Bolongo Bay

Bolongo Bay at a glance

Verified Oct 9, 2026.

Conditions today at Bolongo Bay

As of 7:00 AM on Oct 16, 2026, island time. Read each morning from the National Weather Service, DPNR and Open-Meteo; the bay opens south, by our read from the map.

Sea state

Swell at an angle. The swell is from the east at 0.9 m, period 5 seconds; Bolongo Bay opens south, so the swell comes in at an angle and the water moves without breaking hard.

Open-Meteo wave model at the nearest ocean cell; the bay's opening is our read from the map.

Rip current risk

Low. Surf around 3 feet, east winds around 15 mph.

National Weather Service San Juan, surf zone forecast for St Thomas, St John and adjacent islands, issued 3:51 AM.

Water test

Met the standard, week of Oct 9, 2026. Met it in 70 of 70 weeks sampled since Aug 2, 2024. The advisory.

DPNR samples for Enterococci bacteria and turbidity weekly; a result after heavy rain can change within the week.

Rain

Dry through the day; the chance of rain peaks at 21%.

Open-Meteo hourly forecast at the pin.

The day

UV index up to 8; sunset 5:56 pm; sea 30 °C, 85 °F.

Open-Meteo.

Getting there

About 14 minutes by car from Charlotte Amalie. How to reach St. Thomas: Flights to St. Thomas, How to get around St. Thomas, St. Thomas airport, St. Thomas cruise port, St. Thomas map, St. Thomas weather by month, Things to do in St. Thomas.

Fourteen minutes from Charlotte Amalie on Route 30

Bolongo Bay is 14 minutes by car from Charlotte Amalie, measured to the beach bar mapped on the sand. By our estimate it is about 25 minutes from Cyril E. King airport and about 12 from the Red Hook ferry terminal. The resort's own directions run east on Route 30 through downtown along the waterfront, past the cruise ship dock at Havensight and down the slope it calls Donkey Hill, then to signs for Iggies Beach Bar on the right and an entrance along a white wall.

A taxi is the simple way in, and the resort says taxis are available at the resort, which settles the ride back. The Virgin Islands Taxicab Commission's tariff lists Bolongo Bay at $15 for one person or $12 each for two or more from Charlotte Amalie, and $18 or $14 from the airport, plus $3 a bag, in force since October 2022. If you drive, the resort publishes nothing about parking for people who are not staying, as of October 2026.

Is Bolongo Bay beach free, and who may use it?

Yes, the sand is free: the resort's site offers no day pass and sets no charge for it, as of October 2026.

The Open Shorelines Act is why the sand is open. A Superior Court of the Virgin Islands memorandum in Kosick v. Bar-Sela reproduces the two sections that matter here: the public may use and enjoy the shoreline, drawn inland from the low-tide line for 50 feet, or less where natural vegetation or a natural barrier begins sooner, and nobody may block it. Beaches cannot be fenced off, the Department of Planning and Natural Resources says, and anyone turned away from this sand can report it to the department's Division of Coastal Zone Management.

That is as far as the law goes. It opens no path across the resort's land, and no parking space, lounge chair or pool. The resort's FAQ lists the lounge chairs, hammocks, float mats, kayaks, paddle boards, Hobie Cat and snorkel gear as included for guests and calls the pool open for hotel guests, with no rate for anyone else. The plain way to spend a day here without a room is as a customer of the beach bar.

What to expect: a family resort and its beach bar

Expect a hotel beach with a bar on it. The resort has 65 rooms and has been the Doumeng family's since 1974, when Dick and Joyce Doumeng bought a three-building beachfront property, by its own account, and it gives the beach as 1,000 feet lined with coconut trees.

Iggies Beach Bar & Grill is the part of the property the resort signs from the road. Its dining page, last changed Jun 30, 2026, says the bar has been rebuilt after the 2017 hurricanes and serves 11 am to 11 pm with food and live music; the FAQ page on the same site, last changed Jun 16, 2025, still says it is being rebuilt, so phone +1 340 693 2600 if the bar is the reason for the trip. Iggies' Oasis, by the pool, serves breakfast from 7:30 am and dinner until 10 pm, with a late menu to 11 pm, per the same dining page as of October 2026.

The tradeoff: everything on this beach that is not sand or sea belongs to a hotel, and the hotel publishes nothing for a visitor. No day pass, no chair rate, no parking note, no lifeguard anyone lists. A guest gets the kayaks and the hammocks; a visitor gets the strip the law gives and a bar stool.

Snorkeling and swimming at Bolongo Beach, St. Thomas

The reef is the resort's to describe: its pages speak of diverse marine life in the bay and tell snorkelers not to touch or stand on the coral. We score it 3 of 5: rocks at either end worth a look, with a rocky step in and sea urchins in several accounts. The Department of Planning and Natural Resources samples Bolongo Bay each week and publishes the result in its Beach Advisory on dpnr.vi.gov, where the latest week is posted. No source lists a lifeguard, as of October 2026.

Sea turtles are a boat trip from this sand, not a swim. The resort's 53-foot catamaran, Heavenly Days, leaves from the dock for Buck Island on what the resort calls its swim with turtles sail, with a full-day sail to St. John on Saturdays and to Water Island on Sundays, per its experience page as of October 2026; ask the resort about seats and the price. St. Thomas Dive Center, by its own site, is based at the resort, keeps hours of 8 am to 5 pm and takes every dive by advance reservation, +1 340 776 2381, as of October 2026.

Suits a visitor based in Charlotte Amalie who wants lunch at a beach bar with a swim, and anyone on the turtle sail with an hour to spare on the sand. Less so a family counting on rented chairs, a parking space and a lifeguard, none of which the resort offers a visitor.

Photos of Bolongo Bay