MapSaint Vincent and the GrenadinesUnion Island / GrenadinesTobago Cays / MayreauUnion Island / Grenadines

Tobago Cays / Mayreau

Union Island / Grenadines · Mayreau village; Clifton, Union Island is the usual kite-operator base

Part of Union Island / Grenadines →

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec

lagoonnot for beginners

On this page

The spot
Wind
Forecast
Month by month
Water
Level
The scene
Launch
Schools
Tips
Getting there
Photos
FAQ

Riding essentials

Season

Dec–Jun

Months riders and schools name

How windy

15-25 kt

Character: trade

Room to launch

Small sandy beaches and restricted launch zones; rigging dimensions are unconfirmed.

access rules on record, below

Water

reef-protected lagoon water with flat sections, chop inside exposed areas, and small to medium waves on or outside the reef

28 °C in summerSalt Whistle Bay at Mayreau has a protective reef, waves outside and kickers or flatter water inside

Hazards

Reported by riders

Level

Intermediate to advanced

With a caveat: see Your level

BeginnerIntermediateAdvanced

Schools

named at this spot

From the airport

15 min

Union Island Airport (UNI)

On the clock

10:00 · 12:30

The trades run day and night in season, so there is no thermal to wait for. Full-day excursions put riders on the water at Salt Whistle Bay from about 10:00 and in the Cays from about 12:30.

The marks are the clock times the record names, laid on a 24-hour day. The bar between the first and the last covers those hours; it is not a promise of wind.

Nearbystraight-line distance

Backup spotsWhere riders go when the wind doesn't work here.

Palm Islandno page yet
Frigate Islandno page yet

The spot

Tobago Cays and Mayreau are a boat-access Grenadines kite area, not a beach you drive to.

The park and reefs

The Tobago Cays Marine Park covers five uninhabited cays plus Mayreau, with Horseshoe Reef wrapped around Petit Bateau, Petit Rameau, Baradal and Jamesby, and Petit Tabac outside the reef to the east. Inside, the water runs shallow and flat to choppy, with reef waves on the outside and small patches of sand to launch from.

Launch restrictions

At Mayreau, Salt Whistle Bay is reef-protected, kickers or flatter water inside and waves outside, but kiting in the flat water in front of the sailboats is reportedly prohibited. In the Cays you may launch only from Jamesby or Petit Tabac; Baradal is off limits.

How to visit

Union Island operators run boat-supported day trips that pair Mayreau with the Cays, usually with snorkeling and a downwinder option. Go as a guided excursion: reefs, coral, anchored yachts and park zoning all matter, and none of them are things to work out from the water. Intermediate to advanced.

The wind

locals call it Caribbean trade wind

Direction

Direction to shore

Easterly to east-southeast trades. At Salt Whistle Bay the kite zone sits on the far side of the sand spit from the yacht anchorage, so the wind arrives over the reef rather than off the land. The angle at each Tobago Cays launch is unconfirmed.

Dominant direction

E to ESE

Kite sizes

567891011121314151617

metres · typical quiver highlighted

The quiver, in words

9-12 m carries a 75-85 kg rider through the trade season: 12 m when it sits at 15-18 kt, 10 m around 20 kt, 9 m once it settles into the low 20s. A 7 m earns its place on the strongest January and February days.Indicative sizing, not a local measurement - no operator publishes a size table for these excursions.

Character

trade

When it fills in: see above ↑

Average strength

Typical strength

15-25 kt on most windy days through the trade season, with 20 kt the useful working average. Salt Whistle Bay is more often quoted at 15-20 kt.

Steady through the main trade season, though local operators advise checking conditions close to travel.

Days over 15 kt run at 65% in November, 95% in December, 98% in January, 95% in February, 90% in March, 80% in April and May and 95% in June. July drops to 70%, August to 40%, September and October to 20%. Mid-November starts slowly and the trades firm up from December onward.

Forecast

Live forecast

Windguru Windfinder Windy

Month by month

Jan, riders' month100
Feb, riders' month100
Mar, riders' month95
Apr, riders' month99
May, riders' month100
Jun, riders' month100
Jul98
Aug97
Sep81
Oct87
Nov100
Dec, riders' month90

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, Dec.

