Le Galion Beach questions

[erinpdx]

Can someone tell me if there are chair and umbrella rentals here? Is there a place to order some food/drinks? Any feedback about the beach would be greatly appreciated.

[Tony O]

Can someone tell me if there are chair and umbrella rentals here? Is there a place to order some food/drinks? Any feedback about the beach would be greatly be appreciated.

 

Google

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Once there scroll down to find article

Edited March 13, 2013 by Tony O

[erinpdx]

Can someone tell me if there are chair and umbrella rentals here? Is there a place to order some food/drinks? Any feedback about the beach would be greatly be appreciated.

 

Google

******************

 

Once there scroll down to find article

 

Hi Tony,

The link appears to have been blocked.

[Tony O]

Can someone tell me if there are chair and umbrella rentals here? Is there a place to order some food/drinks? Any feedback about the beach would be greatly be appreciated.

 

Google

******************

 

Once there scroll down to find article

 

I wa unable to provide link to read article, so here it is from the Royal Caribbean Blog:

 

The island of St. Martin is known for its beautiful beaches but one of its lesser known beaches is a great choice if you're looking for a very calm ocean experience that is perfect for young children. On our recent cruise to the Eastern Caribbean, we tried Le Galion beach on the French side of St. Martin.

Description

 

Le Galion beach is a small cove that has a reef/sandbar that breaks any waves well off shore so it's basically a beach that is more like a pond. In addition, the depth of the water barely exceeds a foot or so for a good few yards. All of this makes for perfect conditions for young children who want to be in the water but cannot swim or are not strong swimmers.

 

The beach is horseshoe shaped and is free to access, although if you want to use the chairs and/or umbrellas that are set up, it will cost a small fee (2 chairs and an umbrella cost $15). One half of the beach has soft white sand while the other half has rocks and coral for those that want to do a little snorkeling. The water tends to be very clear and it's just the perfect environment for kids to play in. It's also serene enough for adults to enjoy for the quiet ambiance that a beach like this provides

There's a small restaurant and bar on one end of the beach that has your basic beach bar food as well as a full array of drinks. There is no waiter service but the beach is small enough that walking to it is not a problem. Le Galion tends not to be as crowded as other beaches so that usually means no vendors walking up and down the beach trying to sell stuff to you.

Comments

 

Le Galion beach is perfect for families who have kids that want to play in the water but most beaches have too rough a surf for it to be safe. Our two year old who cannot swim had no problem playing in the first few feet of water, that barely went up to her thighs when standing up.

For adults, le Galion is great if you just want a no-frills, calm beach experience. We saw plenty of adults without kids enjoying the beach on their own. Given the relative lack of surf, this is not a beach that you will find lots to do in the water but there are 2 floating docks that anyone can swim to. The first dock is relatively close to shore and a good option for kids but the other dock is further out and best suited for adults. Otherwise, there are no other water toys available.

What I love about le Galion is how simple and serene everything is. For my daughter, it was heaven because of the no waves. For the adults, we enjoyed sitting on our chairs and enjoying a few adult beverages while taking everything in. The restaurant/bar is somewhat expensive, depending on what you order. Drinks are average in price, although it's still cheaper to drink here than your cruise ship.

I do need to mention le Galion is a clothing optional beach, and on our visit we did see about 4 women bathing topless. During our time, the sunbathers kept to one side of the beach while the families seemed to be on the other. It was not a big deal for us and unless you're looking for it, the nudity is easy to miss.

[erinpdx]

Thank you!

[avidreader13]

We were there two weeks ago and I LOVED that beach! It was my other favorite one on the cruise. We have a 6 and 3 year old and they loved it too! Water was beautiful and very shallow. Overall, a very relaxing beach. We rented two chairs and umbrellas for $5 a piece. They will run a tab for you in which you can pay at the end. You can put food on the tab too. The food at the restaurant was pretty good and they had free wifi.:D The restaurant prices were also pretty reasonable.

 

Our taxi dropped us off at around 8:30am and we were one of the first ones there, aside from a few locals. The beach got more crowded as the day went on but we didn't feel smothered. We made sure to tell the taxi to please come back and pick us up at 2pm, since I had read on this board that taxis drop off and don't hang around. I was skeptical but at 2pm, had a different taxi guy walk up to us in the lot and ask if we were waiting for a taxi. It wasn't our original driver but his friend who our original driver had called to come get us.

 

Oh, there were a couple families with dogs there but we like dogs and they weren't a bother. We too did see a couple of ladies with no tops on but I just looked the other way.

Edited March 14, 2013 by avidreader13

[Hlitner]

It is one of our favorite beaches and is also perfect on a windy day when many other beaches have water too rough for most swimmers. And by the way, when it comes to dogs on the beach.......Galion does have one of our favorites. Its a black dog that actually dives for large rocks (this is the truth). His master tosses a pretty large rock out into the water (usually about 20 yards from shore) and that dog swims out and dives to the bottom to fetch the rock. And he does not give up until he finds the thing. Amazing.

