my sister and I will be visiting March 5th to 12th. Any recommendations for things to do in orient beach area. We are staying at esmeralda.

Hi Lara. Welcome! I see you're new, and I'm sure you may have whiplash by now. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Smile.gif" alt="" /> Your post about the swimming suit was moved to the SXM People Talk forum because it wasn't purely about SXM. This current post here is solely about SXM, and actually about a totally different topic, so I moved this here and changed the title. Sorry for all the confusion.

What kinds of things are you interested in? There are of course water sports, like snorkling, swimming, scuba, jet skis, kayaking. There are also things like the butterfly farm and the horse stables, over by Le Galion. There is also lots of fine dining, sightseeing in Marigot, tons of great stuff! Let us know what your interests are and I'm sure you will get lots of good suggestions.

You may enjoy the Paradise View Creperie Restaurant on top of the hill above Orient. Great views of the ocean as well as some of the best crepes ever. I love mine with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on it be it for breakfast of for dinner.

lara consider renting a car and touring island and trying many of the different beaches on the island. Some are less crowded (Baie Longue) deep white sand, some red sand (Baie Rouge) Grand Case has several beach places to eat drink with toes in the sand (Calmos, Rainbow to name 2).

Friar's & nearby (walkable from Friar's) Happy Bay are beautiful. You can rent chairs there and food is offered.

Waves at Maho Beach and Rosies has great ribs.

Anse Marcel has a lovely beach and a thrilling ride up & down hill to get there. From this road is a beautiful view back to Orient Bay.

Karaketer's and EL Zafiro have free loungers if you eat/drink at the location. Long white sand beach with view of Saba island. The rode there runs along side the airport and you can watch planes land/take-off. A nearby place Sunset Beach Bar has gotten mixed reports and you pay to use their pool. Beach along side is small.

Even if you don't rent a car for the full stay consider 2 or 3 days to see what SXM offers.

PS and Simpson Bay has nightlife if you're young & adventurous. Our son met a student doctor at Karacter's (there's a medical school on island) and he now dates her now that she's stateside.

LaPlaya on Orient beach has been advertising parties in the evenings and Yellow Submarine is the restaurant/bar in the village that is open at night. There are probably other beach bars open at night as long as there is a crowd otherwise except for dinner the area is fairly quiet once you get into the later evening hours.

Additionally there is a small bar with a few outdoors tables serving food (near Petit Casino (sp?)) that is open late. It has changed hands a few times in the last several years but seems to keep to the same format of light food and drink.