St. Kitts: A Day at Cockleshell Beach

I love the beaches in the Caribbean.  Living in California, I have had my fair share of beach days and drives along the coast, but for me there is just no competing with the warm, aqua blue waters that gently lap the shores of the Caribbean islands.  And one of my absolute favorites of these lovely beaches is Cockleshell Beach in St. Kitts.

A Day at Cockleshell Beach

On our most recent trip to St. Kitts, we decided that we wanted to spend the day at one of the island’s beautiful beaches.  We had our destination narrowed down to either the Reggae Beach Bar-Grill at Cockleshell Bay or Shipwreck Bar and Grill at South Friars Bay.  They both looked amazing, but the views of Nevis tipped the scale in Cockleshell’s favor.  So we were off to the southernmost tip of the island for a beautiful beach day.  Taxi fares are regulated, so there was no haggling at the cruise terminal–we simply found a cab that would accommodate our group, and headed out.

The drive from the cruise terminal to Cockleshell Beach is about 30 minutes, so we had some time to just sit back and enjoy the views of St. Kitts.   Almost the entire island is like this, lush greenery and bright blue waters.  I love it. ❤

Once we got to Cockleshell, we saw that the entire stretch of beach was lined with small little beach bars.  Our plan had been to set up camp in front of the Reggae Beach Bar-Grill, but our driver convinced us to rent chairs at a smaller beach bar that was down the way from Reggae.  No doubt he has a deal with the owner of this particular place, but it turned out to be good advice anyway.  Our little stretch of beach was far less crowded, and I think chairs may have been a bit cheaper.  And when we were ready for lunch, Reggae was just a lovely little beach walk away.

Once we got ourselves situated with chairs and umbrellas, it was straight to the water. And this is where we stayed for most of the day.  We’d get out now and then to reapply sunscreen or to grab food and drinks, but for the most part, we just floated around.  Looking at that water, can you blame us???

After a few hours, we made the short trek to Reggae to get some lunch.  We ordered the chicken roti and coconut shrimp, and if I recall correctly, the food was absolutely delicious.  Now to be fair, we’d been living the hard life of a buoy for the past few hours, and we were hungry enough that most anything would have tasted great, but I am pretty sure our shrimp and roti were legitimately deee-lish!

Once we finished lunch, it was right back to–you guessed it–the water.  We only had a short time left, so we thought it best to get back to work–buoying of course.

We had arranged a pickup with our taxi driver, so when the time to leave drew near, we packed up our belongings and said goodbye to this lovely beach.  Interestingly, for the ride home, there were just a couple of new passengers added to our group.  I don’t have a picture to share, but just think of a can of sardines.  Not usually my favorite way to travel, but it gave us a chuckle and added some memories to our day in St. Kitts!

Tips and Lessons Learned:

1. Know Your Cab Fare: Taxi fares are regulated in St. Kitts, so there is no need to be picky about your taxi.  If you are like me and still prefer to be completely confident you are getting the correct rate, you can always look up fares ahead of time.  You can find them on the Discover St. Kitts site.
2. Arrange a Pickup: Many taxi drivers will be glad to pick you up again later in the day.  If you are here on a cruise, it is a great way to feel good about making it back to the ship on time.
3. All Aboard: And speaking of making it back to the ship on time, if you are on an independent excursion, always give yourself ample time to get back before the all aboard.   This is always good advice, but especially when on an island that has one-lane highways and windy roads.  It would be an awful shame to miss the ship because of a traffic jam!
4. Carry Cash: When traveling, it is a good idea to have cash on hand.  When we were at the Reggae Beach Bar-Grill for lunch, they were having some problems with their one (and only?) credit card machine.  Having planned to pay for lunch with credit that day, we were sure happy to have some cash when our CC was no longer an option.
5. Take Pictures: You may have noticed that there are only 2 pictures of the actual beach.  Sadly, sunscreen and cameras do not seem to get along.  Nor do iPhones enjoy taking a bath in the ocean.  For these reasons, I did not take many pictures of our beautiful beach day, the little beach bars, or our tasty lunch.  So sad!  My goal for next time is to have some restraint and take pictures of the area before greasing up with SPF and submerging myself for the day.
6. Have a Great Day: If you are planning a beach day in St. Kitts (or any Caribbean island for that matter), you are sure to have a lovely day ahead of you.  So relax and enjoy!