18 ktJan28°
18 ktFeb27°
18 ktMar28°
17 ktApr28°
17 ktMay29°
19 ktJun29°
19 ktJul29°
15 ktAug30°
13 ktSep31°
15 ktOct31°
17 ktNov29°
17 ktDec28°

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

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.

Every figure, month by monthForce 4+ · Knots · Wind from · Air · Water

Month	Force 4+	Knots	Wind from	Air	Water
Jan	100%	18.1 kt	ENE	26.2 °C	27.5 °C
Feb	100%	18 kt	ENE	26.2 °C	27.2 °C
Mar	95%	17.8 kt	ENE	26.3 °C	27.6 °C
Apr	99%	17.3 kt	E	26.8 °C	27.9 °C
May	100%	17.3 kt	E	27.7 °C	28.6 °C
Jun	100%	18.6 kt	E	27.7 °C	29 °C
Jul	98%	18.6 kt	E	27.7 °C	29.2 °C
Aug	97%	15.3 kt	E	28.1 °C	30 °C
Sep	81%	13.4 kt	E	28.6 °C	30.6 °C
Oct	87%	15.2 kt	E	28.5 °C	30.5 °C
Nov	100%	17 kt	E	27.7 °C	29.2 °C
Dec	90%	16.7 kt	ENE	27.1 °C	28.3 °C

How this is modelledmodelled · 2022-2024

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

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

reef-protected lagoon water with flat sections, chop inside exposed areas, and small to medium waves on or outside the reef

Standing depth

Parts of the Mayreau lagoon are shallow enough to stand and too shallow to wing foil; the Tobago Cays lagoon carries enough depth to foil. No measured depth exists for any of the launches, and reef and coral heads sit inside the shallow ground, so it is not a place to plan on walking in.

Tides

Kiting here is reported as not tide-dependent; no primary tide guidance was found.

Temperature

28 °C summer · 27 °C winter

Modelled monthly average: 27–31 °C

Wetsuit

boardshorts year-round

Conditions

Salt Whistle Bay at Mayreau has a protective reef, waves outside and kickers or flatter water inside. The Mayreau lagoon can be too shallow for wing foiling, while Tobago Cays suits foiling. In the Cays you ride around reefs, corals, passes and boat traffic, so the line you pick matters.

boardshorts year-round

Your level

BeginnerIntermediateAdvanced

not for beginners here

Tobago Cays is rated intermediate to expert: reefs, corals, small launches, riding zones and boat traffic. Beginner lessons with safety-boat support are sold at Mayreau, but as a combined boat-access area this is not somewhere an independent beginner should turn up.

The scene

What riders come here for

advancedfreerideflat waterreef wavesdownwindersfoiling

Remote and scenic, shared with yacht crews, snorkelers, turtle tours and day boats rather than a dedicated beach-kite crowd.

Launch and rules

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

With a school or a boat

4 schools name this spot

See who they are

On your own

Room to launch: Small sandy beaches and restricted launch zones; rigging dimensions are unconfirmed.

Read the access rules

Somewhere else

3 spots nearby

All 3 spots within 40 km are under Nearby

Rescue

Boat support comes with the excursion: small dinghies and a larger RIB follow riders around the reef and pick them up when needed. There is no lifeguard, no independent rescue service and no public emergency number for the cays. Going out without an operator means going out without cover.

Launch

Boat access from Union Island or by yacht or catamaran. Mayreau riding is at Salt Whistle Bay, on the far side of the sand spit from the yacht anchorage; kiting the flat water in front of the anchored boats is prohibited and rangers check it daily.In Tobago Cays you may launch only from Jamesby or Petit Tabac; launching from Baradal and kiting between the sailboats are forbidden.

Hazards riders report 11 reported

Crowds and zones

busy with yacht traffic (thousands of visiting boats annually)
boats, yachts and sailboat anchorages
marine-park riding and launch zones
rangers check the no-kite zone in front of the Salt Whistle Bay anchorage daily
no lifeguard, no rescue boat and no public emergency number outside the operator's own boat cover

Bottom

coral reef and seagrass beds - avoid contact
coral reef and exposed coral heads

Protected areas and rules

protected marine park - navigation restrictions
shallow reef outside the lagoon
very shallow water in Mayreau lagoon in some conditions

Other

small launch/landing areas

Rules & access

1 min read

2026: the Tobago Cays Marine Park charges an entry fee inside the protection zone, currently XCD 15 per person for up to 24 hours. Mayreau and Salt Whistle Bay are stated to fall outside that fee.

