--- title: "Lindbergh Bay Beach, St. Thomas: Emerald Beach by the Runway" url: https://virginislandvilla.com/st-thomas/beaches/lindbergh-bay description: "Lindbergh Bay beach, also called Emerald Beach, is a calm, free crescent across from the St. Thomas airport, 3 minutes by car, with jets in view." updated: 2026-10-24 source: https://virginislandvilla.com/st-thomas/beaches/lindbergh-bay --- [St. Thomas](https://virginislandvilla.com/st-thomas) · [Beaches](https://virginislandvilla.com/st-thomas/beaches) · West of town · Across the road from the airport # Lindbergh Bay (Emerald Beach) Lindbergh Bay beach, which most visitors call Emerald Beach after the resort on its sand, is the calm crescent across the road from the St. Thomas airport. It suits a swim before a flight, lunch on the sand, and anyone who likes watching jets land. The catch is the noise, and a hotel's loungers along the east end. **Conditions:** Usually calm, shallow water over sand, in a bay that opens to the south-southwest, so the north swell of winter misses it, though a southerly swell from a passing storm can reach it. The Department of Planning and Natural Resources samples Lindbergh Bay weekly for Enterococci bacteria and turbidity and posts the result as a beach advisory on dpnr.vi.gov; its standing advice, in the advisory of Oct 16, 2026, is to keep out of water carrying runoff from the guts after rain, water that looks discolored, and heavy sargassum. ## Lindbergh Bay at a glance | | | | --- | --- | | Entry | Free | | Hours | None posted by any public body (as of October 2026); by our read, a daylight beach | | Parking | No public lot posted; along the road behind the beach and at the park at the west end | | Restrooms | Seasonal or limited | | Shade | Some | | Snorkeling | 2 of 5, Limited | | Crowds | Quiet | | Drive from Charlotte Amalie | about 11 minutes by car | | Lifeguard | No | Updated Oct 21, 2026. ## Conditions today at Lindbergh Bay As of 7:00 AM on Oct 24, 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-southeast at 1.4 m, period 7 seconds; Lindbergh 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** High. Surf around 6 feet, southeast winds 15 to 20 mph. National Weather Service San Juan, surf zone forecast for St Thomas, St John and adjacent islands, issued 4:08 AM. **Rain** Showers likely 7 am to 11 am (up to 47% chance). Showers here pass in minutes. Open-Meteo hourly forecast at the pin. **The day** UV index up to 7; sunset 5:51 pm; sea 30 °C, 86 °F. Open-Meteo. ## Routes to Lindbergh Bay About 11 minutes by car from Charlotte Amalie. How to reach St. Thomas: [Flights to St. Thomas: who flies nonstop, and when](https://virginislandvilla.com/st-thomas/flights), [How to get around St. Thomas](https://virginislandvilla.com/st-thomas/getting-around), [St. Thomas airport: Cyril E. King (STT)](https://virginislandvilla.com/st-thomas/airport), [St. Thomas cruise port: Havensight and Crown Bay](https://virginislandvilla.com/st-thomas/cruise-port), [St. Thomas map](https://virginislandvilla.com/st-thomas/map), [St. Thomas to St. Croix: ferry, seaplane or a flight](https://virginislandvilla.com/st-thomas/st-croix-ferry), [St. Thomas weather by month](https://virginislandvilla.com/st-thomas/weather), [Things to do in St. Thomas](https://virginislandvilla.com/st-thomas/things-to-do). ## Getting to Lindbergh Bay from the terminal or town Lindbergh Bay is the beach nearest the St. Thomas airport: 3 minutes by car from the Cyril E. King terminal, or an 8 minute walk along the airport road, Ambassador Terence A. Todman Drive. From Charlotte Amalie it is 11 minutes by car, west along the waterfront and past Crown Bay Marina and the cruise pier beside it, 5 minutes short of the beach. No public lot is posted, as of October 2026. By our read, people park along the road behind the beach and by the small park at the west end; the hotels' lots belong to their guests. If you are staying on St. John, the Red Hook ferry lands at the other end of St. Thomas, 33 minutes from here by car. That makes Lindbergh Bay a beach for the day you fly, not a day trip. ## Lindbergh Bay beach between the runway and the resort A long, shallow curve of sand faces south across a calm bay, with the hills of the West End beyond the runway and Emerald Beach Resort at the east end. The west end belongs to the island: a small park and a playground just off the sand, and the shade of the sea grape along the back. Toward the hotels the beach fills with loungers, which the resort keeps for its in-house guests; it calls that stretch semi-private and says, as of October 2026, that it sells no day pass. The sand in front of it is public all the same. What the resort does open to everyone is its kitchen. Caribbean Fusion Bar & Grill serves breakfast, lunch and dinner to outside guests, and