Kaseys412

Ok.. we're taking a ladies cruise in early February, for each of the islands we visit, our ship is docked from about 8:00-8:30am to 5:00-5:30pm. I'll give you our itinerary, and would very much appreciate if you could tell me in your opinion, the best beaches these islands have to offer. We're not big into sightseeing, touring, we want to lay on a beautiful beach all day and snorkel. We're not fans of huge overcrowded or unshaded beaches, we like more of a laid back tropical feel, with plenty of greenery around, maybe some wildlife. Calm clear waters are a must
*Tortola (hope to go to Virgin Gorda for the Baths)
*St. Maarten ???
*Antigua- Dickinson Bay Beach?? Any thoughts?
*St. Lucia- Have heard good things about Anse Chastanet
*Grenada- Grand Anse Beach??
Any opnions or suggestions are greatly appreciated, we don't get the chance to travel often so we're very excited and would like to see the best of each island!

ejcrowe

I can't help you with most of the islands, but on Grenada there's one beach in particular that matches everything you're looking for: La Sagesse beach. It's lined with palm trees, you can rent beach chairs, there's a wonderful restaurant right there, you'll probably see cows, goats, and a dog or too, and it's pretty secluded. Most cruisers would probably opt for Grand Anse, which is faster to get to it and the most popular beach on the island. La Sagesse will be more like a 35-40 minute drive from the cruise ship dock, but it's a little piece of paradise. If you do a Google Image search, you'll find lots of snapshots of the beach there. One reviewer I know says it looks like Eden.

ejcrowe

Oops, I forgot to mention that there's no good snorkeling at La Sagesse, but there's not much snorkeling in Grenada, period. The best snorkeling beach is probably in front of Aquarium Restaurant (great place to eat!). I'd save the snorkeling for the other islands, though honestly none of them is in the top 5 snorkeling destinations in the Caribbean, IMO.

Tuxedocat

It sounds like you should look into Tortola, Virgin Gorda or St. John. The Virgin Islands offer great snorkeling, and dependent on which island and where on that island, it can fulfill your criteria.

mymoosie

Totally agree with ejcrowe's suggestion of La Sagesse in Grenada. So tropical and quiet, as long as you don't mind not having the light sand beach. The food at the restaurant is really good at La Sagesse. If you want a lighter sand beach, head to Morne Rouge (locally known as BBC beach).

Dickinson Bay in Antigua IMO is too busy and crowded. That's where most cruise ship passengers end up going. In Antigua I love Ffryes Beach or Darkwood Beach. I'm not sure if there are loungers/umbrellas for hire there though. You might want to post that question on the Antigua forum on Trip Advisor.

islebethere

I agree with ej and mymoosie. Make sure you allow enough time to get back to the ship when you leave. There are lounges available for rental, and the property is lush with flowers. The restaurant serves very good rum punches, made with some fresh fruit juices rather than all off-the-shelf mix.

It will be a more costly taxi ride by quite a few dollars, but go for it!

brenandg

I don't know if I would risk going all the way from Tortola to Virgin Gorda unless it was a ship excursion. It would be cutting it close. Here is a link to the ferry schedule.

http://www.bestofbvi.com/info/bviferry_tortola_vg.htm

Really, if what you want is a laid back beach experience, I would go to Jost Van Dyke or St John. White Bay on Jost Van Dyke isn't great for snorkeling, but it is my favorite beach. Beautiful with quaint beach bars. More ferry schedules.

http://www.bestofbvi.com/info/bviferry_tortola_jost.htm

St John is great for snorkeling.

http://www.bestofbvi.com/info/bvifer...ola_stjohn.htm

As for St Lucia, not great for snorkeling either. I would do a land and sea tour either with the ship or on your own to explore this beautiful island.

I can't help with the rest of your choices...

misspomlover

Orient beach in Sint Martin is a gorgeous beach. It is on the french side and half of the beach is clothing optional. The side that you keep your bathing suits on is prettier. If you go remember that the nude side is to your right and clothed side is on your left. Great places to eat and shop too !

gprybs

I spent at week at Jade Mountain, which is on Anse Chastanet. One of the best snorkel/dive sites on the island is at Anse Chastanet...and it's a "walk off" snorkel(aka free, other than snorkle rental). They have a dive shop where you can rent dive/snorkel gear and just walk into the ocean. The only thing to remember: the beach is public, but all of the lounge chairs on the beach are for the resort, so if you want to lounge, you'll need to bring a chair. They have a beach restaurant/bar, which of course, you can go into.

