We had arranged through our hotel for a snorkeling excursion today. We were meeting the boat at the dock in Soufriere at 10am, so had plenty of time for breakfast and getting our snorkeling gear together.
Had the same breakfast as yesterday, it’s really good. I think we had read in the reviews where someone complained about the lack of variety at breakfast. We don’t actually vary our breakfast much, even at home, so that didn’t matter to us. I’ll have fresh fruit, freshly baked bread, eggs and bacon, and coffee every day, thank you very much.
We changed into our snorkel gear and then drove into town. The hotel had shown us on google maps exactly where to park (at the bus station) and airdropped a pic of the boat, so it was pretty easy to find our way.
It was just the two us on the excursion. We chatted with the boat guy about what we wanted to do, and then we were off. The waters were really calm - no bumping at all.
First stopped off at a crevice in the rock cliff where bats make their home. We could see some of them flitting about, even though it was day.
Our first snorkel site was off Anse Chastenet, about five minutes by boat north of Soufriere. We were the only snorkelers which was cool. The water was super clear, and very still, which made for great pics. On other trips there’s slight bobbing about which makes it harder to focus the camera, especially zoomed in. Saw lots of trumpet fish and fan coral. Supposedly it’s a good place to see turtles, although we didn’t see any.
Next was Sugar Beach, one of the most popular snorkeling sites in the south end of St Lucia. It’s at the base of Petit Piton, and we actually saw the activity from our little trek yesterday. There’s a snorkeling area marked out with buoys.
We docked at the beach, which is surrounded by resorts. We were glad we hadn’t booked into any of these, it was really busy with tourists. Dodged our way through the tourists on the beach to the snorkeling area, put on our fins and away we went.
It wasn’t too busy once we got away from shore. The visibility was excellent, even better than Anse Chastenet. Saw lots of parrotfish and eels, as well as schools of Seargeant Majors. Our boat guy said that tourists feed the fish, and that’s why they are so tame here. We snorkeled out to the far end of the buoys and back, about 800m round trip.
Our last stop was around the ocean side of Petit Piton. My camera battery had died (I think our first two snorkels were 30m and 45m) so just left it on the boat. There was a bit of a current, and we were getting tired, so called it a day after about 20 minutes. It was a good site for snorkeling, not much coral but lots of boulders and crevices for fishies to swim in and about.
Overall it was great snorkeling excursion. It’s possible to drive to these and snorkel out from the beach (no need for a boat) but we had nice views of the pitons and of Soufriere from the ocean. The water temperature was the warmest we’ve been in. Great for snorkeling, although maybe not as good for the environment.
Our boat guy suggested Stone Yard for lunch, and called ahead to reserve a table for us. It’s geared to tourists, with lots of other groups ending their excursions here. It fit the bill though, as we weren’t out of place in our wet snorkel gear, and they had a good bathroom. The food was okay, we liked Belle Vue better.
Drove back to our hotel, the road now familiar to us the 4th time through. Rinsed and hung to dry our snorkel gear, and then relaxed the rest of the afternoon.
The temperature has been consistent every day, high of 30C and low of 27C. It felt cooler this evening at dinner, so maybe we’re adjusting to the heat and humidity.
Tomorrow we’re on a birding excursion, we have to meet our guide at 6am :( I guess it’s like safari time. We’re hoping to see the elusive St Lucia parrot!
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