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Best Beach St Lucia !


forevercruising4

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Hiya,

 

Visited St Lucia once before however can not remember where was complete paradise.

 

I am looking for a beach that is not crowded just a beautiful site with powdery white sands and calm water.

 

Any Suggestions

 

Many Thanks:D

 

Good luck with the powdery white sands beach. There is only one of those in St. Lucia as we are a volcanic island and our sand is mostly darker all the way to black in some areas.

Jalousie Beach, between the Pitons, is a powder white sand beach as they import their sand several times a year, as it erodes. Lovely hotel, absolutely stunning vistas with the Pitons there. You can get a cab from the cruise terminal to take you down, about an hour by car. All beaches are public in St. Lucia and you can use their facilities for lunch and drinks.

 

Closer to the ship, a lighter sand beach is Vigie - walking distance from either place the ship may berth. Local food stands, long stretch of pretty calm water. A little further up is Reduit Beach in Rodney Bay - where most of the tourists can be found. Lots of places to eat and drink, get a lounge chair, around $60Us for a cab ride.

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  • 2 weeks later...
Good luck with the powdery white sands beach. There is only one of those in St. Lucia as we are a volcanic island and our sand is mostly darker all the way to black in some areas.

Jalousie Beach, between the Pitons, is a powder white sand beach as they import their sand several times a year, as it erodes. Lovely hotel, absolutely stunning vistas with the Pitons there. You can get a cab from the cruise terminal to take you down, about an hour by car. All beaches are public in St. Lucia and you can use their facilities for lunch and drinks.

 

Closer to the ship, a lighter sand beach is Vigie - walking distance from either place the ship may berth. Local food stands, long stretch of pretty calm water. A little further up is Reduit Beach in Rodney Bay - where most of the tourists can be found. Lots of places to eat and drink, get a lounge chair, around $60Us for a cab ride.

 

 

Was that a typo or did you intend to type $60 for a cab ride to a beach? That's outrageous! One way or round trip? A little price gauging, don't you think?

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Was that a typo or did you intend to type $60 for a cab ride to a beach? That's outrageous! One way or round trip? A little price gauging, don't you think?

 

 

No, that was not a typo. Cabs in St. lucia are extremely expensive. Gas costs us over $5.50US a gallon and all the cars are imported and cost serious customs. Major expense. Sorry.

It is for up to 4 people, one way, easily $50/$60 US to Reduit Beach.

Soufriere town/Jalousie, you are looking at around $80 and up, give or take. One way. It's actually less expensive to rent a car for the day or to hire a driver to take you all around the island. Ben's West Coast jeeps will have the rental at the port for you.

 

From the Pointe Seraphine cruise port, exit the shopping area, walk down the driveway/entrance road, when you get to the Texaco station, turn left. Follow the road to the airport runway (can't miss it). your have to hang a right and go around the runway. There are local rum shops and food stands. For an actual bathroom, you can go in the airport area.

 

Have a great trip!!

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Taxis in St. Lucia are not metered, but have fixed fares for standard trips. For example, the fare for up to four people from Castries to Hewanorra Airport is EC$120, about $45(USD). Up to four people can travel from Castries to Rodney Bay for EC$40, about $15(USD). Travlers can often find a listing of fares to common destinations published by the tourism board to help them with their on-island travels. Visitors should negotiate the fare with the driver before embarking on a trip, and agree on whether the fare will be paid in United States Dollars (USD) or Eastern Caribbean Dollars (EC).

...

Buses run frequently on standard routes in northern St. Lucia from Castries to Gros Islet or to Rodney Bay. Travelers can catch one of the privately owned, 14-seater minivans at marked bus stops or by flagging one down along the three major bus routes on the coastal road: The Vieux Fort - Soufrière Route; the Soufrière - Castries route; and the Castries - Vieux Fort route. Catching a bus away from a designated stop should be easy as long as the driver has enough room to pull over to the side of the road.

Visitors should check with their hotels to learn about additional marked stops and common itineraries. The minivans follow planned bus routes, which are usually displayed on signs in the front window of the bus. Hotel staff can often provide specific route numbers as well.

Buses are an extremely affordable option for travelers. Fares are rarely more than $5(USD). Fares from Castries to the north start at EC$1.50, which is less than $0.60(USD). From Castries to the south, fares are EC$7.00 - under $2(USD).

While catching a bus to get somewhere on the island is relatively easy, catching one to get back may be a bit more challenging. Visitors can catch a bus on main routes around Gros Islet as late as 10:00 p.m., but buses heading back to Gros Islet and Castries from the southern portion of the island make their last runs in the mid-afternoon.

 

Source: http://stlucia-guide.info/getting.around/

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Good luck with the powdery white sands beach. There is only one of those in St. Lucia as we are a volcanic island and our sand is mostly darker all the way to black in some areas.

