I have been reading a lot of comments about the ocean in St. Lucia. Comments being that the water is not clear and/or not good for swimming? Just wondering if this is true. <BR><BR>Also does anyone know how long the drive is to Sandals Grande St Lucian(formally hyatt) from the airport?<BR><BR>Thanks for any info in advance.

Regarding driving times from the airport. Give yourself 20-30 minutes from SLU and 1 hr 45 from UVF.

i am an expatriciate st.lucian currently<BR>residing in north america.my friends call me mr travel.that is because i live<BR>for travel...i will try to answer you questions honestly.....st.lucia is unique because she is one of the few islands in the caribbean with two oceans.we have the atlantic sea and the caribbean sea...our oceans are as tranparent as clear water with one exception during the rainy seasons it can get a little bit discoloured on the <BR>caribbean side,and the same applies to all the caribbean islands.......st lucia<BR>is also blessed with two types of beaches.gray sand and white sandy beaches.....to see immaculate pictures<BR>of saint lucia,go to www.community.webshots.com/user/saintlucia <BR>www.community.webshots.com/user/johndorman2000

I am interested in staying at the new Sandals/former Hyatt as I've been to the other Sandals already-is it called the Grande St. Lucian and when will it be open? Thanks!

ok, here's my experience. We stayed at Sandals St Lucia a few years ago. Just so you know we've also been to Sandals Negril (10x), Turks (2x), GLB (2x),PR, Martinique, Bernmuda, and Hawaii. So I have some basis to compare. The water in St Lucia is often very rough. I believe its part of the windward islands. It is the only island I've been to in the Caribbean that had warning signs posted in the rooms telling you that if the red flags are up on the beach you can't go in the water.<BR><BR>Sure enough they were up 6 of the 8 days we were there. In addition to being too rough there were cobblestone sized rocks in the water. Not pebbles but rocks the size of cobblestones. At Sandals no one used the beach . Additionally there were NO water sports the entire week.<BR><BR>That was my experience. We went in January . But i don't think that made a difference as several friends went at different times and all had similar experiences.<BR><BR>If you're looking purely for great beach and water, Turks was the best we've seen.

Jim pretty much said it all. We were at Sandals in the month of January two years ago and every morning we went down to check on the water and were not able to swim during our entire stay.

We were on Reduit Beach and found the water to be very nice. There was one day out of seven that was too rough to swim.The night before we could here the waves pounding against the shore.