what's the truth about jealousie beach

I love getting others' perspectives! We just went to Jalousie Beach and it was my least favorite Caribbean beach. I found it to be small, crowded, and rocky, with poor snorkeling. The only nice thing was seeing the Pitons. I have been to Magen's, Sapphire, and Coki on St. Thomas, Trunk Bay on St. John, Maho on St. Maarten, 7 Mile in GC, West End in Roatan, and all of them were better than Jalousie IMHO.

Then allow me to give my persepective. :)

Jalousie is small and entry into the water certainly has rocks all around (I know, I fell on them :() but the day I was there it was not crowded at all. It was the first time I snorkeled, which I was grateful for as I had a snorkel excursion a few days later in Bonaire (which was excellent) as it allowed me to get used to the concept. The Pitons was an imposing and beautiful sight.

I was at Magens a month later and had read all the reviews of how beautiful it was...I was not at all impressed. Perhaps my expectations based on what I read, were too high.

Trunk Bay is absolutely stunning, in my opinion. The beach I find the most appealing though was in Barbados. The color and the compacted sand, the hues of the water color were imopressive. The view was not as comparable to Trunk Bay but considering the other factors, I favor Carlise Bay in Barbados. Luckily for me, I will be at both of the beaches later this year.:D

How did you get there and how long did you stay? (still trying to plan)

I went with Spencer Ambrose's Jalousie Beach Break tour.

It uses a speed boat both ways which allowed us to be on the beach early - allowing for a expansive choice of the free loungers, in the shade or in the sun - and gave at least 4 hours on the beach.

On the return boat ride, brief stops are made at sights allowing for photo opportunities.

Refreshments were provided on the boat as well as on the beach.

I enjoyed the tour very much.

An unpleasant beach, in my view, man-made, shelving, murky water. The resort is probably OK - the pool looked beautiful - but I can't see why anyone would pay this sort of room rate and have that overcrowded, busy beach and no privacy. The hotel rents out sun loungers for $50 each, cheaper ones without any shade for $10. The area reserved for day-trippers is seriously grotty. We gave up on the beach entirely and had a lovely lunch at the hotel for about $150 including a nice bottle of wine.

Not impressed at all with Jalousie Beach! St Lucia is so beautiful, I think you can find a much nicer beach. We were there last week, the beach itself was very small by the hotel, the loungers were not in the best shape and the so called "Water Taxi" that we were provided was not even safe to board! It's very difficult even to walk on this tiny beach! You can do much better than this one!

It is so interesting that people have such vastly different opinions of this place. Some say amazing, some say worst ever. Almost makes me more excited to see it just to develop my own opinion about it.

Can anybody post a picture of theirs of the beach supporting their side of the story? I googled some but pictures just really dont do it justice.

Has anyone done both the Cosol and Spencer Ambrose tours? Which did you prefer?

Sure, Jalousie isn't as nice as Carlisle Bay or Trunk Bay, but it was still pretty decent in my opinion.

Maybe I don't set the bar very high. I'm from Alberta, where we have 9 months of winter and 3 months of road construction. ANY beach where I can sit in the sun, snorkel in warm water, and drink myself into a fog is pure heaven IMO. I believe that no matter where you travel, make the best of it. Don't nitpick - just enjoy... :)

There are some Jalousie photos in this album: (only a couple of the beach)

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150709850545681.447350.567405680&type=1&l=f8f38f46d3

Cheers, P:)

The beach is beautiful, but the section for non-resort guests is small, rocky, and not a good experience. We just were there on 2/28/13 with Spencer Tours and had a terrible time - overcrowded, cold food, no ice, and arguments on the dock as we left between Spencer and some guests. Find something else to do in St. Lucia.

The beach is beautiful, but the section for non-resort guests is small, rocky, and not a good experience. We just were there on 2/28/13 with Spencer Tours and had a terrible time - overcrowded, cold food, no ice, and arguments on the dock as we left between Spencer and some guests. Find something else to do in St. Lucia.

It sounds like we were the same day. It was just a very unorganized day!! We will NEVER do a Spencer Ambrose tour again!!

So wait, do non-resort guests have to stay at the small, crowded, rocky area? I thought others said you have access to all parts of the beach? Why in the world would someone stay at the crappy part?

Nope. You can go wherever you want along that beach.

Cheers, P:)

So wait, do non-resort guests have to stay at the small, crowded, rocky area? I thought others said you have access to all parts of the beach? Why in the world would someone stay at the crappy part?

I have no idea why anyone would stay on that portion of the beach, except to rest on the free loungers. The beach is public and you can enjoy any portion of it you like, spread your towel anywhere, etc. You can enjoy the beach bar/restaurant, rent the better chairs if you like and so on.

ALL beaches in St. Lucia are public!!!

xxx

I went with Spencer Ambrose and got there early (0900). I chose a chair in the shade in front of the marine preserve and stayed there all day. It was shady and cool and sheltered when it rained for a few minutes.

The view is spectacular and I loved that side of the beach.

Anyone spent a day at both Jalousie and Anse Cochon/Ti Kaye? Just wondering which to choose for quality of beach and snorkelling? I have sailed by both in a cat but haven't spent time at either.

We had a great experience with Spencer Ambrose and his Jalousie Beach Break tour in February. We got there before anyone else, so we picked out a couple of nice loungers under a palapa right in front of the area roped off for snorkeling.

