Sunset and sunrise times across the Caribbean

Sunrise over the Caribbean

Most of the Mexican Caribbean faces east, straight onto the open sea, so the sunrise is the show here. The long beaches of Cancun's hotel zone from Playa Gaviota Azul to Playa Delfines, Puerto Morelos, Playa del Carmen, Akumal and Tulum all see the sun come up out of the water. At Bacalar Lagoon it rises over the lagoon, in front of the town.

Where to watch the sunset

The sun sets over the water only where the coast looks west or north. In Cancun that means the bay side of the hotel zone, with Playa Langosta and Playa Caracol on the calm Bay of Mujeres, and Nichupté Lagoon, behind the hotels, where the sky turns orange over still water. On Isla Mujeres, Playa Norte and the west side of the island look west toward the mainland. And on Cozumel, the whole sheltered west coast faces the sunset across the channel, from the cruise port to the waterfront of San Miguel.

How the times change through the year

Cancun is close to the tropics, so the days change less than in the US or Canada. Around the winter solstice the sun sets at about 6 p.m. and rises at around 7:20 a.m.; in late June it sets at about 7:30 p.m. and rises just after 6 a.m. The shortest day is about 10 hours and 50 minutes long and the longest about 13 hours and 25 minutes. Because Quintana Roo never changes its clocks, the times shift a little every day, with no sudden jump in spring or autumn. The time in Cancun page shows how that compares with your own city.

Puerto Rico: an hour ahead, and still earlier

Puerto Rico keeps Atlantic time, an hour ahead of Cancun, and it never changes its clocks either. But the island lies so far east that the sun reaches it well before it reaches the Yucatán, so in San Juan the sun rises and sets about 20 to 30 minutes earlier by the clock than in Cancun, all year round. Most of the island's cams look north, over the Atlantic, so the sun rises to their right and sets to their left rather than straight over the sea.

Jamaica: the same clock, an earlier sun

Jamaica keeps the same time as Cancun all year, five hours behind UTC. But it lies about ten degrees further east, so the sun rises and sets there roughly 30 to 45 minutes earlier by the clock: earliest in Kingston, a little later in Montego Bay. Doctor's Cave Beach in Montego Bay looks out over a bay that opens to the west, so its sunsets go down over the water.

The Dutch islands: Atlantic time, steady days

Curaçao, Aruba and St Maarten keep Atlantic time all year, like Puerto Rico. Curaçao and Aruba lie far to the south, only about 12 degrees north of the equator, so their days barely change through the year: the sun sets at about a quarter past 6 in winter and about 7 p.m. in summer. Most of their beaches face west, and Eagle Beach in Aruba and the cove of Playa Lagun in Curaçao watch the sun go down over the sea.

The Cayman Islands and the Virgin Islands

Grand Cayman keeps the same clock as Cancun but lies about five degrees further east, so the sun rises and sets there some 20 minutes earlier. The beaches of its west coast, Seven Mile Beach among them, look straight out at the sunset. The Virgin Islands and Anguilla keep Atlantic time, like Puerto Rico; there, the beach bars of Sandy Ground, in Anguilla, face west over the water.

The French islands, Antigua, the Bahamas and the Bay Islands

St Barts, Antigua, Guadeloupe and Martinique also keep Atlantic time, and lying further east and south than Puerto Rico, the sun sets there earlier by the clock. The beach of Flamands on St Barts and the bay of Les Anses-d'Arlet in Martinique face west, so the sun goes down over the sea. The Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos follow New York, with summer time, so their summer sunsets come late: around 8 p.m. in Nassau and half an hour earlier in the Turks and Caicos, which lie further east. Utila and Roatán, in Honduras, and Orchid Bay, in the north of Belize, lie at about the same longitude as Cancun but keep Central time, an hour behind, so there the sun rises and sets almost an hour earlier by the clock; West Bay, at the western tip of Roatán, faces the sunset. The Dominican Republic keeps Atlantic time too but lies further west, so its sunsets come later by the clock than in the Lesser Antilles; at Punta Cana, on its east coast, the sun rises out of the Atlantic.

Barbados, Saint Lucia and Tobago

Barbados, Saint Lucia and Tobago keep Atlantic time and lie the furthest east and south of all. Barbados is the first island of the Caribbean to see the sun rise, and the camera at Ragged Point faces it straight over the Atlantic. Tobago, only about 11 degrees north of the equator, has days that barely change through the year; on its Caribbean side, the bays of Castara and Mount Irvine watch the sun go down over the sea.