--- title: "Secret Harbour Beach, St. Thomas: Public, Near Red Hook · Virgin Islands Villas" url: https://virginislandvilla.com/st-thomas/beaches/secret-harbour description: "Secret Harbour Beach, St. Thomas: public, no day pass as of October 2026, 6 minutes by car from the Red Hook ferry terminal, with a restaurant on the sand." updated: 2026-10-16 source: https://virginislandvilla.com/st-thomas/beaches/secret-harbour --- [St. Thomas](https://virginislandvilla.com/st-thomas) · [Beaches](https://virginislandvilla.com/st-thomas/beaches) · East End · Estate Nazareth # Secret Harbour Secret Harbour Beach, St. Thomas, is free and open to the public with no day pass, as the Secret Harbour Beach Resort's own FAQ states as of October 2026. It is on the East End, 6 minutes by car from the Red Hook ferry terminal. Below: the drive, parking, chairs, the restaurant, the snorkeling and villas nearby. **Conditions:** Each week the Department of Planning and Natural Resources tests the water at this beach, listed as Secret Harbor in its beach advisory at dpnr.vi.gov. The department's standing advice, in its advisory of Aug 7, 2026, is to stay out of water carrying stormwater runoff or large amounts of sargassum. *Sailboats and a motorboat at anchor below a green hillside with houses, U.S. Virgin Islands.* Sailboats under a green hillside, U.S. Virgin Islands ## Secret Harbour Beach at a glance | | | | --- | --- | | Entry | Free; no day pass (the resort's own FAQ, as of October 2026) | | Hours | No hours are posted for the beach; The Patio on the sand serves 8 am to 10 pm (the resort's dining page, as of October 2026) | | Parking | The resort publishes no visitor parking as of October 2026; its FAQ gives each condominium a space for its guests and tells day visitors to take a taxi | | Restrooms | Seasonal or limited | | Shade | Some | | Snorkeling | 4 of 5, Very good | | Crowds | Moderate | | Drive from Charlotte Amalie | about 27 minutes by car | | Lifeguard | No | Verified Oct 9, 2026. ## Conditions today at Secret Harbour Beach 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 southwest, by our read from the map. **Sea state** **Sheltered.** The swell is from the east at 0.9 m, period 5 seconds; Secret Harbour Beach opens southwest, so the bay sits in the lee. 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 (DPNR's site "Secret Harbor"). Met it in 71 of 71 weeks sampled since Aug 2, 2024. [The advisory](https://dpnr.vi.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/Beach-Advisory-10.9.26.pdf). 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 27 minutes by car from Charlotte Amalie. How to reach St. Thomas: [Flights to St. Thomas](https://virginislandvilla.com/st-thomas/flights), [How to get around St. Thomas](https://virginislandvilla.com/st-thomas/getting-around), [St. Thomas airport](https://virginislandvilla.com/st-thomas/airport), [St. Thomas cruise port](https://virginislandvilla.com/st-thomas/cruise-port), [St. Thomas map](https://virginislandvilla.com/st-thomas/map), [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). ## Six minutes from the Red Hook ferry terminal Secret Harbour Beach is 6 minutes by car from the Red Hook ferry terminal, measured on the road network, and 27 minutes from Charlotte Amalie. The resort's own directions from Red Hook: east on Route 32, the first right onto Route 322, then on into Estate Nazareth, with the resort on the right. Do not plan to walk it. The resort's FAQ says the roads are narrow and hilly, with blind spots and no sidewalks, and recommends what it calls a five-minute taxi from Red Hook; the boat from Cruz Bay lands at the same terminal, so a day over from St. John starts with that taxi. The 2022 tariff of the Virgin Islands Taxicab Commission, still in force, prices Secret Harbor Resort from the airport at $27 for one person or $18 each for two or more, plus $3 a bag, but has no Red Hook row, so ask the driver. Two other East End beaches with a reef sit north of the terminal: Sapphire Beach, 4 minutes from Red Hook, with a bar and rentals on the sand, and Coki Beach, 9 minutes. ## Parking, chairs and what is guests-only The sand and the water are everyone's, and the furniture is not. As of October 2026 the resort's FAQ lists lounge chairs, umbrellas, towels, the pool, the fitness center and the tennis courts as being for resort guests, and tells visitors to bring a towel and rent chairs from the dive shop on the beach. That shop is Aqua Action Dive Center. Its rate sheet, as of October 2026, puts a chair at $15 a day and an umbrella at $10, plus a $5 attendant fee for every two chairs and one umbrella, and publishes no opening hours. Lunch needs no pass either. The resort's FAQ says both of its restaurants are open to the public, as of October 2026. The Patio at Sunset Grille is on the beach, with breakfast from 8 to 11 am and lunch and dinner from 11 am to 10 pm on the resort's dining page, and its beach bar stays open to 11 pm on Friday, Saturday and Sunday; Sunset Grille, the dinner room, serves from 5:30 