Sandy Ground, Anguilla: The Harbour Where the Island Goes Out
Boats, beach bars and the only real night on a very quiet island.
Why Go
Sandy Ground is a narrow strip of village between Road Bay and a salt pond, and it does two jobs. By day it is the harbour — the working boats, the charter fleet and the launching point for Sandy Island, the tiny sandbar offshore that half of Anguilla's photographs are taken on. By night it is the only place on the island with a proper night, a run of beach bars and restaurants that stay open when everywhere else has gone home. If you are on Anguilla for a week, you will end up here more than once.
The Experience
The village is one road along the beach with the water on one side and the pond behind, and it is small enough to walk end to end in a few minutes. The sand at Road Bay is calm and sheltered, better for a drink and a swim than for a full beach day, and the boats moored offshore give it a working look that the resort beaches do not have. Anguilla's national sport is boat racing — locally built wooden sloops, raced seriously — and Sandy Ground is where they launch and where the crowds gather. In the evening the bars fill and the music starts, and there is a genuine range from plastic chairs on the sand to some of the best cooking in the eastern Caribbean, sometimes twenty metres apart. It is unpretentious in a way the rest of the island's dining is not.
What to Try
Eat across the range, because that is the point here. Veya Restaurant is the serious kitchen, upstairs and a long way from a beach shack; Mirabelle's and Dolce Vita cover the sit-down evenings; SandBar does small plates; Tasty's is the reliable everyday; and Elvis Beach Bar — built into a boat on the sand — is where the rum punch and the night actually happen. Bsb music bar carries the later end. On the water, Sandy Island Anguilla is the trip everyone takes, a few minutes offshore by boat to a sandbar with a bar on it; Tradition Sailing Charters runs a restored local sloop, GoodLiving Charters, Open Seas Charters, Sea Pro Charters, Anguilla Tours and Charters and Gotcha! Garfield's Sea Tours all run day trips and crossings to St Martin, and Vigilant Divers handles the diving. The Anguilla Youth Sailing Club is where the racing tradition is kept going.
Insider Tip
Take the boat to Sandy Island. It leaves from here, takes a few minutes, and the sandbar with its bar and its ring of shallow water is the single most photographed thing on Anguilla for a reason. Go earlier in the day rather than at noon. And if there is a boat race on while you are here, change your plans and go — it is the most Anguillan thing you will see, and it happens at this beach.
The Practical Stuff
Sandy Ground is about ten minutes from The Valley, fifteen from Clayton J. Lloyd International and ten from the Blowing Point ferry terminal, on the island's western side. Parking along the single road is limited and fills in the evening — arrive early or take a taxi, which is also the sensible answer if you are drinking. You need a car on Anguilla generally; there is no useful public transport. The beach is public, as all Anguillan beaches are. Bars and restaurants here run later than anywhere else on the island, though later is relative — this is Anguilla. Driving is on the LEFT and a temporary local permit is required. The island is in the hurricane belt, roughly June to November, and a number of businesses close for part of that window.
Common Questions
What is there to do in Sandy Ground?
Boat trips, including the short crossing to Sandy Island, a sheltered swimming beach, and Anguilla's only real concentration of bars and restaurants. It is the island's nightlife, such as it is.
How do you get to Sandy Island?
By boat from Sandy Ground, a few minutes offshore. Several operators run the crossing through the day, and the island is a sandbar with a bar on it and shallow water all round.
Is Sandy Ground good for swimming?
Road Bay is calm and sheltered and fine for a swim, but it is a working harbour with boats moored offshore. For a full beach day, Shoal Bay, Meads Bay or Rendezvous Bay are better.
Where is the nightlife in Anguilla?
Here, more or less exclusively. Sandy Ground's beach bars and restaurants run later than anywhere else on the island, with live music several nights a week. Elsewhere Anguilla closes early.
How far is Sandy Ground from the ferry?
About ten minutes from Blowing Point, where the boats from St Martin arrive, and roughly fifteen from Clayton J. Lloyd International. The Valley is ten minutes inland.
What is Anguillan boat racing?
The national sport — locally built wooden sloops raced competitively, with serious local followings. Races launch from Sandy Ground and draw large crowds; if one falls during your visit, it is worth rearranging a day for.
Pair It With
- Sandy Island Anguilla Guide — The sandbar trip that leaves from this beach.
- Elvis Beach Bar — The bar in a boat, and the island's evening.
- Veya Restaurant — The dinner that surprises people who came for a beach shack.
