Since some people seemed interested in my recollections of our first trip to St. Martin, maybe something on the changes over the years might also be of interest. Orient Beach is one such area. We first saw Orient Beach in June 1979, when we found the path over the peninsula from Le Galion beach. We were there in 1978 but did not think to try to find Orient then, but this is a picture of Le Galion in 1978.

Le Galion hotel was the base for those wishing to be close to Orient in those days. Club O was started about that time; I do not remember if there was anything built when we went over, but the beach was deserted – we saw 2 other people.




We went to Orient on all of our subsequent visits, which were most but not every year. Regrettably, I did not take a lot of pictures, but here are some from various times. But up to the mid-80’s one could walk the entire beach any time of the day nude or clothed. The walk form end to end a couple of times was something we did frequently. You could find conch shells along it, but also dump trucks would come along to load sand. Each year there seemed to be a few more people and shacks selling T-shirts and souvenirs sprang up at the entrance. But even as late as 1989 nudity was accepted along the entire beach. After that, of course, development and the burgeoning cruise passenger market took over.
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