Off the North Shore Road in Shelly Bay, midway between Flatt's Bridge and the Shelly Bay Plaza. Bus routes 10 and 11 to and from the Town of St. George and City of Hamilton stop here and offer a frequent service. It takes its name from Henry Shelly, one of Bermuda's earliest colonists of the early 1600s who lived here. The beach is public, popular, shallow and safe for the family, with some access for the disabled and a disabled-only parking space for a car (not close to the beach). It has shade trees providing welcome relief. It also a popular place for residents to camp out over the Cup Match holidays. The seascape from the beach stretches to the Bermuda Royal Naval Dockyard in Sandy's Parish. On windy days, it's a favorite place for wind surfers (see smaller photo) to fly across the deeper water of the bay, out of range of swimmers. There are a children's playground and park with many indigenous species of trees and shrubs; and a playing field for several organized sports near a former horse racing track. Visitors today can see at the adjacent sports field area of the complex, what used to be for many years until the late 1930s, the Shelly Bay horse racing track. In 1937, Oliver Caisey, Sr. (with his race horse Fanny) became the first black jockey at the Shelly Bay race track. His groom was Claude (Poker) Furbert. It was a particularly popular place for British Army officers stationed in both Devonshire at Fort Prospect and in St. Georges, as it was exactly midway between them.
Shelley Bay Race track in the old days (long since gone) when this was a hugely popular local racing event.