TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin Continuing notes on a Visit (1/24)

Getting into rinse and repeat mode. Beautiful day so back to Happy Bay.

Friar's Beach has exposed a huge number of small black rocks right at waters' entry making it a pain to get in. There are a few areas that are passable but not many. Significant crashing surf obviously the culprit.



Happy bay, on the other hand, has a drop off at waters' entry and decent swells but nice sand all the way in to about 20 feet from shore. By then you are floating or swimming so it doesn't matter. Tried to take a pic but deferred due to quite a few non-textiles having a nice walk.
Instead I will defer to one from on the walk...



In the few days since we were there there have been noticeable changes. The ruined condo work is progressing...lots of land clearing in MORE than one area with yellow boundary marker tape and cleared grass in a few areas. Looks like more than one condo reclamation is in the works

Comments: re: B pool changes at SBR...I forgot to mention that the bathroom/laundry room is having a COMPLETE redo...walls, floor, everything removed and presently being replace. Prob won't be done by next week.

On another note, I read about a couple being assaulted and robbed at gunpoint on Sunday on Kim Sha Beach (930p). One had to be transported to the hospital...sad...

I think those rocks are always at Friars; sometimes they're under the water. The first time we went there, I walked across the sand into the water, and was immediately hit with pain when my feet hit those rocks. I love the restaurant there, though!

Thanks for the report and the pictures. Sorry to hear about the couple assaulted..

Not sure about that, Georgia. When I was there in Nov/Dec, I didn't experience the rocks either on the beach or in the water.

I've experienced the rocks at Friar'sBay lots of times-they are usually covered with sand but still sharp on the feet. Between the road getting in and the rocks not sure we'll go back. Can't understand why the French government or the beach bars don't fix the road.

The road has been paved for a bit now...starting to degrade but a big improvement over the car swallowing previous edition

I certainly can't argue with your personal observations, Linda. I've only been there a few times (none in the past five years or so), and always experienced those little rocks either on the beach or in the water.

We've usually experienced the stones, too. Usually more on the old Kali's area than on the FBBC but the last time we were there, last April, we had virtually no stones, either on the beach or in the water. I guess, like so many aspects of this place we love, it's all subject to change. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/handshake.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/handshake.gif" alt="" />