South Friars Beach Question

We are going to be there in less than 6 weeks for the day and plan to spend time relaxing, swimming, snorkeling on a beach. We want to rent some chairs and have some good local food and drinks as well. Please have recommended some of the places of South Friars Beach. I recall seeing something about the sea urchins on those beaches. Is that correct? Do we need to plan to bring water shoes if we decide to get in the water on any of the beaches? How are the waves/seas at those beaches? Are they dependent by the wind? If its windy can we still snorkel?

Where else would be a good place to go if we decided not to go to the South Friars Beaches?

We are going to be there in less than 6 weeks for the day and plan to spend time relaxing, swimming, snorkeling on a beach. We want to rent some chairs and have some good local food and drinks as well. Please have recommended some of the places of South Friars Beach. I recall seeing something about the sea urchins on those beaches. Is that correct? Do we need to plan to bring water shoes if we decide to get in the water on any of the beaches? How are the waves/seas at those beaches? Are they dependent by the wind? If its windy can we still snorkel?

Where else would be a good place to go if we decided not to go to the South Friars Beaches?

There are actually two places on South Friars Beach that I know of. The one you're thinking with the sea urchins is at the Shipwreck Beach Bar and Grill. It's perfect for what you want to do and their loungers are free. There are two sides to Shipwreck's beach, the swimming (left side) and the snorkeling (right side). There is a marker to let you know where one ends and the other begins. The snorkeling side has sea urchins but I didn't notice any in the swimming area. I heard they could be a problem from our taxi driver that day and once we got there and I didn't have actual water shoes, so I just wore my crocs in the water. Not actually water shoes, but they worked. :D At Shipwreck the loungers are free. The only downside is that due to erosion, there is only enough beach for one row of loungers and the water comes up close. There are palapas with the loungers with large nails in them that you can hang your belongings from. When we were there in September 2015, it was black sand. There was mention that last March, the black sand was gone. I have no idea what it's like now since it's been almost a year since we've been there. The day we were there was not windy, so the water was calm and there were no issues with snorkeling. I don't know if you'd still be able to snorkel or not or whether this is a beach that's unaffected by wind or not. Hopefully someone else can answer that one. As mentioned, Shipwreck is a bar/grille. We got a couple of beers each, but didn't order any type of specialty drink or purchase anything to eat. This beach isn't for everyone, but I just LOVED it! Great views and while others there that day, it wasn't crowded. For us, just a nice and relaxing day.

At the opposite end of South Friars is Carambola Beach Club. I could see it from Shipwreck but I actually didn't walk down that way, so I really don't have an opinion on it. There are other threads about Carambola to give you a better idea.

I'm attaching a link to another thread on these boards about Shipwreck. I included a few pictures and there are a lot of details in the questions/answers not only from myself, but others.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2333574

I got a lot more pictures of the beach at Shipwreck (unfortunately none of the snorkeling, but there is decent snorkeling), I did a review of our cruise and the link is in my siggy. It's the Carnival Liberty 2015 review; Shipwreck pictures start on page 27, post #522 (2nd post from the top).

Hope this is helpful and if you have any more questions, please feel free to ask.

You asked about any other beaches. There are several but the other beach we've been to is Cockleshell Beach, which is at the southern end of St. Kitts. Great views of Nevis (when it's clear enough to see it). There are several beach bars along Cockleshell Beach and we had loungers in an area that was next to the Reggae Beach Bar/Grille. I think we each got a beer there when we went in for about an hour to dodge heavy rain and the prices seemed reasonable, but we didn't get anything to eat so I can't comment on the food/prices. There is snorkeling in the water at Reggae. Although we didn't snorkel, I've seen in other reviews that it's also decent. Cockleshell Beach is definitely wider than South Friars at Shipwreck. In 2013, we paid about $10 - 15 for 2 lounges and one umbrella. The day we were there the weather wasn't the greatest, cloudy with on an off rain throughout the day, although the sun did come out for about a half hour when we were at the beach. The water was a little choppy that day, but it wasn't rough by any means. I don't remember it being windy, so I don't know how wind would affect this beach or the water or snorkeling. There were a lot of people snorkeling the day we were there. It takes about a half hour to get there and it will cost $28.00 per cab, each way. If there are four or more people sharing a cab, it will be $7.00 per person, each way.

If you're interested in pictures of Cockleshell Beach, I also did a review of that cruise. The link to it is also in my siggy (Carnival Valor - May 2013) and Cockleshell Beach pictures start on Page 14, post #263.

Thanks for the detailed info!

Thanks for the detailed info!

Glad it was helpful to you. :)