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Curaçao · Sint Joris Bay · Willemstad

Kite Beach (Sint Joris Bay)

also known as Kitebeach Curaçao, Kite Beach at Sint Joris Bay, St. Joris Bay, Sint Jorisbaai, St Joris Baai

beginner-friendlylow crowds

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec

On this page

Wind
- Month by month
Forecast
Water
Level
The scene
Launch
- Rescue
Hazards
Rules & access
Schools
Tips
Getting there
FAQ

Kite Beach (Sint Joris Bay) has no other spot on this map within 40 km of it. straight-line distance

SeasonJan to Augthe months riders and schools name How windy17-22 knotstrade Launchokaccess rules on record, below Watermixed28°C in summer · 5 things riders flag LevelBeginner to advancedwith a caveat, in the Level section

Schoolsnone named here

From the airport30 min

When it fills in

The trade runs day and night rather than switching on. It sags a little between midnight and sunrise, builds from about 9am, and holds its best from midday to 6pm, roughly two knots either side of the daily mean; in season the share of hours over 12 knots goes from under 60 percent overnight to about 85 percent through the afternoon. Indicative, from modelled hourly data - no hourly statistics are published for the bay.

Kite Beach is the organised launch inside Sint Joris Bay, the big lagoon on the east/northeast side of Curaçao, about 20-30 minutes' drive from Willemstad.

A narrow channel keeps the ocean out, so the bay is flat to wind-chopped, warm all year at 26-28 C, and shallow near shore, with a very flat patch upwind that the locals call the Butterspot.

The trade blows E to ESE, 17-22 knots on a normal day, from December or January through August; February to July is the strongest stretch, and from September to December the schools start rescheduling lessons for lack of wind. The angle is cross-on to side-shore, and which of those you get is one of the things nobody agrees on.

Three schools teach here and it is a good place to learn, but it is not a resort beach: you drive past the Ostrich Farm, down a dirt road, through a white gate onto private property, and rig on artificial grass mats beside a small shore of gravel, rocks, coral stones. Booties, not bare feet.

Mangroves sit downwind, and there is no rescue service; the schools look after their own students and a fishing-boat taxi runs surfers to Boka, which is not the same thing. It stays quiet even on windy weekends, when most of the colour on the water is school kites.

The wind

locals call it Northeast/east Caribbean trade winds

Direction

cross-onE to ESE

Kite sizes

567891011121314151617

metres · typical quiver highlighted

Character

trade

fills in: The trade runs day and night rather than switching on. It sags a little between midnight and sunrise, builds from about 9am, and holds its best from midday to 6pm, roughly two knots either side of the daily mean; in season the share of hours over 12 knots goes from under 60 percent overnight to about 85 percent through the afternoon. Indicative, from modelled hourly data - no hourly statistics are published for the bay.

Typical strength

17-22 knots is the usual answer; you will also see 12-22 knots and 15-27 knots quoted.

Steady trade wind inside a sheltered lagoon, a little gusty at times, and the side-shore angle catches out new independent riders.

December or January through August is the main season and it is reliable through it: modelled long-run values give a daily peak over 12 knots on more than 85 percent of days from January to August, May and June strongest.

It falls away in autumn - about two days in three in September and October, under half in November, which is the weakest month - then picks back up in December. That autumn stretch is when schools start rescheduling lessons for lack of wind.

The windy months get quoted variously as January-September plus December, February-July, or February-June for the best of it.

Thermal or synoptic

synoptic (NE trade winds)

Also on record

18 knots from the east is the model average; no measured long-term statistics exist for the bay.

The quiver, in words

Indicative, read off the wind range; no weight-specific chart is published for the bay. At the usual 17-22 knots a 75-85 kg rider is on a 9 m most days, 10-12 m in January and through the softer September to December spells, and 7-8 m when it pushes past 25.