 

Are there actually black, sandy beaches?:confused:

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Wed Feb 2nd 2011 we were in St Lucia. We pre-booked a private tour (6 people) to do a 5 hour tour of St Lucia. It was amazing. It cost $65.00 per person and included lunch, afternoon snack and entry fee into volcano. We did not pay anything at time of booking. We just paid the driver cash at the end of the tour.We visited the banana plantation, fishing villages (Anse La-Raye and Canaries also Marigot Bay. We went down to Soufriere to overlook the Pitons then went to the drive-in volcano. In the price it included rum punch, local beer, water and soda and food. Our driver was Sam.

 

My email contact was nereus francis (cosol966@hotmail.com) Cosol Tours phone number is (758) 7196697.

 

We had a choice to have a private tour or to go on a larger bus. If you take a private tour you can ask them to add in what ever you want. If you want beach time the will create a route for you.

 

We were very happy with this tour. The 6 of us ranged in age from 60 to 65. We felt safe at all times.

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  • 2 weeks later...

ReedPrincess

 

We are planning to go to Jalousie beach and have hired a driver who is friends with someone who used to live on the island.

 

Is there going to be any problem with us going to Jalousie? There are 10 of us and we have read about the resort not letting people on the beach from taxis.

 

We will be there is less than a month and would love to see and swim at this beautiful beach.

 

Thanks,

 

MNFreeze

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ReedPrincess

 

...Is there going to be any problem with us going to Jalousie? There are 10 of us and we have read about the resort not letting people on the beach from taxis....

 

Thanks,

 

MNFreeze

 

That's my understanding as well. The last 2 times we went we booked a tour that used a water taxi. Something around $70pp for the tours seems to be the going rate and some include lunch. I haven't tried just renting a water taxi on my own.

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ReedPrincess

 

Is there going to be any problem with us going to Jalousie? There are 10 of us and we have read about the resort not letting people on the beach from taxis.

 

 

MNFreeze

 

There is no problem going to Jalousie Beach as all beaches in St. Lucia are public beaches. However, the new management of the hotel is making it as difficult as possible without actually stopping access. It is my understanding that to enter by the road, there is a per person fee for the hotel shuttle to take you from the parking lot to the beach. You can walk it for free - note it is a very narrow, very steep and twisty road.

Otherwise, you can come by water taxi from Soufriere. At the pier in Soufriere, you can always catch a water taxi and they seat around 10 or so. It is probably a 10 or 15 minute boat ride and they will take you over and pick you up at a specific time. Chances are your driver can make arrangements ahead of time if that's the way you choose to go.

Enjoy your trip!!!

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ReedPrincess,

 

Thank you for the info. Sorry but I now have more questions.

 

The water Taxi - how much does it cost?

 

Is Jalousie worth it for all this hassle? Would we be better off just going to a different beach?

 

Right now our plan is to hit the Rum distillery (been there twice before) then the bakery in Soufriere and then to the beach. Our driver is Lenny Peace and I have talked to him a little about this as well.

 

Thanks for all your help by the way. I really appreciate it.

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Does anyone have experience with the Bay Garden Beach resort day pass? Is the beach nice? How much will it cost to get there?

 

You don't need a day pass to go to Bay Gardens Beach Resort. It is not an AI resort. It is located on Reduit Beach in Rodney Bay. It's a fairly long stretch of beach with chairs and umbrellas for rent, loads of restaurants and bars to choose from around the area. It's around a 25 minute cab ride and costs about $30-40US for up to four persons. Tou can find more info on these threads, especially under the one called "Reduit Beach"

Enjoy your trip.

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Last week on our stop in St. Lucia, we got off and spoke to the woman at the information desk inside at the kiosk. I explained to her that we are a snorkeling family, we like a beach less-crowded, facilities, and just an all around beautiful place to spend the day. I was very confused on where to spend our day in St. Lucia, even after reading the boards. I figured by speaking with a local, she'd understand what we're looking for. Wow, did she ever!!! She sent us to Pigeon Island National Park. It's slightly past Rodney Bay! Words cannot even describe the beauty. It was magical. Absolutely perfect. Snorkeling was amazing. Fish everywhere. Gorgeous 12-15" starfish lying on the bottom, beautiful reefs, a beautiful vista that requires a short hike, fort ruins envoking so much history. It was breathtakingly beautiful. So much so, that when we arrived back to our ship after the day there, I went up to the woman at the kiosk and thanked her! She just smiled! If you love crowds, go to where the rest of the ship went, Rodney Bay. If it's peace, tranquility and beauty you want, go to Pigeon Island National Park.

p.s. A local man came around the shore in his dingy boat, blowing on his conch shell to get our attention. He was selling fresh mangos, bananas and coconuts, conch shells and souvenirs. I swam out to him and he lopped me off a cocunut, then and there!!! I thoroughly enjoyed a fresh coconut on the beach and the day at Pigeon Island! Just gorgeous!

