My wife and I discovered the nude beaches of SXM in 1983. All that existed on Orient was Pedros and Club O. The rest of the beach was white sand and sea grapes. You could walk nude the entire beach w/o any issues. WE never saw the Gendarmes in those days except for downtown Marigot. Most other non-hotel beaches were the same - no one seemed to care, except some of the villa owners on Long Bai who would post no nudity signs. Some time in the late 1980s a tax incentive on the French side brought a boom in hotels and the beach bars on Orient. Then things changed - more crime and more gendarmes. Cupecoy has still remains so far as the best nude beach,particularly when the currnets bring in the sand.