Jalousie Beach / Pitons / boat tour?

[german89]

Hey there,

 

we LOVE nature, waterfalls etc. - would you rather suggest a boat or a bus tour? How long do they each take? Are there catamaran tours with snorkeling stops etc. for reasonable prices?

 

Thanks!

[mrspjotter]

We are in St Lucia for the day in Feb next year and wanted to take a boat trip to Jalousie Beach and back and Spencer Ambrose has quoted us a price for this and has now included it as one of his tours it called the "Jalouise Beach Break" - have a look at his website for more info.:D

[BigRed93]

Did this tour last week. Fantastic day! No waterfalls, but beautiful ride along the coast and nice snorkelling. Over 3.5 hours at the beach.

[lcmslady]

You won't regret it if you book with Spencer.

 

He's an incredibly nice man who cares about his customers and his island!

[german89]

Spencer's tour looks great indeed... But I will need to find 6 more people :-(

[mrspjotter]

BigRed93 - was it the Jalousie Beach Break you did? Can you give anymore info? We will be there mid Feb - 6 of us in our party but need to find some more people to come with us.

 

Can you give me any info on the boat and what the ride down the coast was like as we are taking my 79 yr old mother-in-law with us and she is asking lots of questions?:rolleyes:

[BigRed93]

yes, I did the Jalousie Beach Break. I had far too good a time to remember all the details;), but I will try my best.

 

We met Spencer and Small in the port area and waited until approx 9:30 for any stragglers. Walked over to the pier and hopped on Spencer's boat for our trip down the coast. He has a speed boat, 33ft model, seats 14 I think. There are some pictures on his website. We had 8 people. Spencer did not go with us, but left us in the capable hands of our guide Bradley and Captain Kirk.:D It was approx an hour or just over from the port to Jalousie, simply because we went in and out of the harbours along the way. Saw some beautiful homes, nests of sea birds along the cliffs, saw locals spear fishing and net fishing and some of the nice big sailboats that anchor in Marigot Bay and hurricane harbour. Went by several of the fishing villages and the resorts like Ti Kaye. When we first saw the Pitons they set us up on the bow and took pictures with the Pitons in the background. Very nice.

 

There is a dock at Jalousie Beach, but it could be a bit challenging to get out if you had any mobility issues, although the crew was great and other passengers helped make sure everyone made it safely in and out of the boat each time. I would make sure you had good water shoes on, or at least good stable sneakers that you didn't mind getting wet. You need to step onto a wooden ladder for at least one step and it could be slick. On one side of the dock, at the base of the Petit Piton there is a roped off area for snorkelling. We went there first and spent a while playing with our new underwater camera. Saw many types of fish, squid, and looking at my pictures now, I think I have an octopus wedged between some rocks. We had our own masks and snorkels and did not bother with fins - just wore water shoes, as it is a bit rocky on that side. They do rent equipment there.

 

After snorkelling a bit we walked to the other side of the pier where there is a section of the water that is for swimming. The resort was closed due to hurricane repairs still going on. All beaches are public, but technically you would not be able to use the resort facilities without paying and permission.`I don't think I left the water more than 15 mins the entire day, it was that nice. We had a stocked cooler with water, rum punch and Piton beer - I can't recall if there was anything else in there. Lunch was brought down to the beach for us. We rec'd a boxed lunch of bbq chicken, potato salad, rice & beans, banana, some kind of slaw and a chunk of some starchy thing that I don't know what it was. I asked Bradley and he gave it a name that I don't recall. It was a french/creole name, but someone said it may have been breadfruit. It was almost like a slice of barely cooked potato, but didn't taste like that. I'm making it sound bad, but it wasn't. Lunch was rather tasty.

 

This is where my memory gets hazy...I think it may have had to do with the rum punch - LOL. I think we packed up to go around 2:15-ish, so we would have had about 3.5 hours actually at the beach. The way back was pretty much direct and at speed, so it only took 25-30 mins or so. I love speed boats and the bouncing and splashing that comes with popping over the wake of other boats. But if that is too much, I think the best place to sit is in the very back. They used our cameras to take another group shot and we had enough time when we got to port to do a quick once around the shop area and head back on board.

 

It was a really nice day. It would take me forever to post pictures, but I could try a few. Just ask if you have any specific questions. Spencer could easily answer them as well. He is really good about that. Lord knows I had enough for him before we went!!

[BigRed93]

view of the beach area.

 

 

View from the beach - how nice is that?!!

 

 

 

 

 

The welcoming committee - LOL

 

 

Our group at the end of the day

 

[german89]

Thanks for your detailed review! I just contacted him, just need to find 6 more now...

[Pepperwood]

BigRed93, were there change rooms and/or washrooms available for public use?

[BigRed93]

I honestly don't know- I didn't need one, but I remember someone asking if they had a place to change there (at Jalousie) before we even left port. They were told no, and directed to use the bathroom at port.

I don't know if that was because the resort was closed, or if they just didn't allow it. Sorry I'm not much help on that one.

[iluvcruzin]

The restrooms were previously closed as they didn't have any water at the resort. It was just turned on last week the day we were there. So yes.. there is a place to change.

[BigRed93]

no we did not stop at Anse Chastenet to swim, but did go by there.

[mrspjotter]

BigRed - thanks so much for the report it sounds great and the pictures look amazing.

 

To my horror :mad: p&o have totally changed our itinerary today for our cruise on Azura on 5th Feb and instead of visiting St Lucia as our second to last port on our 14 night cruise we now fly from the UK (9 hours) board the boat in Barbados and instead of having a day at sea to get our bearings we wake up on the 1st morning in St Lucia!

