Early morning or late afternoon.

Yes. The sweet spot is roughly 8–10 AM and 3–5 PM. Most day-trippers arrive around 11 AM and clear out by 2 PM. That middle window (11–2) is when the beaches, viewpoints, and lunch spots get swamped.

If you can stomach an early breakfast, you get near-empty beaches and calm seas. If you’re more of a late person, the hour before sunset is also quiet because the bulk of tourists are either eating dinner or heading back to their hotels.

But here’s the catch: cruise ship crowds are a wildcard. Check the port schedule for your island. If a 3,000-person ship docks at 8 AM, your early window just got nuked. Otherwise, treat the lunch rush as your enemy.

This advice holds for pretty much any popular island in peak season.