Could anyone who's been to St.Lucia or Sandals Halcyon tell me what the beaches are like there? I've heard a lot of varying reports on them. I know the sand isn't white like some places and that's OK, but is the water clear and pretty? I've also heard that the beaches are very rocky and rocks pelt you when you get in the water. Has anyone experienced this?

The beach at Sandals Halycon is wonderful! Yes, the sand is darker but not black. Water was exceptionally clear and calm. No rocks what so ever. It is not an overly long beach - peir is in the middle but never crowded. It is a public beach but we never saw anyone on it but the guests. <BR>It is a beautiful resort!

yes i agree, the beach is not crowded, and very beautiful with the sunsets over the water. Sandy bottom, no rocks. prettier than the beach at the larger resort.

boy, do i disagree with the previous posts. I was at Sandals St Lucia about 5 years ago and visted the smaller one for a day. This was in January. <BR> <BR>The beach itself at Sandals was "okay". Not great sand but I've been at worse. You can't walk very far on it because it is enclosed at both ends. The water and the wind was something else. <BR>It was extremely rough. So rough in fact that of the 8 days we were there we could only go in twice. And compounding this were the rocks in the water. They were cobblestone-sized. If you got knocked into one you'd have a big problem. There were red flags posted on the beach most of the time we were there prohibiting you from going into the water <BR> <BR>Hoping this was because of a winter storm, I asked the help at Sandals if this were unusual and I was told no, it wasn't. They said ( I believe this was correct) St Lucia is part of the windward islands and it is very rough about 50% of the time. They also pointed out placards in the rooms which said " if the red flags are up on the beach you can't go into the water..." I haven't seen postings like this at any other Caribbeab resort. <BR>They had no water sports that week and if you wanted to snorkel , they put you on a jitney and took you about 1/2 hour away.To make up for this they have a magnificant pool. But because of the rough water the poolside is shoulder to shoulder with people all the time. <BR> <BR>As for Halcyon the water wasn't as rough. But the beach was very narrow. I might have been there at high tide but it couldn't have been more than 10 feet wide the day I was there. Also the resort appeared empty even tho it was supposedly full. Again, I asked the help where the guests were and was told that while people stay here they usually go over to the larger hotel to use the better facilities. <BR> <BR>We're beach people and were quite disappointed in the resorts 'water and beach. While we've been to Sandals a total of 8 times (usually Negril) in the last 10 years we would not go back to St Lucia because of that. <BR> <BR>That was our experience.

I have to agree with the FIRST two posters. The beach is nice at Halcyon. It is long, you can walk to the Wyndham Resort about 3/4 mile away. We were just there 3 weeks ago and even during Tropical Storm Chantal and there were no red flags at Halcyon. There were flags out at the larger Sandals St. Lucia. No pebbles hit us in the water but there was some seaweed they say from the storm. We did the snorkle trip on a Newton Dive boat. Great ride out and wonderful corals and fish. Everyone we talked to were glad they stayed at Halcyon and no the larger Sandals. There are two pools at Halcyon, the party pool by the beach and the Paradise Pool back by the room blocks 3 and 4, very nice there with Agnes, a wonderful and funny bartener. We loved St. Lucia but try to fly into Castries (SLU) not UVF which is over an hour bus ride that is hilly, curvy and two people in our bus got sick. The roads are in better shape that in other Caribbean islands I have been to but just the island itself has so many mountians there is no easy way around. But that is what makes it such a beautiful place. And the people are wonderful.

I totally agree with the last post. The beach at Sandals Halcyon was wonderful. I was there in May. It is not a huge beach like the ones I have been to in the states, but it was never crowded. The sand was soft and we never had any trouble with rocks or pebbles. Te water was calm, crystal clear, and warm. The pools were also very nice, especially the Paradise pool. We stayed at Halcyon and visited the larger St. Lucia Sandals resort and were happier at Halcyon. You can walk well beyond the Sandals property on the beach and we were not bothered by outside guests - - only the occasional shell merchant. He was not pushy at all and since it is all inclusive, we never had money on us and he left us alone.