St. Lucia Snorkeling Tour on Golden?

[travelhound]

We will be on the Golden Princess in February and one of the tours is a catamaran/snorkel trip to Soufriere Marine Reserve, but it doesn't say anything about seeing the Pitons. Does anyone know if this is in the vacinity? There is also a catamaran cruise by the Pitons without snorkeling, but I hate to go to St. Lucia and not snorkel. I can't find much info about the Marine Reserve. Has anybody been there?

 

The snorkeling tour is called "New Wave/St. Lucia Snorkeling." Any insight is greatly appreciated.

 

Also, anyone that's been on the Golden recently, do you pass by the Pitons while on board?

[thebrat99]

What date will you be on the Golden? We have some people on 2/06 and 2/13! If you are on one of those dates, please join our roll call!

Kathy

[travelhound]

We're on the 20th. I guess CC will have at least one person every week! Since every other week includes different island, we'll be doing the same route as the people on the 6th. These are some of my favorite islands. I would love to do a back to back on this route. Maybe someday when I'm retired!

[fraidycats]

I have not taken that particular tour..not sure how many are in your group but if you have 12 or more, I'd look into chartering Capt Fred's leisure yacht. He can take you to Anse Chastenet , at the foot of the Pitons to snorkel. :) If you e mail him he may have a group going already and allow you to join them :) .We had a ball.

[travelhound]

There are only the two of us, but maybe I could check into joining another group. I love the sound of the ship's tour, I just don't want to miss the Pitons.

[Aquarian]

Why not do the catamaran in St. Lucia and snorkel at one of your other ports? We did an all day land and sea excursion in St. Lucia and it's one of my favorite cruise memories. Actually, when I think about it, snorkeling was available off the catamaran when we stopped along the way to Soufriere.

[AlainBob]

We will be on the Golden Princess in February and one of the tours is a catamaran/snorkel trip to Soufriere Marine Reserve, but it doesn't say anything about seeing the Pitons. Does anyone know if this is in the vacinity? There is also a catamaran cruise by the Pitons without snorkeling, but I hate to go to St. Lucia and not snorkel. I can't find much info about the Marine Reserve. Has anybody been there?

 

The snorkeling tour is called "New Wave/St. Lucia Snorkeling." Any insight is greatly appreciated.

 

Also, anyone that's been on the Golden recently, do you pass by the Pitons while on board?

 

In 2000, we took a catamaran cruise to the Pitons. On our way back to the ship, we stopped for snorkeling and it was marvelous ! If you take a look at my pictures (see the link in my signature), you'll see it.

 

If you look at the island map (do a little research over the Internet and you'll find it), you'll see that the Pitons are just south of Soufriere (about 2 miles).The pitons are at the southern tip of the island. Your ship should be at Castries, wich is on the NW of the island (the general orientation of the island is SW to NE). So, when the catamaran will arrive at Soufriere, you will see the Pitons right there. The island is relatively small: 20 miles long X 10 miles wide (approx 240 sq. miles)

 

Hope this help !

 

Alain R.

[travelhound]

Thanks for all of the replies. We've been to St. Lucia twice and we did the most awesome tour 10 years ago from the Regent Sun. They actually dropped us off at the Pitons to meet our excursion and then the ship continued to dock. That gave us enough time to go through the volcano, botanical garden, get on a catamaran, snorkel twice, and stop in Marigot bay before returning to the ship. I found the exact tour on Shore Trips, but it's not for cruise passengers. I'm sure that's because it takes too long if the start and end point is the dock.

 

We will most certainly snorkel in other ports, probably all of them. St. Lucia has some of the best snorkeling in the Caribbean, but we'll have to decide which excursion makes the best of our short time in paradise.

[auntieann]

The Marine Reserve is at the base of the Pitons. You will love snorkeling there.

Also, on another thread someone mentioned that the Golden passes the Pitons on the way to port...but that is very early in the morning . We were already in port when I looked out our balcony. When we left port we went north , the opposite direction of the Pitons.

 

Enjoy your cruise. I loved the Golden and St. Lucia was my favorite port!