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Sailing Anchorages Guide to St. Kitts & Nevis

Sailing and anchoring around St. Kitts & Nevis requires a bit more planning than most islands. All of the protected anchorages on the southwest side of the island. Overall this is a very cruise ship driven economy which is likely why long term sailors don’t spend a lot of time here. However, we took the time to figure things out and enjoyed our stay immensely. The most important things to know:

  1. Don’t pay cruise ship tourist prices for things you need – find the places the locals use.
  2. Reserve taxis and other land based activities in advance. Otherwise, you will have to skip that activity.
  3. Make friends with the locals. They are not always accustomed to true cruising sailors, but once they understand you, things get much easier.

St Kitts Taxis (reasonably priced)

  • Sharon Thomas – 1-869-662-7885
  • Ready Rides Randy 1-869-764-1146 whats app

Protected St. Kitts Anchorages

Again, all of the protected anchroages worth visiting are on the southwest side of the island. This also puts you in close proximity to Nevis, and sailing between the two is easy and fun.

Basseterre Anchorage, St. Kitts

Check in at Port Zante customs and immigration office and port authority by cruise ship dock.  You might want to take your laptop in case anything needs redone. You need 3 forms – and it’s best to do these 24 hours in advance of your check-in

The best place to anchor is just outside Port Zante marina – if cruise ships are in port, their ships block some of the swell.  But we didn’t want to stay long there – it’s super busy traffic and noisy and it has an unpredictable swell. There is a dinghy dock on the far right hand side by customs office between the rocks and pier.

You can fuel at the Port Zante marina, but docking is very tight, so call in advance and don’t go in the morning when all of the tour boats are filling up. Slips at the marina are hard to come by and really not so great anyway.

Cruise ship retail stores are in the main port area along with their high prices. You can walk to the historic Basseterre if you like from here, but it’s not really worth the walk. There is a well stocked grocery store in historic Bassaterre, which is only a short walk from the marina., but it’s not the cleanest.

Frigate Bay Anchorage, St. Kitts

  • Anchor in 15 ft of water in mostly sand and grass.  Any further out is bedrock.
  • Dinghy Dock inside rock wall where you can leave dinghy for car rental or taxi to explore island.  Taxis are always waiting at the traffic circle there.
  • Gate is generally not locked at night and security guard just looks at you – just pretend you belong!
  • Island Market Grocery store is short walk down the “strip”.  They have a little of everything.  Produce and Dairy always subject to container arriving on time.
  • Also on the strip are plenty of restaurants.  We dined at the SoHo.  Really nice ambience – smooth jazz.
  • Plenty of beach bars – can be loud and hard to get service.
  • If you don’t want to anchor here, you can anchor in the next bay down (Friars) and just dinghy up here to go ashore.
  • Buy ice at the Dock Cafe (which also has pretty good food but awful service)

Friar’s Bay Anchorage – St. Kitts

  • Wonderful anchorage – large and calm (mostly).
  • Carambola Beach Club has a pier you can use for dinghy if you park way at the end to allow the jet skis and water taxis access.  Ask the locals and a tip goes a long way. Wonderful sandy swimming area but super busy with cruise ship people.  Dinner would be nice here(with reservations). It’s completely empty when there are no cruise ships.
  • Shipwreck beach bar is super popular as well.  Can take a short hike over to east side of island to get a view of some surf if you like.
  • If you take dinghy to beach, there is reef all along it so you must beach the dinghy by ShipWreck Bar.
  • We stayed here a lot due to its proximity to dinghy docks at Frigate. 

Christophe Harbor Marina – Now Safe Harbor

  • Fees are sort of depending on busy season or not.
  • Busy season – Dinghy dock is $100 landing fee/day
  • Gasoline available there (no landing fee charged)
  • No shops yet
  • Pool and tennis only for marina guests.
  • Can get taxi or car rental if pre-arranged but it’s quite a long drive from here to Basseterre.
  • Salt Plauge Restaurant on the bay was under renovations while we were there, but you can beach the dinghy by it if you like.
  • There are a few good snorkel spots – no coral but lots of fish.

Ballast Bay Anchorage, St. Kitts

  • Just south of Christophe, so all above info applies.
  • Beautiful spot to watch all the super yachts.

Shitten Bay Anchorage, St. Kitts

  • Little further south of Christophe. Best place for snorkeling. 
  • Lots of tour boats but they don’t stay long.  Don’t anchor too close to the mooring balls. 
  • Really nice spot to anchor and you will be alone at night time! Super calm when we were there. No swell.
  • Last stop before turning corner into the Narrows channel.

Majors Bay Anchorage, St. Kitts

  • Around the corner past Shitten Bay.
  • Anchorage is sandy grass, but holding is not the best close to shore.  Safer further out, but more swell. 
  • Snorkeling the shipwreck was fun – 2 ft long puffer fish lives there! 
  • Hiked up the Shitten Trail for a view of the bay. 
  • Quiet at night.  Daytime car ferries use the dock there a lot.  Just don’t anchor near it and they won’t be a bother.
  • Really nice beach to walk.

Banana Bay Anchorage, St. Kitts

  • Good anchorage here but more swell then at Majors.
  • Park Hyatt Fisherman’s Village has amazing dinners – need reservation and also tell them you will need to park dinghy on their private dock.

Cockleshell Bay Anchorage, St. Kitts

  • Reggae Beach Bar Grill is fun place to hang out and your dinghy is close by.
  • Spice Mill restaurant is also supposed to be good but much more swell here on beach than at Reggae.

St. Kitts Land Tour

Here’s are the land based activities and places that are worth your consideration. 

  • Sea Glass Beach
  • Fairview Great House & Botanical Gardens
  • Bat Cave Hike
  • Wingfield Manor Estate
  • Romney Manor, Home of Caribelle Batik
  • Old Road Rum Co at Wingfield Estate Sugar Plantation Ruins
  • Brimstone Hill Fortress National Park Stephen says a Must See and you can have lunch there.
  • Abandoned lime kiln
  • Prince of Wales Bastion
  • The Citadel at Fort George
  • Charles Fort
  • Westernmost Point of Saint Kitts and Nevis
  • Blackrock Volcanic Runoff
  • Liamuiga Agriculture
  • Mount Liamuiga
  • Mount Liamuiga Trailhead
  • Central Forest Reserve National Park

Plan on a car rental for 2 days if you want to see everything.

Sailing Around Nevis

Sail to Nevis from St. Kitts southern side takes about an hour. Plenty of mooring balls there. We stayed a night and another day on them at no charge. Marked as NPA ( Nevis Park Association).

Nevis Port Charlestown

  • Checkin available if you come here before St Kitts.  You can check in/out at either location as they are same “country”.
  • You can leave dinghy here and grab a taxi as needed.
  • Better yet – rent a ATV from Funky Monkey(or a car) and go crazy exploring the island for the day.  There are many many back roads with historic ruins.  You can go to beaches that no one else goes to.  Just a great time.
  • Sunshine’s Bar and Grill on the Charlestown beach is a must go for a Killer Bee. 
  • Beach dinghy nearby but be careful of swell!
  • Westin’s dock down the beach a little bit is fine for drop off/pick up, but you can’t dock your dinghy there.
  • The Yachtsman Bar & Grill is also a great stop – could spend the afternoon easily.

We also visited Nevis in 2023 and wrote a much more detailed Nevis sailing & cruising guide here.