Direction to shore

cross-on

Dominant direction

E to ESE, with NE/ENE also reported

Forecast

Month by month

Jan, riders' month92
Feb, riders' month91
Mar, riders' month96
Apr, riders' month94
May, riders' month99
Jun, riders' month100
Jul, riders' month100
Aug, riders' month94
Sep84
Oct63
Nov61
Dec78

per cent of the month at force 4 or more

Ringed months are the ones riders and schools name: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug.

14Jan27°
15Feb27°
15Mar27°
15Apr27°
16May28°
17Jun29°
16Jul29°
15Aug29°
13Sep30°
12Oct31°
12Nov30°
13Dec28°

avg knots per month · water °C below · season highlighted

Month	Force 4+	Knots	From	Air	Water
Jan	92%	14.3 kt	E	26.6°C	27.3°C
Feb	91%	14.6 kt	E	26.6°C	26.8°C
Mar	96%	15.3 kt	E	27°C	27.1°C
Apr	94%	15 kt	E	27.6°C	27.4°C
May	99%	16.4 kt	E	28.2°C	28.1°C
Jun	100%	16.5 kt	E	28.5°C	28.5°C
Jul	100%	16.3 kt	E	28.5°C	28.7°C
Aug	94%	14.5 kt	E	29.2°C	29.1°C
Sep	84%	13.3 kt	E	29.7°C	29.9°C
Oct	63%	11.9 kt	E	29°C	30.5°C
Nov	61%	11.7 kt	E	27.7°C	29.7°C
Dec	78%	12.8 kt	E	27.3°C	28.2°C

modelled

A weather model's cell over this place, not a station on it. Good for comparing places, weaker for one beach.

Modelled from weather reanalysis on a 10–25 km grid (2022-2024), not a ground station: reliable for trade and synoptic winds, understates thermal sea breezes and valley winds. The typical daily max and the direction are columns of the table above, month by month. Highlighted months are the riding season from the spot record.

ERA5 reanalysis grid point (modelled) · Open-Meteo historical weather API — ECMWF ERA5/ERA5-Land reanalysis, not a ground station · 2022-2024

The water

Type

mixed

Standing depth

Shallow along the shore, shallow enough to walk the board back up the beach for a relaunch. How far the standing depth runs out into the lagoon is unconfirmed.

Tides

Effectively no tide, though the water reportedly goes from flat to chop to small wave with the tide level; check locally rather than planning by a tide table.

Temperature

28°C summer · 26°C winter

Wetsuit

No wetsuit normally needed; shorts/lycra or sun protection are commonly recommended.

Currents

No strong currents reported; the bay is sheltered from open-ocean swell. Nobody has measured the current properly.

27–31°C water

Large sheltered lagoon cut off from the open sea by a narrow channel. Mostly flat to wind-chop, with very flat water upwind at the local 'Butterspot'; seagrass and mangroves line the bay. The shore and launch are gravel, coral stones and rocks, so wear water shoes or booties.

Warm all year; used for kite lessons and freeride, freestyle, wingfoiling, SUP tours.

Your level

beginnerintermediateadvanced

Heavily used for lessons: the water is shallow and warm, the bay is sheltered, and the wind brings you back towards shore. Riding independently you still need to manage a small rocky-gravel launch, mangroves downwind and a side to cross-on wind. Advanced riders come for speed runs, tricks, foil or wing sessions, long lagoon runs.

The scene

What riders come here for

learningwingfoilingSUPfreerideflat-water freestylespeed runskitefoiling

Local-school and community spot: quiet, natural and uncrowded compared with Curaçao's resort beaches, with more visible school activity and colorful kites on windy weekends.

Launch and rules

three ways on to the water, and what each one asks of you

With a school or a boat

No school names this spot

Nobody has been recorded teaching or running a boat here.

On your own

Room to launch: ok

access rules on record

Somewhere else

No neighbour on record

No other spot in the atlas sits within reach of this one.