pm, all as of October 2026. The tradeoff: this is a resort's front yard, and the parking shows it. As of October 2026 the resort publishes no parking for day visitors. Its FAQ says each condominium has a space for its guests and tells everyone else to take a taxi. Come by taxi, or come for lunch. The resort describes a palm-lined beach with shade and sun, and its property map marks a swim platform off the beach. Dogs are not allowed, per the FAQ as of October 2026, and the resort does not say which restrooms are open to visitors; by our read, the restaurant's, if you eat there. ## Snorkeling and swimming off Secret Harbour You snorkel straight from the beach here. The Virgin Islands Department of Tourism describes a protected cove with a gently sloping sandy entry, calm water and healthy reef, with sponges, soft corals and spotted drum along the rocky right-hand side; Aqua Action, the shop on the sand, ranks it first on St. Thomas. We score it 4 of 5: the bigger coral heads are a longer swim, about 90 meters out by one account. On Aqua Action's rate sheet a full snorkel set is $25 a day, a guided snorkel $60 and the guided night snorkel $65, as of October 2026. The Department of Planning and Natural Resources tests the water here each week, under the name Secret Harbor, and publishes the result at dpnr.vi.gov. Its advisory of Aug 7, 2026 says to stay out of water carrying stormwater runoff or large amounts of sargassum. As of October 2026 nobody publishes a lifeguard, so treat the bay as unguarded. Suits a villa or condo guest on the East End who wants a swim and lunch within minutes of Red Hook, and a St. John visitor with a few hours before the ferry; less so a group that expects free loungers or a marked public lot. ## Is Secret Harbor Beach public? Yes. The beach is public, and the resort says so itself: as of October 2026 its FAQ states that all beaches in the Virgin Islands are open to the public and that no day pass is needed. The law behind that is the Open Shorelines Act, now chapter 10 of title 12 of the Virgin Islands Code. In Kosick v. Bar-Sela, a 2007 case, the Superior Court of the Virgin Islands set out sections 402 and 403 word for word: the public has the right to use and enjoy the shoreline, measured from the low-tide line 50 feet inland, or to the seaward edge of natural vegetation or a natural barrier where either comes first, and nothing may be built across it to keep the public out. The limit is on the land side. A 1987 compilation by the Virgin Islands Marine Advisory Service notes that the Act assures use of the shoreline and passage along it, and that an upland owner is not required to let beachgoers cross private land to reach it. At Secret Harbour the way in is the resort's own entrance, and its FAQ welcomes visitors who bring a towel. ## Questions people ask about Secret Harbour Beach **Is Secret Harbor Beach public?** Yes. As of October 2026 the Secret Harbour Beach Resort's own FAQ says all beaches in the Virgin Islands are open to the public and that no day pass is required for its beach. The Open Shorelines Act, in the Virgin Islands Code, gives the public the right to use and enjoy the shoreline. That right covers the shoreline itself, not a way across private land to reach it. **Is there a fee at Secret Harbour Beach?** No. As of October 2026 the resort's FAQ says no day pass is required and the beach is open to the public. What costs money is the furniture: the resort's loungers are for its guests, and Aqua Action Dive Center on the sand rents a chair at $15 a day and an umbrella at $10 on its October 2026 rate sheet. **Do you need a car for Secret Harbour Beach?** No, and the resort would rather you came without one. As of October 2026 it publishes no parking for day visitors, gives each condominium one space for its guests, and recommends a taxi from Red Hook, 6 minutes by car from the ferry terminal. Written by Virgin Islands Villas. Facts verified Oct 9, 2026. Updated Oct 16, 2026. Facts checked against [the Secret Harbour Beach Resort](https://www.secretharbourvi.com/faq.htm), [Aqua Action Dive Center](https://www.aadivers.com/rates.php), [the Department of Planning and Natural Resources](https://dpnr.vi.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Beach-Advisory-8.7.26.pdf), [the Superior Court of the Virgin Islands](https://superior.vicourts.org/UserFiles/Servers/Server_12810747/File/Opinions/Archive/civil%20172%20of%202005.pdf) and [the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration](https://repository.library.noaa.gov/view/noaa/36186/noaa_36186_DS1.pdf). Checked October 2026. ## Nearby beaches - [Vessup Beach Red Hook · 1.0 km away · free entry](https://virginislandvilla.com/st-thomas/beaches/vessup) - [Sapphire Beach Sapphire Bay · 1.9 km away · free entry](https://virginislandvilla.com/st-thomas/beaches/sapphire) - [Lindquist Beach Smith Bay · 2.4 km away · closed](https://virginislandvilla.com/st-thomas/beaches/lindquist) [Every beach on St. Thomas, compared](https://virginislandvilla.com/st-thomas/beaches)