Galleon Beach

[back to the islands]

Has anyone spent the day at Galleon Bay? If so, how did you get there and what did it cost? I am interested in snorkeling, but since I already have 4 boat days, don't really want to pay for another boat day even though everyone says the best snorkeling is from a boat. I'm just looking for a quieter beach with some snorkeling and I have read this is one of the best beaches for that. Thank you!

[ctbeacher]

Hi,

 

I saw this and know I am too late in responding but the mention of an old favorite caught my eye.

 

I assume you were asking about Galleon Beach on Freeman's bay near English Harbour.  It is a nice beach, but it is far from the port and there are no facilities.  The Galleon Beach Club unfortunately closed a few years ago.  There are still private villas there, but the GBC units are closed.

 

You can still go to the beach there, as any beach on Antigua, but there are no chairs.  There are 3-4 thatched umbrellas on the beach that offer some shade.

 

Good snorkeling right along the beach from the first dock to the last dock toward the left of the beach.

 

At the opposite end of the beach is the Inn at English Harbour.  That is operational, but I do not believe they offer day passes for chairs.  You would have to find out by contacting them.  They do offer a nice little restaurant on the beach.  Not inexpensive but you can get a nice lunch there.

 

Sad about GBC.  My family vacationed there at Christmas for 20 years.  It was a beautiful little gem and the people were wonderful.  Hopefully it will get sold and reopen at some point in the future.

[beachwalker85]

My wife Jamie and I were in Antigua in early February 2020 on the Celebrity Summit,  and we had an exceptional experience on  Galleon Beach. We got off the ship and walked to the end of the pier where all the taxi drivers are located. We were expecting a fairly high pressure situation, but it was surprisingly a very low pressure/low stress experience. We negotiated a round trip (for two) fare to and from Galleon Beach (40 minutes each way) for around $40, which was in-line with what we'd expect to pay for an Uber or Lyft in the states. 

 

Although the majority of our three hours on Galleon beach was cloudy and rainy, we made the most of it and managed to have a wonderful time. The clouds and light rain actually made for quite comfortable hiking conditions, so upon arrival at Galleon Beach, we immediately set out to find the Pillars of Hercules. We had read that the Pillars could be reached by scrambling on the rocks along the English Harbor coastline, and after a short 10-15 minute rock scramble, we had arrived. The Pillars of Hercules were truly majestic, and exceeded our already high expectations. To our surprise, we also discovered Mermaid Gardens, an equally stunning rock formation. Finally, we capped our day at Galleon Beach off with a some snorkeling, where we found several sea turtles and a sunken ships, and a couple of Wadadlis (the local beer) from the beach bar. 

 

We really can't say enough about how much we enjoyed this gloomy beach day! To anyone looking for some adventure on their port day in Antigua and for something a little off the beaten path, we would highly recommend a day trip to Galleon Beach. 

 

Below is a link to the video of our amazing day at Galleon Beach. 

 

 

[ctbeacher]

Jaime & Skylar - great videos of your trip on the Summit (one of our favorite Celebrity Ships).

 

It was great to visit the islands again!