 

It's a nice, sandy beach, but once you're in the water it's rocky, so you'll need water shoes. We found the snorkeling to be pretty decent.

 

The beach can get a little busy, but we didn't find the boat traffic to be all that bad. The area for snorkeling is roped off, so you're not worried about tangling with boats while you're in there...

+1

Just did this last week.

Key is to get there EARLY! Not only to get a chair, but to snorkel before the water gets churned up.

The key to entering the water is to enter by the dock. It's still a little rocky there, but nothing as bad as the entry in front of the snorkeling area (where, most people obviously enter). Just put your fins on first (no need for shoes) and walk in backwards...should be okay (that's what we did).

I got out our good camera and took some pictures of the water at the entry point:

This is the entry point right next to the dock:

My husband sitting here forever. He was watching an eel under that rock.

We had a really nice day there and my husband pretty much snorkeled the entire time (except to eat lunch). Like I said, key is to get there early. They had a nice lunch for us and bathroom facilities. For the price, we couldn't complain!

We did this beach with Spencer Ambrose. Unfortunately, we arrived at lunch time and the beach was overcrowded. Turned out to be a bad experience for many of us - due to the size of the beach, lack of chairs, and Spencer's attitude. Personally, we will avoid St. Lucia on future cruises.

We did this beach with Spencer Ambrose. Unfortunately, we arrived at lunch time and the beach was overcrowded. Turned out to be a bad experience for many of us - due to the size of the beach, lack of chairs, and Spencer's attitude. Personally, we will avoid St. Lucia on future cruises.

Sorry for your disappointing experience. I would not write off St Lucia based on this. The reviews of the beach break at Jalouise have been mixed for quite some time; seems to depend greatly on the number of visitors/ships in port.

For others looking for an exceptional snorkeling experience and a relaxing day on an uncrowded beach, you may want to look into the offerings of Islamd Divers at Ti Kaye.

We did this beach with Spencer Ambrose. Unfortunately, we arrived at lunch time and the beach was overcrowded. Turned out to be a bad experience for many of us - due to the size of the beach, lack of chairs, and Spencer's attitude. Personally, we will avoid St. Lucia on future cruises.

Sorry for your disappointing experience. I would not write off St Lucia based on this. The reviews of the beach break at Jalouise have been mixed for quite some time; seems to depend greatly on the number of visitors/ships in port.

For others looking for an exceptional snorkeling experience and a relaxing day on an uncrowded beach, you may want to look into the offerings of Islamd Divers at Ti Kaye.

Sorry to hear you did not enjoy your experience at Jalousie Beach. Jalousie Beach is very scenic and is a popular beach stop due to the fact that it is located right between the Gros and Petit Pitons. It is true that the more ships in port the more crowded the beach would be as numerous tour operators and even cruise lines themselves offer excursions to Jalousie. As for the lack of free chairs, they are a limited number of them provided by the resort, so again the more visitors on the beach the less chance you will get a complimentary chair--but the beach is public and you can always put your towel down anywhere in the sand and access the beach anywhere along its stretch. We have visited Jalousie Beach twice and each time it was during the summer months, so we did not have a crowding issue at all. We also enjoyed the beautiful scenery of the beach and being up close to the Pitons.

If you really would like a beach stop where you are able to see the Pitons up close, Jalousie Beach is excellent for that. Although TiKaye may offer an excellent snorkeling experience, you will not see the Pitons from there.

St. Lucia is really a very lush and scenic island--it is unfortunate you were not able to enjoy what it had to offer.

Jalousie beach is very scenic, situated between the pitons. At low traffic times, the snorkeling is good and the currents comparitively mild. Anse Chastenet has better snorkeling, but can have surprise side currents strong enough to take off rings and you can incur fines if you accidentally hit the reef. Also, they had a better restaurant if you like curry dishes than Jalousie. The beaches are public, but the actual resort roads are not, so factor in transportation by boat or car. Either way, Anse Chastanet is futher north than Jalousie.

What time do you get back to your ship with the Spencer Ambrose tour?

Not long before 4pm. I think our departure time was 5pm that day? (can't remember for certain)

They are very conscious of the time.

We just did the Spencer Ambrose Beach break 3 weeks ago, and really really enjoyed our day. The tour was great and the scenery is stunning. This is certainly not the best "beach". I have been to several other beaches with prettier sand, and nice chairs, and more room. This trip is about seeing the pitons around you. I would without a doubt recommend going to this beach, and would highly recommend taking the tour with Spencer, so that he arrive at the beach earlier to get the free chairs before the other groups arrive in the afternoon.

Dont go here excpecting 7 mile beach in GC, or Orient Bay in St. Maarten, or something like that, it is totally different!

I also found the snorkeling to be very very good, lots of variety of fish, coral, and plant life, very cool.

Are there any other beaches where you can see the Pitons?

The Pitons are one hour+ south of the cruise port/Castries. You can see them from Soufriere beachfront, and from various viewing points around Soufriere (hills, etc), and from Anse I'vorgne, which is on the south side of Gros Piton. There is a great castaway beach day experience there with Tribute to the Lion, maybe look into that. You can see them from around the point at Anse Chastenet - but not from Anse Chastenet beach.

Basically, you need to take a boat trip or land trip to Soufriere in order to see them. They are not viewable from areas around the port or points north, Ti Kaye, etc. They are breathtaking, well worth a tour or taxi ride to the area, along with the volcano, plantations, hiking, snorkeling, diving, waterfalls, etc in the area.

Enjoy your visit.