We booked a cruise that stops in SXM for one long day. This will be our first time back - post Irma. We want to look around much of the island and spend some time at the beach, probably Friers Bay / Happy Bay.

I am asking for your thoughts on the use of a rental car vs. a taxi.

What restaurants are up and running at Friers Bay? What is the status of the beach there. What is the status of Happy Bay?

Will Skipjacks be open by February?

What is the status of The Westin?

Is Pinel Island up and running (chairs to rent) (snorkeling) along with transportation over and back; and, are any of the restaurants open?

What is the status of the Anse Marcel area and beach?

Thanks for your thoughts on any or all of these questions. I know some of the questions are general in nature and I appreciate any information provided.

Pineal is up and running with both restaurants open and renting chairs. Pinel water taxi is running regularly.
Skipjacks plans to open in December.
Westins future is anybodys guess.

IMHO, if you rent a car you need to be focused on driving, and leave most of the visual inspection to others. If you hire a taxi you can focus on the visual inspection, perhaps get some good guidance from the taxi driver, and let someone else worry about parking or coming back to pick you up at an agreed time.

Both beach bars at Friar's Bay are open.

Anse Marcel was devastated, and it's difficult to get to the beach. Currently no services are available, but the beach is as beautiful as ever.

Regarding rental car versus taxi, if you know the island well, which it sounds like you do, you wouldn't worry about getting lost and missing the ship, which is a BIG deal. It is an extra hassle though, picking up the car and turning it back in. How much actual time will you have on island? Some ships are only in port for 6 hours or so, which isn't much. I can't tell if you want to do an around the island tour or those questions were just general questions. If you have say, 10 hours in port, I probably would just rent a car. As you know, if you want to go to Happy Bay, you would have to make a time to have the driver come back and pick you up, as there are unlikely to be any taxi drivers hanging around in the parking lot. If that were me, I'd be nervous about that. Although I guess you could walk over to Friar's and get a taxi to come there.

As far as Happy Bay, it lost most of it's vegetation in Irma, so there is no shade, if that's an issue for anyone in your party. Others answered most of your other questions.

Thank you everyone.

The ship will be in port from 8 AM to 10 PM so we really wanted to look around and see what has been fixed and what has not. Also, we stayed in Anse Marcel on a few occasions. The water there was always so inviting. Pinael was a backup if Friers and Happy Bay were out of commission.

We also stayed at the Westin on a few occasions and I was wondering if it was going to be repaired - and when that might take place.

I was also wondering about the big tree in the middle of Happy Bay Beach, but it sounds like Irma took care of that also.

I look forward to being back on SXM if only for one day.

I have previously posted my Flickr pictures from our last visit a few years back at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/rmg49/page4

Wow, what a nice LONG port call!! I definitely would rent a car, for that long a visit. I can see why you're interested in Skipjacks, as I personally would try to do an early dinner on island. I know someone has posted some post-Irma pictures of Happy Bay. You might want to do a search for "Happy Bay", and hopefully you should be able to find them.