What's "wrong" with the beaches in St. Lucia?
 

I keep seeing posts about how beautiful St. Lucia is, but how the beaches are not that great. What's not great about them? Is it that they are small?

Many of the beaches are more of a cove and not a long white sand beach to walk on. The sand is light brown unless in the south part of the island where it is grey. Jalousie had sand shipped in. The water is not the turquoise blue where you can see the bottom. The water is murkier from the run off from the mountains. And, at times it can be rough. I think for the most part, when people say the beaches aren't the greatest is so you won't be disapointed that it not that true caribbean blue with white sand beach that some island have to offer.

But the snorkeling and scuba is great, right?

We stayed in the southern part of St. Lucia at the old Club Med (not there naymore) and the beach was very wavy and rough, good for windsurfing, not for swimming so much.

We took a day trip north to see volcanoes and such and the beach was lovely and calm but the sand was black, which is kind of hot on the feet and made the water seem darker, but we preferred it to the area where we were staying.

A black sand beach sounds kind of fun! We're probably staying at Ladera for at least part of the time, which is one the west coast about in the middle of the island. Is the water calm enough to swim and snorkel there?

I did not stay on this part of the island but I will tell you what I know to the best of my knowledge. Ladera is not located on the beach. You can take a short shuttle to Jalousie. You can also use Anse Chastenet's beach but not sure if Ladera has a shuttle there or not. The sand is grey, not actually black. There is adequate snorkeling there and I'm sure there are boat trips offered to other spots. We don't dive but there is reported to be good diving by the Pitons and elsewhere.

We snorkelled off the Jalousie beach where you would probably be going if you stayed at Ladera. It is the most gorgeous stretch of, as brenandg indicated, imported white sand beach and the snorkelling is in one of the marine reserves. The water was very calm and visibility excellent when we were there in November.

It was Anse Chastenet's beach we visited. Black, grey sand, don't remember exactly...but the water was calm and blue and I remember liking it better than where we were.

If you're considering that hoel, at that time at least it was on a bluff above the beach rather than on it, not an easy walk at all.

You see very often, and I'm sure with helpful intentions it is mentioned that the beaches in St.Lucia are sometimes rough and the water murky. It can and is true in some locations/beaches on the island. You really must look into each beach or location you plan to stay at as an individual. The conditions and clarity can vary greatly at SOME, there are those that do not have very good luck with conditions or clarity. From our personal experience and from many reports since, the beach at the Sandals Regency in Castries, has a lot of issues with these problems and also at times the Sandals Halcyon on Choc Bay, can be a disappointing stretch of beach to some.

But ... there are those beaches that the conditions and clarity stay very, very consistent.

A couple worthy of mentioning having consistent clear and calm conditions with visibility range of 60/80/120 feet.

The Jalousie Bay beach @ Jalousie Hilton:
The beach here "stunning" ... smack dab between the Piton Mountains. Jalousie's beach was a natural dark sand beach (cove/small bay), this beach has been partially covered with natural light sand (white, imported from another island). This was a wonderful way to show off, St.Lucia's stunning crystal clear cobalt blue water. :-) WOW! Due to topical terrain, the water here goes from a beautiful light turquoise at the beaches edge, then plunges deeply and quickly into the deep cobalt blue waters of St.Lucia. This beach is wonderfully clear and calm for swimming. Snorkeling from the beach here is a nice added bonus, and the scuba diving excellent. The marine reserve portion of beach, at the Jalousie, remains with it's natural dark sand.


The beach at Anse Chastenet, & (Anse Mamin just a bit north of Anse Chastenet) very, very lovely natural dark soft, soft(silver/gray/black/white mix) sand. Calm and clear water and a very exotic south sea's feel to these two beaches. Nice snorkeling and again excellent diving from shore.

Donna