travellover22

I know St Martin/Maarten very well. You'd like Mullet Bay... or one of the deserted beaches in the low lands: Baie Rouge or Plumb Bay... for completely deserted try Happy Bay (but you have to walk to get there) We find this website/eguide really useful when visiting SXM : http://www.st-martin-maarten.com

progress

In St. Lucia there are two main Snorkel/ dive sites namely Anse Cochon and Anse-Chastanet. I won't beable to give you much info about Snorkelling since I'm not a lover of this activity. But I did visit the sites as an attraction and the coral reefs are amazing especially in Anse Cochon for more information I will say contact Serenity Vacations and Tours they are one of the island experts. Very well verse on information about St. Lucia I toured with them and never regreated a momment spent. They do have a website address i.e www.serenitytvl.com

kellybeaches

Hi Kaseys412, Below are my thoughts-
Virgin Gorda-if you can do the baths on the ship excursion -go for it-they're awesome. My second recommendation would be w/brenandg, to Jost Van Dyke, Soggy Dollar Bar. They have hammocks, great pain killers, palms, secluded, beach chairs, etc. Gorgeous. St. John is also an option-Trunk bay would be good for you as there is an underwater snorkeling trail. I thought Hawksnest had the best snorkeling that I saw though.

St. Martin-I think Orient would be too crowded for you if you want solitude. It's lined with beach chairs and restaurants. I hear Mullet Bay is nice although I haven't been, as well as Friars Bay (there is a beach bar there w/chairs and umbrellas as well as Happy Bay). I haven't been to either of those yet but we are staying at a villa on Happy Bay in May. Travellover22, can you tell me anything more about Happy Bay or Friars Bay? Pinel Island right off of St. Martin might be neat to check out too. I've stayed at a villa on Baie Rouge beach before. There aren't any beach chairs or shade on this beach so it might not be the best for you. Note too that both Orient and Baie Rouge have waves. Happy Bay and Friars look to be calm. You could also look into beaches on the Dutch side as that's where you're ship will dock. Cupecoy looks neat. Phillipsburg has a neat little town with couches directly on the beach, too. Another option would be to take teh 30 minute ferry over to Anguilla.

St. Lucia -Anse Chastenet is a cool beach, with hammocks and a cool beach bar (black sand beach). Another very cool beach to check out (and I have to say I favor this one over Anse Chastenet) is Jalousie's beach. It's imported white sand with very calm waters, and is nestled between the pitons. It's really breathtaking. And both have good off-beach snorkeling. My only concern for you with either of these beaches is that they're FAR from where your cruise ship will dock. I would look into how long of a cab ride it would be to get there (and be warned, the roads there are the windiest, hilliest, I've seen, other than the road to Hana in Maui), or see about taking a water taxi down the coast. You dock in Castries on the north end of the island, and these places are on the south western side of the island. I believe it took us around 2 hours or so in a cab to get from point to point. There is a neat excursion on the Unicorn "pirate ship" you can do from Castries to Soufiere (the town near the pitons) but it sounds like you want to get to a beach and chill. It would be ashame to go to St. Lucia and miss seeing the Pitons, but you'll have to look into the quickest way to get to them and back if you're only there for a day. Note that the water in St. Lucia is more of a deep blue, like the waters of Hawaii.

I haven't been to the other islands you're visiting so I can't comment on those.

Here's a link w/pictures I've compiled for you from the places I've mentioned above. I think the pictures will help you decide more than my descriptions on what you want to do. good luck and have fun!

http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/...8703:797769718

travelenthusiast

If you plan on going to a more secluded beach on St Martin, you should be aware that they have had robberies and some safety issues. There is another travel board that specializes in St Martin. It is traveltalkonline.com. You might want to read what they have over there regarding St Martin.

greenie

I second everyone's reco's on LaSagesse. Beautiful. On Tortola, you could spend the day at Brewers Bay. There's excellent snorkeling and a great little beach bar. It's heaven!

Peace, Greenie

jantigua

Antigua...
Dickenson is just about the worst beach to go to. It's really busy, polluted, touristy, and the snorkeling there is poor.

Go to Half Moon or Rendez-vous. Half Moon would probably be your best bet since you need to off-road, hike or boat to Rendez-vous (but it's so amazing). For Half Moon, bring the drinks and snacks you need for the day. There's a small burger shack/bar. Contact me if you want more details. Have fun.

travellover22

Hi Kellybeaches - Happy Bay is our favorite beach on island. Which villa are you staying at? The beach is fabulous because there's usually hardly anyone there + it's lined with tall palm trees (one of the only beaches on SXM that is..). There's a local guy that sells grilled food and drinks from a small shack, and he does have a few old beach chairs (but most people just put their towels down on sand). It takes 10-15mn from Friars Bay to walk there, but only 5mn if you're in a villa at the top of the hill overlooking both Friar's Bay and Happy Bay.
Friar's Bay is busier and has more facilities (3 beach bars, beach chairs...etc). It can be smelly sometimes with the pod behind, but still a nice beach. Waters quite calm here.
It's always Happy Bay for us though.
As I mentioned above http://www.st-martin-maarten.com gives you loads of insider's advice about island and vouchers with discounts!