Guana Bay

Over the ridge from Philipsburg, Guana Bay turns the island's wild face: an undeveloped strand where Atlantic rollers stack and detonate - bodyboarders' home water, swimmers' spectator sport - with St Barts drawn on the horizon and the trade wind running the show. The bay's lookout points frame the surf theatre, walkers work the sand's length in salt-mist, and the absence economy - no bars, no loungers, no music but the ocean's - constitutes the entire offer. It is the ten-minute antidote to the cruise-day island, administered in wind and spray.

Highlights

• The roller theatre - Atlantic sets detonating on the strand.
• The St Barts horizon - the neighbour drawn on clear days.
• The bodyboard pack - local wave craft in home water.
• The salt-mist walks - the strand's length in spray light.

When to go

December to May with the season; big winter swells stage the theatre's loudest matinees. Mornings walk calmest before the wind's full shift.

What to expect

Swimming is for the experienced-to-abstaining - currents and shore-break mean it; the emptiness includes facilities. Wind claims hats on principle.

Nearby

Philipsburg, Dawn Beach and the eastern ridge roads.