We were at Esmeralda for three weeks ending 3rd March.

Depending where you are placed within the complex, it could take anywhere from 5-10 minutes to get onto the beach in front of Esmeralda, and then another 15-20 minutes down to the CO beach, depending on your pace. But beware that there may be hurricane debris still on the path to the beach once you leave the paved walkways at Esmeralda. There was when we were there and had to be vigilant to sidestep it (broken glass, metal shards, etc.). Also, I have no idea how much further along they are in reconstructing the Coco Beach bar that is in front of Esmeralda. When we were there, they had fenced off access to the beach on several days, due to construction activity. Furthermore, that area was not at all lit up at night.

Alternatively, you could walk over to the Esmeralda entrance and just walk along Avenue des Plages to Orient Village, instead of walking on the beach, and then continue on down to the CO section. We did that a few times. We frequently saw people walking along the Avenue late at night, if you want to walk to and back from Orient Village for dinner.

Virtually all the restaurants (though they are not all the same restaurants) are open in the Village. We were told that Calmos Café (formerly in Grand Case) was thinking of reopening in the space where Thai Chi was located. I have no idea whether anything has developed along that line.

Hope this response answers your questions.