its beach bar serves from 11 am into the evening every day, per its own page as of October 2026. That is the only food and drink open to the public here; bring your own chairs, an umbrella and water. The tradeoff is the airport. The Port Authority's runway, 7,002 feet of it since a 1992 extension, sits across the road, and jets come in low over the water and roar off again through the day. For some people that is the show. Weekdays are quiet, and most of the company is staying at one of the two hotels. No source lists a lifeguard. It suits a family with small children who want calm water and a playground, a traveler with a few hours before a flight, and anyone who likes aircraft. It does not suit a snorkeler looking for reef or anyone wanting a nap without jet noise. Come for a swim and lunch on the way to a flight, and keep a towel in the car for it. ## Swimming at Lindbergh Bay, and why the snorkeling is thin The swim is the point. The water is usually calm and shallow over sand, and the bay opens to the south-southwest, so the north swell that roughs up the north-shore beaches in winter does not reach it, though a southerly swell from a passing storm can. We rate the snorkeling 2 of 5. The floor is sand off a shoreline that was filled in for the first airstrip, and no reef lies within a swim of the beach. A mask will turn up a fish or two over the sand, no more. For turtles over seagrass, Brewers Bay is on the far side of the runway. The Department of Planning and Natural Resources samples Lindbergh Bay every week for Enterococci bacteria and turbidity and posts the result as a beach advisory on dpnr.vi.gov. Its standing advice, repeated in the advisory of Oct 16, 2026, is to stay out of water carrying runoff from the guts after rain, water that looks discolored, and heavy sargassum. On a morning after a downpour, read the latest advisory before you swim. ## Emerald Beach or Lindbergh Bay: the same sand, renamed They are the same sand. Lindbergh Bay is the name on the map; Emerald Beach is the resort's, and many visitors use it for the whole beach. The bay had another name before either. The Virgin Islands Port Authority says the island's first airstrip, in the 1920s, was laid at a place once called Mosquito Bay, which was filled in and renamed Lindbergh Bay. The strip became Bourne Field, a military airfield, then the territory's airport after the war, and today it is Cyril E. King Airport, whose address is still Lindbergh Bay. ## Questions people ask about Lindbergh Bay ### Is Emerald Beach on St. Thomas public? Yes. Emerald Beach is Lindbergh Bay, and the shoreline is public. Emerald Beach Resort calls its stretch semi-private, keeps its loungers for in-house guests and says it sells no day pass, as of October 2026, but its restaurant and beach bar are open to outside guests. Bring your own chairs and shade. ### Where is Lindbergh Bay on St. Thomas? On the south shore, west of Charlotte Amalie, across the road from Cyril E. King Airport. By our measurement it is 11 minutes by car from Charlotte Amalie, 5 from Crown Bay Marina, beside the cruise pier, and 33 from the Red Hook ferry to St. John. ### Can you walk to Lindbergh Bay from the St. Thomas airport? Yes, if you are not carrying bags: it is under half a mile, an 8 minute walk along Ambassador Terence A. Todman Drive from the terminal, or 3 minutes by car. Planes land and take off across the road, so expect the noise while you swim. ### Is there a fee at Lindbergh Bay? No. The beach is free as of October 2026, with no hours posted by any public body. There is no public lot; people park along the road behind the beach and by the park at the west end. The resort's loungers are for its own guests, so bring a chair. Written by Virgin Islands Villas. Updated Oct 21, 2026. Updated Oct 24, 2026. Facts checked against [the Virgin Islands Port Authority](https://www.viport.com/cekastt), [the Department of Planning and Natural Resources](https://dpnr.vi.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/Beach-Advisory-10.16.26.pdf) and [Emerald Beach Resort](https://www.emeraldbeach.com/). Checked October 2026. No villa listed with us is within ten minutes of Lindbergh Bay yet. [See every villa on St. Thomas](https://virginislandvilla.com/st-thomas/vacation-rentals), with its rates and dates. ## Other beaches near Lindbergh Bay - [Brewers Bay Bordeaux · 1.5 km away · free entry](https://virginislandvilla.com/st-thomas/beaches/brewers-bay) - [Honeymoon Beach, Water Island Water Island · 2.2 km away · free entry](https://virginislandvilla.com/st-thomas/beaches/honeymoon-beach-water-island) - [Hull Bay Hull Bay · 4.2 km away · free entry](https://virginislandvilla.com/st-thomas/beaches/hull-bay) [Every beach on St. Thomas, compared](https://virginislandvilla.com/st-thomas/beaches)