 

The only thing my kids have asked to do on the whole of this cruise is to go to the beach between the Pitons and it's beacuse of my e-mail to Spencer he has set up this tour and now I don't even think we are going to be able to do it as the kids aren't going to be up to such a long tour on our 1st day so at the moment i'm pretty upset and annoyed with p&o :mad:

[CinWin]

Hi BigRed93,

What a great review and terrific photos of our day shared with you and the other 2 couples at Jalousie Beach. We loved the speed boat ride also. Captain Kirk was a great driver, but we especially enjoyed being with Bradley who was so nice and helpful to us at the beach. Guess we really made a good choice when we picked this tour because it was the highlight of our cruise. :cool:

Cindy

[Sunny AZ Girl]

I am interested in both the Land & Sea Tour and the Beach Break. If we have never been to St. Lucia would it be best to do the Land & Sea or would the Beach Break be enough? We aren't huge beach people (laying out in the sun - baking) but do love to snorkel for several hours.

 

Also, how crowded does Jalousie Beach get? We will be cruising during the shoulder season (Emerald Princess' last Caribbean cruise of the season) and we have found in the past that many of the ships have left for Europe or Alaska by the time we cruise, so hoping there will not be many ships in port that day.

 

It seems we would have to have a party of 8? Is that for either tour or just the beach break? I have gotten together some pretty large CC group tours in the past. So far our Roll Call is very small, but we are still more than a year away, so hopefully we can get that many together for one tour or the other.

[WaggesAZ]

I am interested in both the Land & Sea Tour and the Beach Break. If we have never been to St. Lucia would it be best to do the Land & Sea or would the Beach Break be enough? We aren't huge beach people (laying out in the sun - baking) but do love to snorkel for several hours.

 

Also, how crowded does Jalousie Beach get? We will be cruising during the shoulder season (Emerald Princess' last Caribbean cruise of the season) and we have found in the past that many of the ships have left for Europe or Alaska by the time we cruise, so hoping there will not be many ships in port that day.

 

It seems we would have to have a party of 8? Is that for either tour or just the beach break? I have gotten together some pretty large CC group tours in the past. So far our Roll Call is very small, but we are still more than a year away, so hopefully we can get that many together for one tour or the other.

 

Hi Ginny!

 

I think you have to have a party of 10 for the beach break, but the not other tour he operates. I believe our tour is called the West Coast Delight. We will have many stops: waterfall, botanical gardens, banana plantation, volcano, and head to the pitons. Snorkeling at Jalousie was great. The resort was open when we were there, and so they restricted non-resort guests to the left of the beach as your boat arrives at the beach. Not a problem, just something to be aware of. As far as crowds, I guess it will depend on how many ships/tours head there on the day you are in port. I was there in March of this year, and did not find it crowded, but hard to get a chair due to the restricted area.

 

As a side note, Spencer gives you an option to return to your ship via boat, rather than heading back in the van. It would give you more time at the beach, and will cost a little extra, but for us, we would like to see the island's shore line, and skip the windy roads back. I did a similiar tour with Cosol, and felt a litlle hearded (there were appx 200 people on the tour) and didn't think the tour was very family oriented. As we are returning with our boys, and had friends who toured with Spencer on our last cruise, I felt he was a better choice for our family. If you can get a large enough group, I believe you can customize a tour as well.

 

If you want to contact Spencer here is his email: spencer7114@gmail.com. I wish you safe travels and great memories!

 

WaggesAZ

[AntiHamstr]

It seems we would have to have a party of 8? Is that for either tour or just the beach break?

 

If you have a smaller group, Mystic Man might be able to do similar water tours at a reasonable price.

 

http://www.mysticmantours.com/tours.html

 

 

Dennis

[Sunny AZ Girl]

Thank you both for the replies. We have a lot of time, so I think I will just continue to keep my eye out. We may end up being able to put together a Cruise Critic group from our Roll Call, too.

 

Even though it's early and I may change my mind a million times by then a day swimming and snorkeling beneath the Pitons sounds like a day in heaven to me.:cool:

[kayo kruiser]

Does anyone know if there is someone who provides transportation from the cruise port to Anse Chastanet via water?

 

I've heard the beach and snorkelling is some of the best in the Caribbean but that getting there by road is long and pretty rough.

 

We would love to spend a 1/2 day there snorkelling if we can find water transportation.

 

Thanks for any help.:)

[lyla16]

Big Red, thanks so much for the detailed review of your trip. My husband and I are doing this trip with Spencer in a few weeks and we can't wait. My husband wanted to sopend the day on the beach, not traveling for hours just to get there. This is the perfect tour for us because we can see the island from the water and get a different perspective of the island.

[cardsfans]

We booked as just a couple and there were a total of 10 on our tour. Spencer has a good reputation and his tours fill pretty easily.

[ilandlvr]

view of the beach area.

 

 

View from the beach - how nice is that?!!

 

 

 

 

 

The welcoming committee - LOL

 

 

Our group at the end of the day

 

 

 

Did the boat circle around the Pitons so everyone could get good pictures?

[Vanessa L]

We were on the same tour with Big Red (in fact, have that same pic in our album, lol). Yes, LOTS of shots of the Pitons....here is the album if you want to peruse:

 

http://picasaweb.google.com/vanessa.1963/CarnivalMiracle#

[Vanessa L]

Hi BigRed93,

What a great review and terrific photos of our day shared with you and the other 2 couples at Jalousie Beach. We loved the speed boat ride also. Captain Kirk was a great driver, but we especially enjoyed being with Bradley who was so nice and helpful to us at the beach. Guess we really made a good choice when we picked this tour because it was the highlight of our cruise. :cool:

Cindy

 

Just wanted to say hi Cindy!! What an awesome day that was!!! Won't soon forget it. Look at my album...you and your incredible husband are looking great!!