After reading some of the previous reviews, my husband and I were hesitant about trying out the snorkeling at Sugar Beach, but we are so glad we decided to see it for ourselves. Yes, you do have to park in the car lot at the top of a long drive, but the resort runs shuttles, and they kindly took us down to the public beach, no questions asked.
The beach was a bit busy the first day we went, but within an hour, the tours were gone, and we had the place pretty much to ourselves. The second day we went, no tours, and it was truly just the 2 of us for most of the afternoon. The snorkeling was amazing,and we saw such a variety of marine life. There is a steep drop-off near the base of the piton, and I am not the best swimmer, which made me a bit nervous, so I was thrilled when the resort offered me a life jacket free of charge!
After the second day of enjoying this beach, we were so thrilled with this resort and the beach, that we have decided that on our next visit to St Lucia, we are staying at Sugar Beach!

Sugar Beach staff generally tend to harass the locals, to stop them from using the
beach because their guests don't like it....so what! if their guest don't like certain skin tones! if they
don't like it they can always can relocate to the beautiful English beaches of Skegness or Margate! The resort does not own the beach but they act like they do! as I said it's public
St Lucians use and Enjoy your beaches! don't let them harass you like they harassed my cousin....the staff backed off when they realised she was English though.