Throw your clothes and caution to the trade winds, and follow Ian Keown's footprints in the sand to the 24 coolest beachfront restaurants in the Caribbean

Sometimes you just don't feel like putting on clothes to have lunch. Sometimes you just want to go straight from fish-gazing in a Windex-tinted, bath-warm ocean to sushi-grazing under a shady palapa on a crescent of baby-powder sand. For those of us who tend to eat indoors and fully clothed—and that, sadly, would be most of us—there's something supremely sexy and liberating about a dining room with no walls or ceiling and within sight, sound, and smell of the sea. Beach dining in the Caribbean has come a long way since the days when everything was grilled over charcoal on an upended steel drum. Today you're likely to find Vietnamese spring rolls, linguini vongole, and tabbouleh alongside the classic grilled langoustine and jerk chicken. Beach restaurants now come in all sizes and shapes—beach shack, rum shop, brasserie, café, temple of haute (or almost haute) cuisine—and all you have to do is summon up the energy to choose. Sometimes the basic shack is all you need, with its welcome oasis of shade, its ice-cold beer and fresh fish—and a side order of beachy camaraderie. At the other end of the spectrum are the restaurants where the tablecloths are as soft and white as the sand itself, the uniformed waiters better dressed than you. "We have people come in off the beach and order caviar and a bottle of Château Cheval Blanc," says Rory Rodger, general manager of the Lone Star restaurant, on Barbados. Whether you're after sevruga or flying fish, these are the kinds of places where you can hop, skip, and jump across the scorching sand directly to your meal—towel to table, nonstop. As one waiter put it, "Our dress code is come as you are—just don't come naked."

Sizzlers on the Sand: Our pick of the best places to eat on the beach.

Anguilla
Scilly Cay, Island Harbour

Antigua
Coconut Grove, Dickenson Bay
Turner's Beach Bar & Grill, Johnson's Point

Barbados
Daphne's, Payne's Bay
Fish Pot Restaurant, Shermans
Il Tempio, Fitts Village
Lone Star Restaurant, Alleyne's Bay
Mannie's Suga Suga, Mullins Beach

British Virgin Islands
Big Bamboo, Anegada
Deadman's Beach Bar and Grill, Peter Island
1748, Tortola

Curaçao
Playa Portomari, Portomari Beach

Grenada
Coconut Beach, Grand Anse Beach
Laluna, Morne Rouge Beach

Jamaica
Chill Out, Long Bay

Nevis
Sunshine's Beach Bar and Grill, Pinney's Beach

St. Barts
La Plage Restaurant, Plage de St. Jean
L'Indigo Restaurant, Grand Cul de Sac Beach
Snack Zen, Shell Beach

St. Kitts
Turtle Beach Bar & Grill, Turtle Beach

St. Martin
Kakao Beach Restaurant and Bar, Orient Bay
Karibuni Restaurant, Ilet Pinel