Those who managed to snatch one of the few berths can fully and completely concentrate on St. John’s wonderful Caribbean atmosphere.
![Marina St. John’s – Mini Marina with a Special Atmosphere]()
Location & Approach For those aficionados who like to sail the Caribbean, St. John’s is a familiar destination, and also a major tourist hub, since it’s the capital city of Antigua and Barbuda. Those who choose to drop anchor here, will be amazed at the high level of services and the wide range of shopping, dining and provisioning, some of the best in the region.
However, there is a drawback to such popularity and it directly affects pleasure boaters. Simply put, the sailor is second place to the large cruise ships that stop here regularly and unload their huge groups of noisy tourists to the detriment of the crews looking for a restful retreat.
The marina is located within the commercial harbor of the city which is both a curse and a blessing. The blessing is that everything is within walking distance, restaurants, bars, clubs, shops and attractions, but the curse is that you’ll probably have to moor alongside some huge cruise boat or some outsized super yacht.
The sheltered position of the marina within the St. John’s bay means these are very calm waters to moor in and there are no winds that can make the approach to the marina unsafe (unless they blow from the northwest but not even then you’ll feel the swell). Water depth is also not an issue for approaching boats since the entry channel is regularly dredged to depths of over 10m to accommodate the large ships passing through.
Obstacles the skipper should mind when making an approach are Sandy Island (N17 08.075 W61 55.578), the Jarvis shoal to the north and a long reef line to the west of the bay stretching out for about 10 km. Once past these, keep an eye out for the Fairway buoy (N17 08.374 W64 53.785) and from there on to Pillar Rock and Loblolly Point which are both marked by a long line of red and green buoys.
Infrastructure & Ambience The only big fault this marina has is the extremely small number of berths, just 10 for vessels but these will be well cared for be a very attentive and obliging staff and by some very good accommodations. Mega yachts can berth along the two piers designed from the large cruise ships, but that doesn’t mean smaller boats can’t find a place to moor.
The position of the marina within the relative small town, really makes the sailor feel like he is part of the urban life. There are lots of grocery stores within walking distance of the marina, perfect for a quick resupply of the galley and produce and fresh fish markets with typical Caribbean food stuffs.
The waterfront is crowded with restaurants and bars to spend your evenings with your buddies, but also a perfect opportunity to mingle in with the rest of the locals who comes here for a little bit of relaxation after dark or even some of the other tourists in the region.
You’ll have to allocate some time to the local favorite pastime: shopping. In this respect, you’ll find all sort of shops scattered all over town, hidden in the odd mixture of new and old architecture and selling every possible kind of merchandise you can fathom.