🏆 #20: North America's 50 Best Beaches · Meads Bay is Anguilla's west-facing sunset beach: sister to Shoal Bay East on the opposite coast.
About Meads Bay, Anguilla: Beach Conditions
Water conditions are excellent today with no sargassum detected and clear water. A good day to be on the beach.
Best Time to Visit
Dec–May
Ranking
#20: North America's 50 Best Beaches
Best Time to Visit
December through May for the calmest conditions. The west-facing aspect means gentle afternoon swells but generally swimmable water year-round. Sargassum risk is very low.
What to Expect
Long white sand, calm-to-light surf, excellent swimming, and one of the best beach bar dining scenes in the Caribbean. Stunning sunsets every evening. A short taxi from The Valley.
📜 Coastal History
Anguilla's history is shaped by an extraordinary act of resistance: in 1967, just days after the island was made part of a new federation with St. Kitts and Nevis, Anguillans revolted, expelled the St. Kitts police force, and declared their own independence in what may be history's most gentle revolution. The 'Anguilla Revolution' involved no deaths and resulted in the island eventually becoming a British Overseas Territory, the status it holds today. Meads Bay, on the island's northwest coast, looks toward the sunset over a sea that Arawak and Carib peoples navigated for 2,000 years before Columbus arrived in 1493. The island's near-total lack of rivers made large-scale agriculture impossible, which paradoxically protected it from the plantation economy that scarred much of the Caribbean: and helps explain its exceptionally uncrowded beaches today.
"Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea.": Psalm 46:2
No sargassum has been detected today. While some seaweed can appear here seasonally, current conditions are clean. Check the live card above for today's reading.
Meads Bay is widely considered Anguilla's most beautiful beach: a long arc of powder-white sand with calm, shallow turquoise water. The beach is lined with luxury resorts (Blanchards, Malliouhana, Carimar) but remains accessible to non-guests. No cruise ships call at Anguilla, keeping the island genuinely exclusive.
Anguilla is reached by a 20-minute ferry from Marigot (French side of St. Martin/St. Maarten) or by a short charter flight from Princess Juliana Airport on St. Maarten (10 minutes). Most visitors combine Anguilla with a St. Maarten or St. Barths trip. No direct long-haul flights to Anguilla: it's always a connection.
December through May is the dry season and peak beach weather. Anguilla's Carnival is in August, but this coincides with hurricane season (August–October). The island has historically been less vulnerable to hurricanes than other Caribbean islands, though Hurricane Irma in 2017 caused significant damage.
Yes. Conditions are good for swimming today with clear water and no significant seaweed or hazard flags reported. Standard beach safety rules still apply.