First couple of days in St Marteen observations.


Here are initial observations. We arived on Sunday and got a car from Avis. Experience was very positive. We got Chinese made SUV, with few dings all around, but overall car is fine. Getting out of airport overall including immigration, luggage, shuttle to Avis, and getting the car took us about 30 min total. So far very positive experience.

Driving to our hotel - Orient Beach Hotel took about 20 min . Hotel itself is really nice- brand new and all rooms facing the ocean. It's more like 3 star motel, without common area or any other extras, but it's very clean with excellent service. They have small pool, but we do not intend to use it. We came here for the beach.

Location is upscale with other similar hotels around and many condos. 

The biggest disappointment is the ocean and the beach. For three days that we are here it's unusable. High winds, and I mean really high with gust. Ocean is really rough and unswimmable. Due to wind walking on the beach is impossible and almost all chairs are empty. It's a biggest let down so far. Not sure if it will be different in upcoming days, but for us is not something that we enjoy. Really surprised why this is considered the most famous beach in St Maarten, but it is not even close to our favorite Seven Miles Beach in Cayman Islands.

All in all if you stay at Orient beach and want to enjoy the beach, you must rent a car. Otherwise stay somewhere else.

So on our first full day we went to Great Bay beach by the port. We checked that there were no ships in port on the day and in fact, beach was practically empty. Finding parking was another story... Took us extra 20 min, and we weren't even sure if we allowed to park where we did, but thankfully we were fine. Beach was good, much calmer and to rent two chairs and umbrella cost us $15. We had lunch in cafe near the beach and it was really good. Next day we went to Mullet beach. It was difficult to find it but at least they have parking. Chairs and umbrella was $20 and the beach was packed. Ocean was calm but the water wasn't clear, so could not do much snorkeling. 

Restaurants - this where St Marteen excels! If you are a foody person, this is the place to go. Everywhere we went, breakfast, lunch or dinner was excellent! Presentation and taste was really good! Prices are very reasonable, especially compared to restaurants in NY area. 3 course meal plus drinks is approximately $70 - $80 which significantly cheaper compare to $$$$ restaurants in NY.

To be continue...