Grand Anse Beach

Beaches & CovesSaint George,Grenada

Two and a half kilometres of pale sand on Grenada's sheltered west coast, below the red roofs of St George's, facing open sea at sunset.

September·Quiet month

Sep–Nov

The rainiest, quietest stretch: October is the wettest month and hurricane season peaks, leaving Grand Anse at its emptiest. Grenada sits at the southern edge of the storm belt where direct hits are rare, and the beachfront stays open.

Year-round Sheltered turquoise water, pale sand and sunset over open sea are here every month — the ridge behind the bay keeps the Atlantic swell off all year. The weather turns: dry December–May, wetter June–November.

Grand Anse is two and a half kilometres of pale sand on the sheltered west coast of Grenada, below the red roofs of St George's stacked on the headland at its northern end. The island's ridge stands between this bay and the Atlantic, so whatever gets round to a west-facing shore arrives with nothing left in it. The sand stays firm near the water, so you can walk the whole crescent out and back easily, and south toward Quarantine Point the crowd thins fast. At the northern end the vendors grate fresh nutmeg over a rum punch — Grenada's own garnish, from the spice the island lives on. The bay faces due west into open sea, so you get the sun going down into the water with no land in the way. What the water does out of sight is the surprise. The seabed off this coast drops away steeply, which puts animals that need open-ocean depths within a boat ride of where you are standing. Sperm whales and pilot whales stay here all year in family groups, and humpbacks cross on their winter passage. The boats collect you straight off the beach, and the operators are honest that nothing is guaranteed. Once a year the beach becomes a grandstand. Crews sail in from Gouyave, Woburn, Carriacou and Petite Martinique with five-metre hulls cut from local hardwood and rigged with bamboo masts, and race them in the bay. On the two smaller islands boatbuilding is a two-hundred-year-old trade. The road climbing behind the bay shows it end to end: sand, shallows and the red roofs at the far end. Everything on this coast is built facing east, because that is where the weather comes from. Then in November 1999 a hurricane crossed the Caribbean the other way, west to east, on a track with no precedent in the Atlantic record. It came ashore on Grenada's sheltered side and cut a metre-high sand cliff the length of this beach. It has been called Wrong Way Lenny ever since.

Worth knowing

Good to know

The seaweed that fouls Grenada's Atlantic beaches almost never lands here — sargassum rides the trade winds onto the windward coast, and only an unusual westerly pushes it into this bay.
The picture everyone comes for faces north, not out to sea — from the middle of the sand, the red roofs of St. George's and the green ridge behind them close the frame.
The shade is at the back of the beach, not on it — sea grape and almond trees line the top of the sand, so midday here means a rented lounger or an early start.
The crowd stays where the hotels are — the middle and northern sections take the day-trippers; walk south toward Quarantine Point and the sand empties within a few hundred metres.

Things to do

1
Walk the full crescent to Quarantine Point
The sand curves for about two and a half kilometres and stays firm near the water, so the whole length is an easy walk out and back. Behind you rise the hills of St. George's; ahead is the headland closing the bay. In the heat of the day, take the shaded sea grape path behind the sand instead. Once a year the same beach becomes a grandstand, when crews from Gouyave, Woburn, Carriacou and Petite Martinique rig hardwood boats with bamboo masts and race them in the bay.
2
Take a nutmeg-dusted rum punch into the sunset
The vendors at the Craft and Spice Market grate fresh nutmeg over a rum punch — Grenada's own garnish, from the spice the island lives on. Carry it down to the waterline: the bay looks due west into open sea, so the sun goes down into the water with no land in the way.
3
Climb the road above the bay for the whole arc
From the slope behind the beach the crescent appears all at once — white sand, turquoise shallows, and the red roofs of St. George's stacked on the headland at the far end. It is the view that put this beach on Grenada's postcards.
4
Board a whale boat straight off the beach
Boats collect their passengers from the sand and run out to where the seabed falls away. Sperm whales and pilot whales are the regulars; a humpback is the prize. Operators are honest that nothing is guaranteed — some trips come back having seen nothing.

Watch

Nearby

12 km