A Minted Location day guide
Dock & Dine in Antigua & Barbuda
Dining in Antigua works from a mooring or an anchorage — and two operators publish a price for coming alongside instead.
Antigua Slipway publishes an hourly rate for tying up. Its dock and yard regulations state that any vessel below 20 ft is treated as a dinghy and "is not chargeable", that the dinghy dock is the only dockage available to it, and that "Any vessel above 20ft is charged at USD $50.00 per hour." Clients staying a night or more revert to the regular dockage rate. That is a published price for coming in, eating and leaving again, and the yard names the restaurants its dinghy dock sits in front of.
Jolly Harbour publishes the same idea as a discount. Both its monohull and catamaran rate cards carry a line reading "1-6 hrs — 50% standard daily rate." On a 50-footer that is roughly $36 in winter to bring the boat in for the afternoon rather than the night. The marina's own boardwalk links four concrete docks to the shopping area, the supermarket "can be reached by both road or dinghy", and there is a dedicated dinghy dock in the heart of the main marina.
Everywhere else, the tender is the mechanism. English Harbour and Falmouth Harbour are deep, protected natural harbours ringed with places to eat, and most visiting boats lie at anchor and go in by dinghy — the dockage terms belong to the marinas rather than the kitchens. The Falmouth superyacht marina lists its restaurants as an amenity of the berth, and the National Parks Authority lists "Restaurants and bars in easy reach" on its marina page. If you would rather arrive by boat than by dinghy, $50 an hour at the Slipway or half the daily rate at Jolly Harbour is what it costs, published, in advance.
⚠️ Do not anchor inside Jolly Harbour. The marina's rate cards prohibit it and price it: $100 on the monohull card and $150 on the catamaran card. Take a mooring instead — $35 a night for a monohull, $50 for a catamaran, maximum 50 ft and 15 tons — and note the operator's rule that boats must not be left unattended overnight.
The stops, as their own docks describe them
| Spot | Where | Arriving by boat |
|---|---|---|
| Antigua Slipway dinghy dock — $50 an hourA published price for tying up, eating and leaving again rather than staying the night. The yard's own dock and yard regulations state that any vessel below 20 ft counts as a dinghy and is not chargeable, that the dinghy dock is the only dockage available to it, and that anything above 20 ft pays USD $50.00 per hour. Stay a night or more and the regular dockage rate applies instead. The yard names the restaurants its dinghy dock sits in front of, so dinner is a walk from the dock. | English Harbour | Vessels under 20 ft "not chargeable" at the dinghy dock; "Any vessel above 20ft is charged at USD $50.00 per hour" |
| Jolly Harbour — half the daily rate for the afternoonThe second come-ashore price in the market, and it is a discount rather than a tariff. On a 50-footer, half the winter daily rate is roughly $36 to bring the boat in for an afternoon instead of a night. A wooden boardwalk links the four concrete docks to the shopping area, there is a dedicated dinghy dock in the heart of the main marina, and the supermarket "can be reached by both road or dinghy." Anchoring inside Jolly Harbour is prohibited and priced — $100 on the monohull card, $150 on the catamaran card — so take a mooring at $35 or $50 a night, capped at 50 ft and 15 tons, and note that boats "must not be left unattended overnight." | Jolly Harbour, west coast | "1-6 hrs — 50% standard daily rate" on both the monohull and catamaran rate cards |
| The English and Falmouth Harbour restaurantsDining in the two famous yachting harbours works the way it always has: lie at anchor or on a mooring, and go in by tender. Both are deep, protected and ringed with places to eat, and the dockage terms belong to the marinas rather than the kitchens — the Falmouth superyacht marina lists its restaurants as an amenity of the berth, and the National Parks Authority lists "Restaurants and bars in easy reach" on its marina page. If you would rather bring the boat alongside than the dinghy, two operators put a price on it — see the two rows above. | English Harbour and Falmouth Harbour | Take a mooring or anchor, and go in by tender |
Dockage notes are what each restaurant publishes on its own site — space is first-come and dinner-hour rafting is real, so hail ahead. Where a venue states nothing about docking, we say so rather than guess.
Planning more than lunch?
We represent buyers wherever the right boat sits — shortlisting, surveying and sea-trialing on the buyer's side of the table. Tell us the mission and we'll tell you which boat, and which berth, it calls for.