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  • 3 weeks later...
Last week on our stop in St. Lucia, we got off and spoke to the woman at the information desk inside at the kiosk. I explained to her that we are a snorkeling family, we like a beach less-crowded, facilities, and just an all around beautiful place to spend the day. I was very confused on where to spend our day in St. Lucia, even after reading the boards. I figured by speaking with a local, she'd understand what we're looking for. Wow, did she ever!!! She sent us to Pigeon Island National Park. It's slightly past Rodney Bay! Words cannot even describe the beauty. It was magical. Absolutely perfect. Snorkeling was amazing. Fish everywhere. Gorgeous 12-15" starfish lying on the bottom, beautiful reefs, a beautiful vista that requires a short hike, fort ruins envoking so much history. It was breathtakingly beautiful. So much so, that when we arrived back to our ship after the day there, I went up to the woman at the kiosk and thanked her! She just smiled! If you love crowds, go to where the rest of the ship went, Rodney Bay. If it's peace, tranquility and beauty you want, go to Pigeon Island National Park.

p.s. A local man came around the shore in his dingy boat, blowing on his conch shell to get our attention. He was selling fresh mangos, bananas and coconuts, conch shells and souvenirs. I swam out to him and he lopped me off a cocunut, then and there!!! I thoroughly enjoyed a fresh coconut on the beach and the day at Pigeon Island! Just gorgeous!

 

I see you did NOT list a price at all on what it cost for you to do Pigeon NP, can you please let us know? We leave Saturday and are a group of 8 people, beach, swim, snorkle & drinks is what we are looking for.

We have done Reduit before many times, looking for a different beach expierience.

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I see you did NOT list a price at all on what it cost for you to do Pigeon NP, can you please let us know? We leave Saturday and are a group of 8 people, beach, swim, snorkle & drinks is what we are looking for.

We have done Reduit before many times, looking for a different beach expierience.

 

It is $5US per person to enter the park and you can spend all day. As for taxi fair, it is more than to Reduit/Rodney Bay as it is about 15 minutes further north. Probably around $50 US. Seems I was a bit over on my estimate for a cab to Reduit, it is actually more in the range of $30US (both for up to 4 people) You can probably negotiate a better rate for a round trip as cab drivers frequently do one way of the trip empty and that makes up part of the high price.

Pigeon Island is great, 2 places to eat, small lovely beach, great views on both sides - out to Martinique and over towards Rodney Bay.

Enjoy your trip!

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It is $5US per person to enter the park and you can spend all day. As for taxi fair, it is more than to Reduit/Rodney Bay as it is about 15 minutes further north. Probably around $50 US. Seems I was a bit over on my estimate for a cab to Reduit, it is actually more in the range of $30US (both for up to 4 people) You can probably negotiate a better rate for a round trip as cab drivers frequently do one way of the trip empty and that makes up part of the high price.

Pigeon Island is great, 2 places to eat, small lovely beach, great views on both sides - out to Martinique and over towards Rodney Bay.

Enjoy your trip!

 

THANKS SO MUCH. I think we are gonna give PI a try and see how good we are at negotiating a flat rate for 6 people.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hey....thanks for all the great information!!!

 

I would love some advise....

 

We are going on a deep sea fishing trip in the morning...we will be back around noon....

 

Would love to hit a beach, maybe rum distillery....?????

 

Is there a beach by the rum distillery that would be good...for relaxing and snorkeling?

 

Thanks so much!!!!

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We spent the day at Jalouise beach (booked tour through Spencer Ambrose--"Jalouise Beach Break"). It was $70.00 per person and included lunch and drinks. This was a fabulous day--got right to the beach early, spent about 5 hours there then had a scenic boat ride on the way back including a quick stop in Marigot. Spencer and his assistant were great-checked in with us throughout the day to make sure we had drinks and food--very friendly and informative. The water at this beach was warm and calm--great for snorkeling and swimming with the kids . SOOO beautiful between the pitons! We had no problem with the resort owners--however we didn't use any of their amenities.

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Hey....thanks for all the great information!!!

 

I would love some advise....

 

We are going on a deep sea fishing trip in the morning...we will be back around noon....

 

Would love to hit a beach, maybe rum distillery....?????

 

Is there a beach by the rum distillery that would be good...for relaxing and snorkeling?

 

Thanks so much!!!!

 

No beach right near the rum distillery to hang out on, but you are not very far from Marigot Bay, which has a small beach and is a beautiful bay. Probably about 15, minutes from the distillery, you actually pass the turn off on the way to the rum stop! If you have hired a taxi to take you to the distillery, they would be able to take you to Marigot also and bring you back to the ship.

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