Excerpted from St. John Off The Beaten Track © 2006 Gerald Singer

Monte Bay is a coral rubble beach with some patches of cobblestones and sand. It is not a good swimming or snorkeling beach. There is an onshore breeze causing the water to be choppy and churned up with occasional waves breaking over patches of reef. In addition, there are a good deal of sea urchins.

Every cloud has a silver lining, and the good side of all this is that the beach is seldom visited other than by residents of the Boatman Point development, and you will most likely be alone here. The onshore breeze is cooling and there are good places to just sit and enjoy the solitude.

The best thing about the this beach is that it’s a great place to find shells and pretty pieces of coral, which can have all sorts of uses; paperweights, ash trays, soap dishes and whatever else you can dream up.

Getting There
Coming from the Texaco Station in Cruz Bay, go east 1.5 miles on route 104. Turn right at the top of Century Hill to Boatman Point Road. Go 0.3 miles and then turn left on to Monte Bay Road. Continue 0.3 miles to the end of the road. Park and walk down the wooden stairs to the rocky beach below.

The access to this beach is private property owned by the Boatman Point development. The owners have not presently been restricting access to the beach.

more beaches