Beaches

[tkjohn25]

Does anyone know if there are any family friendly beaches in St. Marrten?(no nudity) Thanks, John.

[janabm81]

As far as I can tell Great Bay doesn't have nudity and it's right out side of the ship pier and Phillipsburg shopping area.:)

[Spurs Fans]

Great Bay does from time to time have a topless or even nude person. (although nude is extremely rare and not well looked upon by authorities) You can encounter toplessness on any beach in St. Martin. Nudity is most common on French beaches and less common on Dutch beaches.

[crewchief482]

My firsttime to St.Marteen , can anyone help me with nearest beach to where ship docks

[Karysa]

My firsttime to St.Marteen , can anyone help me with nearest beach to where ship docks

 

Great Bay beach is the closest. It is behind the shopping area in Philipsburg. You can walk, taxi or take the water taxi to it.

[gtaylor]

]Great Bay does from time to time have a topless or even nude person[/b]. (although nude is extremely rare and not well looked upon by authorities) You can encounter toplessness on any beach in St. Martin. Nudity is most common on French beaches and less common on Dutch beaches.

 

Could you cite a reference to back this up?

 

I have been visiting St. Maarten for 29 years' date=' and have never seen or even heard of a [b']nude[/b] person on Great Bay Beach.

 

gary

[broberts]

The only beach I'm aware of where you can expect to find totally nude bathers is the right (facing the water) / south end of Orient beach. It's a long beach, about a mile. One is unlikely to encounter totally nude bathers at the left (north) but topless is not unheard of.

[L_T]

Gary - I've also never seen anyone nude on Great Bay Beach, and only a couple topless ladies. We're heading down tomorrow - I'll check it out and report back...

 

broberts - There is also a nude section near the big rocks, at CoCo Beach Bar, which is in the Northern half of Orient Beach. It recently reopened so may not have many users yet. Also not uncommon to see nude individuals sunning on towels just to the North of this area. Topless can be very common anywheres along Orient, depending on the day.

[Karysa]

The only beach I'm aware of where you can expect to find totally nude bathers is the right (facing the water) / south end of Orient beach. It's a long beach, about a mile. One is unlikely to encounter totally nude bathers at the left (north) but topless is not unheard of.

 

I would add Long Bay to the list (witnessed this). Happy Bay unless you count flip flops (witnessed this), Baie Rouge (close family member told me that they have seen nude beach goers down to the far left of the beach) and I have also heard over the years, but not recently, that it was not unheard of to see nude beach goers at Cupecoy beach.

[4 cruis'n]

How much would a taxi cost to Orient Beach from the pier (we are family of 4)? Are there plenty of taxis available at Orient to get back? Ships excursion seemed reasonable until I started researching. Most places along Orient offer the 2 chair/umbrella/drink combo at a reasonable price. Ship excursion includes transportation and lunch. Just trying to calculate costs and see if it's worth trying on my own. Taxi cost and any menu links would be great. TIA

[The Big Booper]

If your family of 4 goes by itself, then the fixed fare is $7 pp. If you are bundled into a big van with other people then the fare is $6 pp. There are always cabs waiting at the dropoff points for return trips in the afternoon.

[4 cruis'n]

If your family of 4 goes by itself, then the fixed fare is $7 pp. If you are bundled into a big van with other people then the fare is $6 pp. There are always cabs waiting at the dropoff points for return trips in the afternoon.

Thanks for the reply. I have been able to find a wealth of valuable info from this board...a lot of it was provided by you and gtaylor:). Right after my post I came along a picture of taxi prices going everywhere from the port. Gotta luv those pictures! Definately seems like a ships excursion is not necessary for just a beach stop which is all we are looking for at this port. I think we can save ~$80-$100 doing this on our own.

[tinybabynurse]

TBN hubby here

 

It is really easy to get to and back from Orient Beach. Taxis are readily available and the fares are fixed based on the number, as the above poster stated. We always allow an hour to 1:15 to return from Pedro's, just in case, but it is usually about 25 to 30 minutes to make the trip.

 

Many places to rent chairs and umbrellas and those mostly go for 15 to 20 dollars or so for two chairs and one umbrella. Some places include a couple of drinks. The earlier the better on Cruise Ship days because by about noon the tours are dropping off large groups and it starts to get crowded quick

 

Lots of choices in food right on the beach and, although a bit pricey because of the exchange rate, the food in the shack-looking places along the beach is surprisingly good. Cheryl and Andy's (formerly Baywatch) and Pedro's (where the cabs drop off and pickup) have some good stuff in the burger and rib category as well as more complete meals. There is a French (Duh!) restaurant a little further north, beyond these two, that had some really great food last fall when we stayed on St Martin for a week, but I don't remember the name right now .

 

Most have menus out front with prices, and most will accept cash dollars one-for-one instead of euros so we advise taking cash with you. The savings over credit card use on the French side can be substantial.

 

Fairly good snorkeling just in front of Pedro's, just out 100 meters or so from where the rocks are. This rocky area is the imaginary borderline between more clothing and less/no clothing on the beach so that might not be a good choice if you would be offended by a nude snorkeler :D:D Take some bread or crackers with you and you will make hundreds of new friends in the form of a variety of colorful fish. Also have seen lobster, small rays, conch, starfish, and other critters in and around the mostly dead reef.

 

See OrientBeach.com for lots of information in their forum. Note: If you are sensitive to nudity then this site has candid photos of Orient Beach vacationers in the photo portion but it is definitely not an x-rated site. Lots of info on restaurants if you do a search.

[tinybabynurse]

OOPS....

 

Was answering a later poster and forgot to add to the OP that we have been to St Martin many times and our experience is that the beach in front of downtown Phillipsburg is the least likely to have topless and virtually never has nude sunbathers.

 

However the only way you are guaranteed to avoid some nudity is to stay on the ship (and even that might not do it ;))

[Spurs Fans]

Could you cite a reference to back this up?

 

I have been visiting St. Maarten for 29 years, and have never seen or even heard of a nude person on Great Bay Beach.

 

gary

 

Personal experience in July 2009. (No, I was not nude, but I did observe it.) It was later in the afternoon as things were winding down for the day.

[astropilot]

As far as I can tell Great Bay doesn't have nudity and it's right out side of the ship pier and Phillipsburg shopping area.:)

 

Not true. The last time I was at Great Bay, there were several topless sunbathers on the beach.