing cavity size.
