Where this beach actually is
This is the field most sites get wrong, so it goes first. Kim Sha Beach is the eastern end of the Simpson Bay shoreline, at the foot of the Billy Folly hill on the Pelican Key headland. A local property source puts the eastern boundary plainly: Pelican Key begins at Billy Folly Road, where Kim Sha meets the base of a steep hill.
The western anchor comes from the resorts. The Atrium Beach Resort is described as being on Kim Sha Beach, and Simpson Bay Resort & Marina, the large property on the headland, as sitting on Pelican Key and Kim Sha.
So the working definition: Kim Sha runs from the base of Billy Folly Road at the eastern corner of Simpson Bay, past Buccaneer Beach Bar and the Simpson Bay Resort frontage, north and west to roughly the Atrium. Beyond the Atrium, the same continuous sand is called Simpson Bay Beach. There is no fence, no sign and no legal line. The distinction is entirely local usage.
Nobody publishes a length for Kim Sha. Assume a few hundred metres. The tourism board's page for the Pelican Key beach next door claims 500 metres, which is the only number anyone offers for this corner of the bay.
The only beach here a scientific body has told people not to swim at
Two independent Nature Foundation studies flag Kim Sha, two years apart.
In August 2018, in the first post-Irma water quality assessment of the island's wetlands and beaches, seven sites were tested. Kim Sha returned positive for coliform bacteria, an indicator of sewage, plus medium to high phosphates and nitrates. Great Bay, by contrast, showed an absence of coliform indicators. The Foundation recommended lab-level testing to establish the level of coliform bacteria at Kim Sha in particular.
That lab testing was done. The Water Quality Testing Research Report of 29 October 2020 sampled four Dutch-side beaches against the US EPA threshold of 35 colony-forming units of Enterococci per 100 ml. Kim Sha was the most contaminated site, with an overall average of 136.7 CFU, roughly four times the threshold, and one section where the count was recorded as too numerous to count. Simpson Bay Beach, on the same shoreline a few hundred metres west, was the cleanest at 5.4 CFU. The report's recommendation is unambiguous: Kim Sha beach is not recommended for swimming until the situation is improved. It urged government to address wastewater discharge from nearby businesses and from the Simpson Bay Lagoon. Sampling took place between 24 and 26 March 2020.
Here is the essential caveat, and it cuts both ways. The newest published data is from March 2020. No Nature Foundation water quality article after that date names Kim Sha. Nothing in the record says the problem has been fixed, and nothing says it has not.
So: the most recent scientific testing of this beach found bacteria four times over the safe swimming threshold and advised against swimming, and nobody has published a retest in more than five years. Decide with that in front of you rather than without it.
Cars on the sand, despite it being illegal
In September 2018, after a court ruled that parking on Great Bay Beach was illegal, the Nature Foundation welcomed the precedent but documented that the opposite trend was continuing at Kim Sha: cars, buses, trucks, ATVs and heavy equipment driving and parking on the beach, including a car dealership advertising vehicles parked on the sand.
The Foundation's position is flat. It is prohibited to drive any motorised vehicle on the island's beaches, because vehicle weight and vibration destroy sea turtle nests, compact the sand and accelerate erosion.
Whether vehicles are still driven onto Kim Sha in 2026 we do not know, and it would take one photograph to find out.
The road in was rebuilt in 2026 by the businesses that use it
On 14 April 2026 the Ministry of VROMI officially reopened Billy Folly Road, the access road to Kim Sha and Pelican Key, after a rehabilitation delivered through Sint Maarten's first public-private partnership pilot.
Private businesses contributed $496,500 between them: Simpsonbay Resort, Flamingo Hilton, La Vista, Simpsonbay Suites, Baker Suites, Market Garden, SMTA, Hollywood Casino, Splash Jewelry, Aquamania, Tepui Residences, Dollar Thrifty, Buccaneers Beach Bar, Peli Deli and Sunset Spa. The work covered new sidewalks, an upgraded concrete subsurface and a new asphalt layer, with drainage funding still being procured.
Two useful things follow. The approach is in good condition right now, including new sidewalks for anyone walking in. And that contributor list doubles as a verified roster of businesses trading in this area in 2026, which is more than most venue lists on this island can claim.
On the sand itself, 2024 to 2026 reviews name Buccaneer Beach Bar and The Greenhouse as operating. Behind and around the beach the tourism board lists Pineapple Pete's, Sale & Pepe, La Patrona, Beirut, Topper's Rhum Distillery, Replay Sports Bar and Huppel The Pub. Note that K's Beach Club is on Simpson Bay Beach proper, further west, not on Kim Sha. Chairs run roughly $15 to $30 for a lounger with umbrella, and one September 2025 visitor complained about dirty and broken chairs, so quality varies by concession.
Vendors are persistent. One visitor described being constantly bothered by people selling trinkets and services. An island-wide moratorium on new beach activity permits is currently in force while a new Beach and Vending Policy is developed with the World Bank and the National Recovery Program Bureau.
Nobody knows where the name comes from
Nothing we found explains the origin of Kim Sha. Every travel page ranking for the name either says nothing about it or is machine-generated filler.
The hill above has a documented folk etymology at least. Billy's Folly is said to be named after a Mr. William who tried and failed to make money from manganese mining and guano extraction on the hill. That is local tradition rather than established fact, and it should be read as one.
Kim Sha's own name origin is genuinely open. The National Archives, an older resident or a historian could probably close it, and whoever does gets a page nobody else has.
