The Best Calm Water Beaches in Anguilla

Anguilla is one of the easiest places in the Caribbean to find calm water, and it is worth understanding why. The island is low and flat, ringed by coral reef and set on the sheltered side of the trade winds, so the swell that builds surf elsewhere arrives here already softened. The result is bay after bay of clear, shallow, gentle water over powder white sand, the kind you can wade into a long way and float in for hours. For a couple who wants to swim slowly and talk quietly rather than fight a shorebreak, this is close to the ideal island.

That said, calm is a spectrum, and it is honest to say so. The south and southwest facing bays, tucked behind the island from the prevailing wind, are the most reliably glassy whatever the season. The north and northwest facing beaches, which include some of the most famous names on the island, are calm and clear most of the time but can carry a gentle ripple or a small shorebreak when a winter north swell runs across the region. Neither is rough by any normal standard, but if you want the flattest possible water on a breezy day, the direction the bay faces is the thing to check.

The other pleasure of a calm Anguilla bay is what you can see once you are in it. The same shelter that flattens the water keeps it astonishingly clear, so a gentle swim doubles as an easy snorkel over sand, turtle grass and the odd patch of reef at the edges. We have ranked the calm water beaches below with the swimmer in mind, weighing how sheltered each bay is, how gently it shelves, and how clear and easy the water tends to be on an ordinary day.

The honest read is that on Anguilla you rarely have to chase calm water, you simply have to match the bay to the day. On a still, settled day almost every beach on the island is glass, and you can pick purely on looks and mood. When the trade wind is up or a winter north swell is running, the trick is to move to the sheltered side, choosing a south or southwest facing bay like Rendezvous or Maundays where the island itself blocks the weather.

For the gentlest possible swim, favour the bays that shelve slowly into shallow water, because they stay wadeable and warm and forgiving a long way out. Rendezvous and Shoal Bay East are the easiest underfoot for that reason, while the cove at Little Bay trades easy access for wonderful stillness once you have climbed down to it. If you are swimming with young children, keep to the shallow south facing sand and watch your own group closely, since lifeguard cover is not guaranteed anywhere on the island.

Above all, treat the sea as typical rather than guaranteed and let the morning be your friend. The water is usually calmest and clearest early, before the wind builds and the day boats move, so an early swim on almost any of these bays gives you the flattest, quietest version of it. Read the day, pick the sheltered side when the wind is up, and Anguilla will give you some of the calmest, clearest swimming water anywhere in the Caribbean.

Several of the calm bays have a beach bar or a resort day setup on the sand, which turns a gentle swim into a full, easy day of floating, shade and a long lunch. Rendezvous, Meads and Maundays in particular pair flat water with somewhere comfortable to settle in, while Sandy Ground is all about the string of casual bars at Road Bay. Operators, opening days and any minimum spend vary and shift with the season, so we keep the live picture on the directory. Tell us your dates and the kind of day you want and we pass the enquiry on to confirm what is open.