Regulations

The park's published regulations name no kitesurfing rule at all - they cover diving only with a registered local operator, no anchoring in coral or seagrass, no taking coral or marine life, no fishing, no littering, no wastewater discharge, no disturbing seabirds, no pets and a five-knot speed limit.

Kite restrictions

The kite restrictions come from operator practice and ranger enforcement rather than from that text: launch only from Jamesby or Petit Tabac in the Cays, no launching from Baradal, no riding between the sailboats, and at Salt Whistle Bay no riding the flat water in front of the anchorage and no foiling (2026).

Windsurfing rules

A January 2023 legal summary permits windsurfing only in the zone north of Petit Rameau and inside Horseshoe Reef, and does not spell out how that maps onto kitesurfing.

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

Schools that ride here

Rider tips

Book it as a guided excursion from a Union Island operator rather than arranging your own access.
Launch only from Jamesby or Petit Tabac in the Cays. Baradal is off limits.
Do not kite in the flat water in front of the anchored sailboats at Mayreau.
Confirm the current park fee and launch zones before you travel: XCD 15 per person for up to 24 hours (2026).
Bring sun cover and water. Boardshorts are enough all year, so leave the wetsuit at home.
Do not kite in the flat water in front of the anchored sailboats at Mayreau. Rangers check it daily.
Leave the foil board behind for Mayreau. Salt Whistle Bay is closed to foiling and the lagoon is too shallow for it anyway; the Cays are where it works.
A full day runs roughly 08:00 to 16:00 with the Mayreau session first. Pack for eight hours on a boat, not for a beach day.

Getting there

Airport

Union Island Airport (UNI) for local access. Argyle International (SVD), Barbados (BGI) and Grenada (GND) are the usual international and regional gateways.

Route

Base yourself on Union Island and go out by speedboat, water taxi, ferry connection, yacht or catamaran. By speedboat every other Grenadines spot is quoted at under 15 minutes from Union Island; the sailing leg to Tobago Cays on a day-trip itinerary runs about an hour.A full-day kite cruise leaves the Clifton dock or the Anchorage Yacht Club around 08:00, rides Salt Whistle Bay from about 10:00, transfers to the Cays around 12:30 and is back by 16:00. Price runs from USD 120 to 170 per person (2026), lunch buffet on top.

Transfer

15 min

Cost level

high

Staying

Kite logistics run out of Union Island. Mayreau has limited accommodation and Tobago Cays is uninhabited, so a stay out there means a boat.

No-wind days

Snorkeling with turtles and rays inside the marine park, beach time at Salt Whistle Bay, a sailing or yacht day trip, SUP tours, and Mayreau village.

Photos

aerial view of Tobago Cays with Petit Rameau/Baradal — Stefan Schäfer, Lich / CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons

FAQ

When is the best time to kite Tobago Cays / Mayreau?

December to June is most reliable, within a broader mid-November to July trade-wind season.

Is it suitable for beginners?

Not for independent beginners; treat it as an intermediate-to-advanced guided-boat excursion given reefs, small launches and boat traffic.

Are there rules or fees?

The Tobago Cays Marine Park charges an entry fee (XCD 15 per person for up to 24 hours in 2026) and bans coral damage, anchoring on coral or seagrass, fishing and littering, with a 5-knot boat speed limit.

Where do kiters launch?

Tobago Cays launches only from Jamesby or Petit Tabac, with Baradal launches and kiting between sailboats forbidden; Mayreau riding is at Salt Whistle Bay, where kiting near anchored sailboats is also reportedly not allowed.

What are the main hazards?

Coral reef and seagrass beds to avoid contacting, heavy yacht traffic, and small, restricted launch zones.

The bigger pictureEverything about Union Island / Grenadines

Last updated: August 2026