Petit Rameau
Petit Bateau
Baradal
Jamesby
Petit Tabac
Swim with turtles off Baradal
Snorkel the coral heads along Horseshoe Reef
Picnic on the beach at Petit Tabac
Beachcomb on Jamesby’s sandbar
Attend Sunday Mass at Mayreau’s hilltop church
Station Hill and Mayreau’s Catholic Church
Saline Bay, Mayreau
Horseshoe Reef
The Pirates of the Caribbean beach, Petit Tabac
Baradal’s turtle grass flats
December through May brings the most settled trade winds and the calmest conditions inside the lagoon, though the Cays make a viable stop year-round given their sheltered position behind Horseshoe Reef. The Atlantic hurricane season runs June to November, and a strong trade wind can occasionally kick up a chop even inside the reef in July and August. Many charter itineraries pair a Tobago Cays stop with nearby Union Island or Mayreau for provisioning.
The Tobago Cays have no airport or ferry service of their own, since all five islets are uninhabited. Most guests fly into Argyle International Airport (SVD) on St Vincent or Union Island’s own small airstrip, then join a charter yacht that sails the roughly two to three hours south to the Cays. Many itineraries instead simply arrive by boat as part of a longer Grenadines charter beginning in Bequia or St Vincent.
The channel between Petit Bateau and Baradal is the most popular overnight anchorage, close to the turtle grazing grounds and reasonably protected on all sides. Jamesby offers a smaller, quieter alternative with fewer neighbouring boats. Anchoring off Petit Tabac, on the outer edge of the lagoon, is only advisable in calm, settled weather, since it lies more exposed to any swell that finds its way over Horseshoe Reef.
One to two nights is typical, enough time to snorkel with turtles off Baradal, swim the reef around Petit Tabac and enjoy a beach barbecue on one of the islets. Because the Cays sit roughly in the middle of the Grenadines chain, most charters treat them as the centrepiece of a longer week that also takes in Bequia, Mustique, Canouan and Union Island.
Yes. All vessels anchoring within the Tobago Cays Marine Park pay a conservation fee of around fifteen dollars per person, collected by rangers who patrol the anchorage by boat, with local excursion visitors paying a reduced rate. Rangers also enforce a five-knot speed limit and a strict ban on anchoring over coral or seagrass, part of a stricter management regime introduced when the park was relaunched in 2006.
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