snorkeling in eastern carribean

[marjack]

Hi y'all. My hubby and I will be on the Emerald Princess cruising the Eastern Carribean, and we are looking for areas to snorkel from the beaches at the different ports. We have read on other boards that in St Lucia, Anse Chastanet, is a black sand beach great for snorkeling. Does anyone have any info on how to get there from the ship? Has anyone ever been there before and can provide any insights. Also, we would like any recommendations for beach snorkeling at any of the other ports, such as Antigua. Again, we would like to know if anyone has any experience or info on how to get there from the cruise terminal, and what they recommend.

We appreciate any and all information.

Thanks so much.

[Nicola26h]

We are doing the Emerald Eastern Caribbean on 26/11/07 and we booked snorkeling with the turtles in Barbados. There are also snorkeling opportunities on the catermeran trips and beach day trips in Antigua and St Kitts. I don't know the names of the beaches but if they do excursions there they must be good.

[FlyStef]

Hi y'all. My hubby and I will be on the Emerald Princess cruising the Eastern Caribbean, and we are looking for areas to snorkel from the beaches at the different ports. We have read on other boards that in St Lucia, Anse Chastanet, is a black sand beach great for snorkeling. Does anyone have any info on how to get there from the ship? Has anyone ever been there before and can provide any insights. Also, we would like any recommendations for beach snorkeling at any of the other ports, such as Antigua. Again, we would like to know if anyone has any experience or info on how to get there from the cruise terminal, and what they recommend.

We appreciate any and all information.

Thanks so much.

 

I haven't cruised to the Eastern Caribbean, but I've taken several long vacations to St. Lucia. I'm going to assume the ship will dock at Castries as I don't think Soufriere has a big enough port, and I never saw any cruise ships there.

 

By taxi car, Anse Chastanet will be a good hour, to hour and 15 minutes from Castries and a very very windy road. I never get motion or sea sickness, but driving around St. Lucia can literally make you ill.

 

It might be more expensive, but I'd recommend taking a water taxi from your port to wherever you'd like to snorkel. I have three main beaches that are wonderful for snorkeling.

 

Anse de Piton, is a white sand beach between the two Pitons which is probably the most idyllic setting on the island. Good snorkeling, Jalousie Plantation resort is also there to provide food and water sports for your preference. Anse de Piton will be a long taxi by land from Castries, possibly 90 minutes each direction and it will be very windy and disorienting, I cannot tell you how much more pleasant a water taxi would be.

 

As you've already mentioned, Anse Chastanet's beach is not necessarily a black sand beach, it's more of a gray, but very soft sand. This is the natural color of the island sand as it's volcanic in nature. The dive shop and snorkeling here are superior to Anse de Piton, however there is no view of the Pitons from the Anse Chastanet beach, you will need to climb up to the restaurant for a view.

 

Last but not least is Anse Cochon, the bay in which the small resort Ti Kaye sits on, but has excellent snorkeling, a great dive shop and beach bar, and will be the closest to Castries, probably only 20-30 minutes by Taxi. The gray sand beach is fairly remote and lined with mango trees and rain forest. If you are looking for a more quiet location, this might be a better choice for snorkeling, as both sides of the cove are covered with good coral, fish and sea life.

 

Good Luck and enjoy!

[marjack]

Thanks so much for all the valuable information. Our cruise on the Emerald is almost here. Very excited.......

[LEESRE]

In Antigua we have done snorkeling and we just took a taxi to the beach and found this to be much cheaper too. The beach we used was LONG BAY, it has a Hotel that you can use the bathrooms etc this is The Pineapple Beach Resort, it had a fantastic reef off the right hand side of the beach with plenty to see.

 

It is about 30 mins by taxi I think.