For our stop at St Lucia on our Caribbean cruise on P&O Arvia, we wanted to visit the familiar sight of the Pitons – the twin mountain peaks that are St Lucia’s most-famous landmark, so we booked an independent excursion with the Caribbean tour company called ‘Caribbean Tours You Save They Benefit’.
The excursion is called the ‘Land and Sea Excursion’ and is operated by ‘Edmund Tours’ in St Lucia, which involved a trip to the Pitons via visits to local towns, sight-seeing spots, a banana plantation – and then a speedboat ride to Sugar Beach, which sits between the peaks of the Pitons.
Then on the way back, we’d have lunch at a restaurant, stop at the Toraille waterfall and the Soufrier ‘Sulphur Springs’ mud baths before heading back to the ship in time for its departure that evening.
The Land and Sea Excursion seemed like a good way of seeing more of St Lucia than just heading to another beach – and it did deliver exactly what they promised, although to be honest I felt a couple of changes to the itinerary could make the experience a bit better.
The only slight problem with the excursion is that it felt slightly rushed, with not quite enough time at the best spots to be able to fully enjoy them, which seemed a result of too much time spent at other places which we could happily have missed in order to have a fuller experience of the better places.
We were met at the cruise port by Edmund Tours who signed us in and loaded us onto small buses, each with a tour guide who gave a running commentary on the journey, explaining the sights and history of the island.
Our tour guide was excellent – friendly, helpful, full of useful information and very good at keeping everyone organised throughout the whole day.
Our first stop on the journey was at the banana plantation, which is definitely one of those stops I felt could’ve been dropped in order to give more time elsewhere.
The banana plantation is huge – hundreds of acres of banana trees – but all we did was stop at the side of the road next to it for 15-minutes where there’s a roadside souvenir shop.
We didn’t go into the plantation, beyond venturing slightly off the road-side into the trees to have a look at a bunch of bananas growing on a tree, and the time spent here could’ve been better spent at one of the other stops on the tour.
That said though, it’s a long bus ride to the Pitons (an hour and a half or so) along slow, winding roads, so perhaps the stop helped break up the journey and prevent people getting sick as the bus swings its way around hairpin bends up and down the mountains.
Our next stop was a hillside viewpoint of the Pitons, which was definitely worth seeing.
You have a beautiful, iconic view of the Pitons peaks, the surrounding rainforest and the Caribbean sea beyond, along with another little souvenir shop.
We were slightly unlucky as while the rest of St Lucia seemed to be bathed in hot sunshine, the Pitons had thickening, darkening clouds gathering that slightly spoiled the views, but that was just unlucky timing for us.
Eventually we arrived at a small jetty with a speedboat waiting to take us around to Sugar Beach, which sits between the Pitons themselves.
It was a relief to get out of the cramped minibus and get the cool sea breeze in our faces as we sped across the calm, blue Caribbean waters, enjoying beautiful views of the St Lucia coastline.
The boat dropped us at Sugar Beach – a stunning white sand beach which is part of St Lucia’s most-luxurious hotel – and which has a roped off area at the side creating a ‘marine reserve’ which is brilliant for snorkelling.
Snorkelling equipment was provided and we saw many brilliant, interesting and colourful fish and enjoyed stretching our legs after the long bus ride, relaxing on the beach with what must be St Lucia’s best view of the rainforests and piton mountains all around us.
We were given plenty of drinks (all part of the cost of the tour) before being herded back onto the speedboat to our destination for lunch.
We’d loved to have had longer at Sugar Beach, it was the highlight destination of the whole day but it felt that no sooner had we arrived and were enjoying ourselves that we were leaving again.
An option to have had lunch here instead of at the restaurant that we then travelled to would’ve been great, as the restaurant wasn’t the best lunch venue and again, we didn’t have very long to eat lunch before being loaded back on the minibus for the next destination.
A 15-minute or so drive took us to the next stop, the popular ‘Toraille’ waterfall, which is a high waterfall in the rainforest, which cascades into a natural pool at the bottom where visitors can climb in and stand under the waterfall itself.
It was fun and extremely refreshing on a hot day being pummelled by the freezing cold water but it was so busy – with what felt like hundreds of other visitors cramming into a small space, jostling for photos (though it was possible with some fortunate timing to get some shots that didn’t include the crowds of other tourists just out of the frame).
Just after having got in and soaked ourselves in the waterfall, we had to rush back down to the bus having only had about 15-minutes here before heading off to the next destination…
The Soufrier ‘Sulphur Springs’ mud baths were another stop that was really fun and which we’d have loved more time at.
A stream of very hot, naturally-heated spring water flows from the volcano into a series of man-made pools which you can climb into and bathe in.
The water is surprisingly hot – so much so that some people couldn’t even handle getting into it.
But after carefully easing ourselves in, you got used to it – and then you get to smear yourself in volcanic mud, which is apparently very good for the skin.
A man will also then paint you with a blacker coloured mud to make designs on your body for photographs.
Just as we were enjoying starting to relax in the hot springs, we had to clean ourselves off and get back on the bus again.
We could definitely have spent longer here. It was a more unique and interesting experience than the waterfall or the banana plantation and it was a shame to have to leave so soon.
But at least Edmund Tours were keeping the strict schedule in order to make sure we got back to the ship in time (as it’s an independent excursion, the ship won’t wait if you’re late back, unlike a P&O excursion where you’re guaranteed not to get left behind).
It was a long drive back to the port at St Lucia, but we arrived in plenty of time to get back on board Arvia and up to the Horizon Buffet for some food and some sunset drinks on the deck 16 sunset party.
Edmund Tours did a good job with the St Lucia Land & Sea Excursion. It ran very smoothly, the guide and driver were great and we saw a lot more of St Lucia than we would’ve done with other excursions.
We had to rush at each stop so that everything could be fitted in with the time we had, but it felt a shame we couldn’t have more time to enjoy the parts that everyone seemed to like the most (Sugar Beach and the mud baths) perhaps by dropping a couple of the other stops and maybe combining the lunch with the Sugar Beach visit.
Anyway, we still had a great day and St Lucia was one of, maybe actually the most beautiful island stops on our Caribbean cruise.
Useful info
- A link to the Caribbean Tours – You Save They Benefit Facebook group, through which we booked this excursion
- The Edmund Tours website – the company which ran this excursion