 

Hank

[erinpdx]

It is one of our favorite beaches and is also perfect on a windy day when many other beaches have water too rough for most swimmers. And by the way, when it comes to dogs on the beach.......Galion does have one of our favorites. Its a black dog that actually dives for large rocks (this is the truth). His master tosses a pretty large rock out into the water (usually about 20 yards from shore) and that dog swims out and dives to the bottom to fetch the rock. And he does not give up until he finds the thing. Amazing.

 

Hank

 

Thanks Avidreader and Hank for all that info. I love dogs. Our lab mix used to love to pick up big rocks out of the water. But he didn't dive, just waded in and grabbed a rock. I would love to see a diver dog do that! Sounds impressive!:)

Edited March 20, 2013 by erinpdx

[erinpdx]

One more question- how much for a cab from the pier?

[avidreader13]

Here is a link to a previous topic, with taxi rates. For the 4 of us, two adults and two children, ages 3 and 6, it wasn't that expensive.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1751724

 

ETA: On the way back, the cab driver didn't charge us for our 3 year old, which I thought was nice.

Edited March 20, 2013 by avidreader13

[jaxcruiser41]

We were at Le Galion laast year and loved it too! Planning to go back in two weeks. Question....we had a really hard time last year finding a cab to take us to Le Galion and an even harder time getting one back to the pier. We ended up walking to the Butterfly Farm and they called a taxi for us. I was just curious..did you grab a taxi just off the ship and was it easy to find someone to take you? Our driver kept asking why we wanted to go to Le Galion. Thanks in advance! Can't wait to go back..

Edited March 20, 2013 by jaxcruiser41

[avidreader13]

We were at Le Galion laast year and loved it too! Planning to go back in two weeks. Question....we had a really hard time last year finding a cab to take us to Le Galion and an even harder time getting one back to the pier. We ended up walking to the Butterfly Farm and they called a taxi for us. I was just curious..did you grab a taxi just off the ship and was it easy to find someone to take you? Our driver kept asking why we wanted to go to Le Galion. Thanks in advance! Can't wait to go back..

 

We were there the first weekend in March, on a Saturday. Walked off the ship, directly to the taxi stand. We told the person in charge, where we wanted to go and he waved a taxi over. Going there, we shared the van with another couple who were going to be dropped off at another beach close by. We had no problem at all.

 

We asked our driver to come back at 2pm to pick us up, as I had read that taxis usually don't go to that beach, only to drop off and don't hang around. The driver promised us that he would be back. We were pretty skeptical but at 2pm, a different taxi driver walked up to me and asked if we were waiting to go back to the ship. Our original driver had called this other guy and asked to pick us up, as he couldn't do so. I thought that was nice, as we could have been left hanging. :)

 

You could probably call from the beach bar for a taxi, instead of walking to the butterfly farm. We did ask our driver on the way back about the road, as I had read on here that taxis don't like to drive down it and the driver said it's much better than it was before but not completely finished. When we got back to the port, we actually ran into the original couple who we had shared a taxi with in the morning and they even mentioned that our first taxi driver said the kids would have a blast at the beach.

Edited March 20, 2013 by avidreader13

[gtaylor]

Taxi fare should be the same as to Orient.

 

(click)

 

And here is my le Galion photo album.

 

gary

[52marv]

Thanks for the pics Gray, just what we were looking for!

[heeb]

The answer is it is a wonderful beach to go with friends or families as well as by yourself if that was the case. It's in between Dawn Beach and Orient Beach but Galion is very well protected by the Breaker reef which is quite a distance away. The water is warm clear and like glass. There is some eel grass but it is no big deal.No rocks or shells to step on and the beach attended was great. We were there on Valentines Day and not too sound to corney but we feel in love withe entire facility. Very few ship passengers, bathroom and changing facilities. Nice little rest. where you can sit and eat with shade from the sun. We all had burgers and baskets of fries. One basket is enough for two people. Do not get scarred when you see the bill since it.s it Euros. A burger is about $10 bucks. The four of us ate for $60 with drinks (beer) and sodas and topped it off with ice cream. The burgers were very good. Pat Turner owns the place and it's called "Tropical Wave" at Galion Beach. It's about 25 minutes from the cruise port and a cab or van can atke you there and back for $20.00 for two. You and the family will have a great time there. By the way, Bella the black lab is great. I played with her for 45 min. Get some bread and in little pieces throw into the water. The fish will come and Bella will chase them. It's a blast.:cool:

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[SDA1125]

Hi - can you please answer a few questions I am looking at galion for May - did you have a hard time getting a taxi back to the port ? Did you rent chairs or umbrellas ? Also is that 20.00 for two one way ? Thank You So Much !

[Islandbeaches]

Bump