Noah’s Ark, the floating bar: how to get there

• What it is: a floating bar and grill off Little Water Cay, inside Princess Alexandra National Park, open every day from 10 am until sunset since early 2022.
• Getting there: the bar’s own water taxi from a dock near Blue Haven Marina in Leeward, 5 to 15 minutes each way and about $40 round trip in 2026, a jet ski tour, or a private boat.
• What it costs: cocktails from about $20, a burger about $20 and a seafood plate about $30 (2026 prices), plus the 12% government tax and a service charge.
• When to go: a weekday, soon after 10 am, for a calm swim and room at the bar; a Sunday for the DJ and the crowd.
• Easiest on a boat day: a charter that ties up alongside, such as the 26ft, the 37ft Luxury Boat or the 43ft and 47ft yachts, or the Ultimate Seafari jet ski tour, which includes lunch at the bar.

Noah’s Ark is a beach club on a floating platform: a bar, an outdoor grill, an open dance floor and a DJ booth, moored in the shallows off Little Water Cay, between the mouth of the Half Moon Bay lagoon and Bird Cay, inside Princess Alexandra National Park. From the docks on the Leeward side of Providenciales it’s 5 to 15 minutes by boat, and it’s too far to swim. It opens every day at 10 am and closes at sunset; there’s no evening service.

The kitchen leans local: cracked conch and conch fritters, jerk chicken, whole grilled snapper, fish and chips, wings, burgers and hot dogs, and lobster in season. The bar pours local beer, champagne and its own signature cocktails. In 2026 money, figure about $20 for a burger, about $30 for a seafood plate and $20 and up for a cocktail. Outside food and drink and anything in glass aren’t allowed on the platform.

Then comes the part first-timers don’t budget for: the 12% government tax and a service charge go on top of every menu price, so a $20 cocktail comes to about $25, and a couple sharing a burger, a seafood plate and two cocktails each lands at about $160. Independent guides put a few hours out there, with the water taxi, a simple meal and a few drinks, at about $100 a person. Cards are taken, but the card machines out here have been known to drop offline, so carry enough cash to settle up.

What a Sunday feels like

Sunday is the main event. A DJ plays through the afternoon, there are dance contests on the open deck, boats are moored all around the platform by early afternoon and the swim zone is shoulder to shoulder. It’s a party first and a lunch spot second, the drinks flow, and now and then tempers fray. If that sounds like your kind of day, go. If not, the same platform on a Tuesday morning is a different place: a handful of boats, room at the bar and clear water to yourselves.

Swimming off it

One side of the platform is a shallow swim zone, reached down a pool ladder, with ocean swings, a water trampoline and floating mats. The water is clear and calm over sand, but the deck and the ladder are slippery, so water shoes help. There’s usually no lifeguard, and boats and jet skis pull in and out all afternoon, so stay inside the swim zone and well clear of anything with a propeller.

With kids

The platform is built around an adult party, and independent reviewers say plainly that it isn’t aimed at children. With kids, treat it as a short swim stop on a weekday morning, ideally from a boat with its own bathroom and its own snacks, and skip it on weekends. There’s a single portable bathroom on the platform, and on busy days it shows.

Good to know

Plenty of the island’s half-day boats and jet ski tours make it a stop, so the crowd builds through the afternoon and peaks on weekends. The first hour after it opens at 10 am is the quietest of the day.

Most powerboats here tie up right alongside the bar, any day of the week. That includes the 22ft and 26ft boats, the 37ft Luxury Boat, the Adventure Boat and the 43ft and 47ft yachts, so you step across with nothing to carry through the water.

Most groups give it about an hour: a drink, a swim, lunch if you’re hungry, then back aboard for the next stop. Say at the dock that the bar is on your list and the captain builds the route around it.

The 51ft and 62ft Lux Yachts work differently: they stay off and you wade over through the shallows, so put phones and cash in a dry bag first, and wear water shoes: the bottom is sand, but the ladder and the deck are slippery.

Either way, the bar fits easily into a half day. A four-hour charter usually takes in two or three stops, so Noah’s Ark pairs well with a reef snorkel and a sandbar. Our guide to half day or full day shows how the hours add up.

The 30ft and 35ft Catamarans and the 41ft Sailing Catamaran can make Noah’s Ark a wade-in stop, but whether they go is the captain’s call on the day, depending on how busy the bar is and the conditions around it. They also don’t run on Sundays.

If the bar is a must, pick a boat that ties up alongside instead. If the reefs and the sandbars matter more than the bar, the catamarans are a steady, shaded way to see them.

The 3HR Ultimate Seafari is the jet ski tour with lunch at Noah’s Ark. Your guide leads the group down Providenciales’ south coast over the shallows of the Caicos Bank, around the La Famille Express shipwreck, past the kiteboarders over Long Bay and through the coves off Turtle Tail, then pulls up at the bar for lunch, one lunch per jet ski.

It’s priced per jet ski with up to two riders, so for a couple it costs less than any private charter. Solo drivers must be 16 or older; younger riders can drive with a guardian seated behind them, and passengers ride from age 3.

The lunch comes off the bar’s regular menu, one per jet ski, and drinks are on you. There’s no snorkel stop on a jet ski tour and a ski carries about 400 lbs between two riders, so pack light: a dry bag for a phone and a shirt is the luggage.

Good to know

The tour leaves from Heaving Down Rock Marina in Leeward, where parking is $10. Hotel pickup from select Grace Bay hotels is $20 a person, paid on the day. More in our jet ski guide.

If all you want is a drink and a swim, the bar’s own water taxi is the simple way: boats leave from a dock near Blue Haven Marina in Leeward, take 5 to 15 minutes, and run almost nonstop on weekends. The fare has climbed with the bar’s fame, from $20 with a welcome cocktail when it opened in 2022 to about $40 round trip in 2026, and more than one boat works the route. Call or text the bar ahead, confirm the fare and agree the time for the ride back before you hand over any money: a few visitors have been left waiting for a return boat that was slow to come.

It’s a straight there-and-back, though. To see the reef, the sandbars or the wreck on the same outing, you need a private charter or a jet ski tour.

Book a charter that ties up alongside if Noah’s Ark is a must, and especially if your day is a Sunday.

Take the Ultimate Seafari if there are two of you and you want speed, the shipwreck and lunch at the bar in three hours.

Choose a catamaran if the reef, the sandbars and an easy pace matter more than the bar.

For two, our pick is the 3HR Ultimate Seafari: $645 all-in per jet ski for up to two riders, three hours with a guide, the safety briefing and gear, the La Famille Express on the way and lunch at Noah’s Ark, one per jet ski. For a family or a group of six, take the 26ft’s four-hour charter: $1,827 all-in for six, up to ten at $80 for each extra guest, with light snacks, fresh fruit, water, sodas and local beer aboard, a bathroom, a free shuttle from central Grace Bay and Long Bay resorts, and a captain who ties up right at the bar. The price on either listing includes taxes, a deposit secures it, cancellation is free up to 24 hours before on the Seafari and 48 hours before on the 26ft, and a request is confirmed within a few hours, nearly always the same day.

Every charter on TCI Experiences is handpicked and verified for safety, service and upkeep. Half Moon Bay is right next door, so see Half Moon Bay and the sandbars to plan the rest of the day.