Rescue

No public rescue service. The schools look after their own students, some will arrange a pickup, and a fishing-boat taxi runs surfers over to Boka - none of that is rescue cover for an independent rider. The bar and the gate run 09:00 to 19:00, so outside those hours there may be nobody on the beach at all.

Launch

Beach/shore launch on a private gated Kite Beach area inside Sint Joris Bay, reached by driving past the Aloe Farm/Ostrich Farm and continuing on the dirt road to the white gate.The launch uses artificial grass mats for kite setup, with fine gravel/sand/coral-stone shore and a small beach area; visitors are generally asked to park outside the second gate unless allowed in by the bar/operator.

Space

Hazards riders report 5

Mangroves downwind; avoid entering or damaging them.
Rocks, stones, coral stones and fine gravel at the launch and along the shore; wear water shoes or booties.
Small beach/launch with artificial mats rather than a broad sandy beach, so launching and landing require care when busy.
Remote/private-property access and dirt-road approach; do not ride alone if unsure of self-rescue.
Side or cross-on wind can be tricky for new independent riders despite the lesson-friendly shallow water.

Rules & access

2026: no official permit or zoning rule for Sint Joris Bay, and no charge to kite. The beach is private, gated property. The gate is open 09:00 to 19:00 daily, you park outside the second gate unless the bar waves you in, and the posted guidance is no litter, no disturbing the natural area, know the right-of-way rules and launch and land safely.

Access rules drift faster than anything else we hold — check locally, and propose an edit if this has changed.

Rider tips

Check in with one of the schools or the Kite Beach host before your first solo session; the mangrove edge and the Butterspot are easier to find with someone pointing.
Bring booties or water shoes; the launch is gravel and coral stones, with rocks in the water.
Drive: follow the Ostrich Farm signs past the farm entrance, carry on down the unpaved road towards the water, then left through the white gate. Navigation apps get vague near the bay.
Park outside the second gate unless the bar or the operator waves you in.
Toilets and showers work only when the bar is open or instructors are around, and the gate itself depends on windy-day operations, so bring your own water.
Stay out of the mangroves and take your rubbish with you; the bay is undeveloped and the seagrass and mangroves are the reason it is still nice.
Learning outside lessons: water-launch until you are comfortable with the small mixed-surface beach.
The gate runs 09:00 to 19:00. Ride late and you finish with the bar shut and nobody around.

Getting there

Airport

Curaçao International Airport (CUR / Hato), Willemstad

Route

A car is the practical access. From the airport it is about 21 km and 30 minutes by road, from Willemstad about 16 km and 23 minutes.Follow signs for the Aloe Farm and the Curacao Ostrich Farm, pass the Ostrich Farm entrance, keep going down the unpaved road towards the water, then turn left through the white private-property gate about 100 m before the shoreline.

Transfer

30 min

Cost level

medium

Staying

No large resort complex sits directly on Kite Beach; practical bases are Willemstad, Jan Thiel, Santa Catharina/Sint Joris boutique stays, or other east-side rentals with a car.

No-wind days

On and near Sint Joris Bay: SUP tours, hiking, mountain biking, fishing, photography, beach bar, Ostrich Farm, Serena's Art Factory/Chichi Gallery, Curaçao Aloe Vera Plantation and Amazonia. Island-wide: diving, snorkeling, Klein Curaçao boat trips, Hato Caves, beaches and Willemstad.

FAQ

When is the best time to kite at Sint Joris Bay?

The main season runs from December or January through August, with February to July often the strongest and most reliable stretch.

Is Sint Joris Bay good for beginners?

Yes, the sheltered lagoon's shallow, warm water and local schools make it heavily used for lessons, though wind can be sideshore.

What is the wind like at Sint Joris Bay?

Local schools most often report 17-22 knots from the northeast trade winds, with other guides citing 12-27 knots.

Are there rules for accessing Kite Beach at Sint Joris Bay?

Entrance and kiting are free, but the site is private gated property, and visitors are asked not to litter or disturb the surrounding natural area.

Last updated: August 2026