Travel deep dive
Saint Kitts Between Two Seas: From Frigate Bay to the Narrows
Saint Kitts has two shores with two different seas: the Caribbean side in the west and south lies in the island's lee, while the Atlantic side in the east takes the trade winds and the surf. At Frigate Bay, a short drive south-east of Basseterre, the island pinches to a neck of land with a beach on each sea, and beyond it a road runs down the south-east peninsula, the dry and thinly settled tail of the island, to bays that face Nevis across the Narrows. The beaches of the north of the island are dark volcanic sand; those of Frigate Bay and the peninsula are pale, and the sheltered ones among them are where Saint Kitts swims and snorkels.
Updated 2026-10-05
Frigate Bay: an Atlantic beach and a Caribbean beach
North Frigate Bay is the Atlantic side: a long beach open to the wind, with rolling surf, hotels set back behind the sand and room for a walk from one end to the other. South Frigate Bay lies on the other side of the neck of land, past the golf course between the two, and faces the Caribbean; it is sheltered, and on most days the water is calm enough to swim straight from the beach.
A row of beach bars stands along South Frigate Bay, known on the island as the Strip. By day the loungers and umbrellas on the sand belong to the bars; in the evening the bars and their music keep the beach busy. Both beaches fill up on cruise-ship days, and mornings or days without a ship in Basseterre are the quiet times.
The peninsula road and the lookout on Timothy Hill
South-east of Frigate Bay the road climbs over Timothy Hill, and the lookout at the top shows both seas at once: the surf of the Atlantic on one side, the calm Caribbean on the other and the peninsula running ahead towards Nevis. From there the road winds on through dry hills of grass and scrub, with few buildings for long stretches, to the end of the island. Green vervet monkeys are often seen at the roadside and on the slopes.
South Friars Bay and the salt ponds
South Friars Bay, the first beach beyond the hill on the Caribbean side, is a long, calm curve of sand with a few beach bars and plenty of space between them; North Friars Bay, across a narrow strip of land, takes the Atlantic surf. Further on, the road passes several salt ponds, the largest of them the Great Salt Pond near the southern end of the peninsula. Herons, egrets and other wading birds often feed in their shallow water.
Cockleshell Bay and Banana Bay, facing Nevis
The road ends above two neighbouring bays on the Narrows, Cockleshell Bay and Banana Bay. Their beaches look straight across the channel to Nevis and its peak, often capped in cloud, and the water in front of them is usually calm. Cockleshell Bay has beach bars on the sand; Banana Bay is quieter. The water taxis and the car ferry to Nevis leave from this end of the peninsula.
Snorkelling from the sheltered beaches
On calm days the Caribbean-side beaches of Frigate Bay and the peninsula are good for snorkelling from the shore, around the rocks and reef at the edges of the bays, with tropical fish and, now and then, a ray or a turtle. The Atlantic side, stirred up by the waves, is rarely clear enough. Boat trips along the coast add snorkelling stops at beaches the road does not reach, and there are sunset sails as well.