Great Bay Beach — Attraction in Philipsburg

This gem of a beach is hidden on the Ritz Carlton Vacation Club Resort area. The Ritz actually has parking spots reserved just for public beach goers on the path down to the area on the right hand side. You'll see a sign that indicates the spots and although there are only 6 stalls it's never been busy. St. Thomas has a law that states all beaches must be accessible to the public so despite being on the resort anyone can go at any time. The beach chairs are only for guests of the ritz and they do have beach attendants that are regularly checking to make sure this is the case, in the event you try to pretend you are a guest and use the chairs. They also have a really cool beach bar that serves up delicious Cruzan rum drinks and appetizers (however at the ridiculous Ritz Carlton prices). There are no motorized sports allowed however I have seen people just pull right up to the beach in speed boats.

The only downside is that it is a fairly rocky beach so watch your step and when it's seaweed season it can get pretty gross in that water. Overall is you're on the east end of St. Thomas this is worth the water and island views of Tortola...

Beautiful!!! Truly Caribbean. Main bus stop is just 5 min walk. U ll get local mini cabs with sign boards to almost every part of island. And it's freequent services, u don't have to wait longer. Eg: if u want to go to Maho beach, just wait at bus stop and mini vans with MAHO signboard will be passing every 10 mins. Prices for these buses (and taxis) are fixed by govt. It's cheaper to get in to a local cab than a shared taxi. Both local cabs n taxis cabs look similar. So how to identify them? The one with sign boards are local cabs / local buses. Taxis don't have sign board. And u can save good money if u use local bus. For eg. If u want to go from Great bay to maho beach, taxi will take atleast 20 usd one way. But in local bus it is just 2.5USD one way. Walkable distance from cruise terminal. Fast walking 15-mins. There is also watertaxi service from cruise terminal...

The water was nice and cold. We booked a tour, so we had the water taxi and beach chairs and umbrellas included. I saw many signs offering 2 chairs with umbrella and four drinks for rent at the cost of $25. Round trip water taxi was like $7 per person. If someone opted not to do the cruise tour, they could spend $40. There’s plenty of bars and restaurants. Water bottles on the water taxi was $1. Beer was 2 for $5. I bought a couple of postcards (I send a lovely lady a postcard after my travels). The postcards were $1 each. The most I have ever spent on a small postcard. I found Great Bay beach to be a tourist attraction/trap. I would much rather go where the locals hang out. I do understand tourism is one of the islands main source of income. Go visit and support our neighbors across the...