Spot Name: Sapphire Bay
Location: Northeast end of St. Thomas, USVI
Weather:
Description: Let’s start with wind. The wind always blows from the east in the Caribbean. The wind is called the trade winds or the trades. Generally below the 30th parallel the wind blows from the east and above it the wind blows from the west. This has to do with heating at the equator, the Coriolis Force, and Hadley Cells. See the pages on Wind and Weather.
The high season in St. Thomas is late December through April, and the wind is generally good during these months. After high season, June and July are particularly windy. August brings enhanced hurricane risk which lasts through September and early October. During the winter the only risk other than the occasional light wind day are the squalls the roll through.
It does not rain for substantial time periods on St. Thomas during the high season. Rather a line of clouds rolls through, rain comes and goes, and wind gusts for a few minutes. Care should be taken, squall lines come with the wind, from the east. The kiter will have the weather to leeward. Glance over your shoulder from time to time. You can see the rain falling on St. John to the east. Get off the water before the shower arrives, the wind can double for a few minutes, and what seemed like the right kite size can become a parasail launching you uncontrollably.
There are so many other places to kite, St. Thomas is not the ideal place to progress, so let’s face it, most folks are going to kite elsewhere if they have a choice. Kiters that find themselves on St. Thomas from a cruise, on vacation with family and friends, or through some other happenstance, will appreciate that good kiting can be obtained with some research.
St. Thomas is hilly. Mountainous in some areas. So many of the bays, beaches, and cays popular with tourists on the west, north, and south coasts of St. Thomas experience badly obstructed, no wind, or gusty wind conditions, and are unsuitable for kiting. You really need to be out at the east end to get clean, unobstructed wind. This limits your choices of kite spots. When you add in private land, thin palm lined beaches, and a great number of rocky shorelines the kite spots are really quite limited. They include Sapphire Bay, the Ritz Carlton, and Cas Cay. Sapphire Bay is suited to a northeast wind, the Ritz Carlton to a southeast wind, and Cas Cay to those that have a boat or want to pay for access by boat.
Spot – Sapphire Bay
The problem with Sapphire Bay is the launch. There are palm trees near the water’s edge. The water deepens sufficiently quickly to prevent drift launches. Essentially one launches over the grass, walks the kite 100-200 feet to the beach, picks up the board at the water’s edge, board drags out a safe distance, and then begins kiting. Landing reverses the process.
As kiting becomes more popular and ignorant dangerous beginners more prevalent, expect there to be an accident involving a board and a swimmer/snorkeler from one of the two resorts on the beach that might shut down access completely. Enjoy it while you can. Beware the nasty coral to the left of the launch, and at the extreme right of the crescent shaped Sapphire Bay. Surely any experienced kiter will decipher that this is not the ideal launch/land situation. But as best the moderators of this site can tell there is no ideal launch in St. Thomas.
Despite the launch challenges articulated this really is not as bad a kite spot as it may seem from the foregoing. That’s down to the fact that you are in the Caribbean, in beautiful turquoise water, with a gentle rolling surf even in a good blow, and a bar with a hot bartender just steps down the beach that serves a prototypical version of a local favorite, the “bushwacker”, the perfect end to a great afternoon session.
Access: Sapphire Bay is beautiful. It is off Smith Bay Road. You can access the beach by telling the guard at the Sapphire Beach Condominium Resort that you are going to the restaurant or the snorkeling/watersports rental shop. The beach is great. At the left end there is a bit of room to set up and even some grass on which to fold your kite and keep it sand free at the end of a session.
Spot – Ritz Carlton
Description: The Ritz Carlton kite area is the place to kite when there is a bit to a lot of south in the prevailing east wind. This area retains some of the same advantages and disadvantages as the Sapphire Bay spot. The launch/land area is even worse, but the bay is beautiful, the sea state is moderated in part by Great St. James Island, and the water is beautiful and warm throughout the year.
The launch is downright treacherous. Palm trees abound, the northeastern most of the Ritz Carlton time share buildings is another kite eater, and if that is not bad enough there are power lines on which to electrocute yourself neatly hidden behind the kite killer palms. The launch involves kiter in the water executing a perfect assisted launch. Take care insuring the correct angle of attack for your kite before giving the thumb’s up. Make sure the kite’s luff is not fluttering. Pull on the bar to confirm that the kite billows tight when powered up and still in the hands of the launch pad assistant. You cannot afford to have the kite move fore or back relative to your position in the little bit of shallow water where the sand begins its dive into the brine. After launching the prudent kiter, other than experts, will board drag out 150-250 feet to get away from the wind disturbing effects of the Ritz Carlton buildings.
Landing is a little easier than the launch but requires a kite catcher, preferably wearing a bikini. This is a terrible spot to practice your independent landing skills, pop your quick release unless you are an expert.
Access: The spot is referred to as the Ritz Carlton by the locals. However, the kite spot is not on Ritz Carlton property. The spot is just to the north and east of the Ritz Carlton property, or to the left as you look out at the water from the Ritz Carlton. The parking is off Cabrita Point Road, at the narrowest pinch of land between Muller Bay and Turquoise Bay/Great Bay.
Schools: Not sure anymore.