TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin Beaches that allow your own cooler/food

Reading up, it seems that some of the popular restaurants at Orient Bay do not allow you to bring your own cooler/food if you rent their chairs. While I’m looking forward to enjoying lunch and drinks at all the beaches we will be visiting, I think we will be able to save a few dollars by taking a cooler with drinks as well, especially for the kids.

Will any of the following restaurants have a problem with own food/drinks:
Rainbow Cafe at Grand Case
Either of the 2 restaurants on Pinel island
Divi resort at Little Bay
Friars Bay Beach Cafe at Friars Beach

From another post here, it seems Mullet Bay is okay with bringing own food, so good news!

I would guess NO with regard to Rainbow. Divi, sorry, why would you go there, if you're not staying there? For Orient, there are HUGE stretches of beach that do not have anyone there now. If you want to take your own CHAIRS and umbrella and food, you can sit where you want in huge stretches of beach. For Mullet, you can bring whatever you want. And for Club O beach, ,the same. You don't have to be nude to use Club O beach.

Little Bay is great, but I’m pretty sure the cost to rent chairs at Divi for non-guests is high. Since the cost is so high they probably wouldn’t have anything to say about a cooler.

Rented two chairs + umbrella for $15 at Divi this past August. Brought my own cooler. No problem.

This is my take on this. When the kids were little not a single place had issue with a little cooler for the kids with waters, soda etc. I always bring a water bottle with me now to every beach we go to without issue. If the beach is a beach bar/restaurant/cafe then no, no cooler. It’s like going to any restaurant and I would not walk in with my own food/drink. And it doesn’t matter to me if paying for chairs or not. There are areas on every beach on the island that allow you to bring your own chairs/picnic contrary to what some may say. Mullet we bring coolers as it is not a “restaurant” it’s a “Lolo” nothing formal.

My rule is if I'm paying for chairs I bring a cooler. If chairs are free I don't bring a cooler and buy from the vendor.

In St. Martin/St Maarten, does the restaurant own/has jurisdiction over the patch of beach in front of their restaurant? Depending, it seems that it may be a matter of what is legal and regulatory as opposed to what is customary and appears to be fair to individuals.

Well that’s actually pretty reasonable. I was basing my assumption on what Aqua Mania charges... $40 per adult, $20 per child.

As far as I know they can control who uses their chairs but not the beach sand.

I agree with Kim. While it may be "legal" for you to bring your cooler to a beach that is associated with a restaurant, it's just rude, in my opinion. That said, there's an area on Friar's Bay in between the two restaurants there, as well as at the far end going towards the path to Happy Bay, where the restaurants don't set up chairs. You could easily bring a cooler there.

we take a cooler everywhere,,,we are usually a larger size group. When on Orient for example...we have our own cooler,,,we pay for chairs and umbrellas,,,we buy beer and always eat from one of the beach front restaurants so that establishment makes a lot of money from us. It is a day trip over to French side, so we are there almost all day,,,I see no problem bringing a cooler, to have some of your own drinks, snacks,,,as long as you patronize the establishment as well. In the past, we rented chairs /umbrellas from packlite and just sat on an area of beach that was not directly in front of any particular establishment, and that worked too.....a lot cheaper than renting chairs. Coolers only hold so much, so even in that situation we still try and buy drinks or extra food from nearby places.

Seriously? Little Bay Beach is one of the nicest beaches on the island. Very gentle water and lots of nice sand.

Rentals at Divi $15. When we stayed there we brought cooler. When Dawn Beach had units there before the Westin we brought baguette, wine, cheese, grapes with us and our own towels and sat on rocks.

and a decent place for snorkeling

Sorry, I would just never go to a hotel beach on SXM, feeling I wouldn't be welcome. I have been wrong before.

At one point after Irma SBR was encouraging visitors to come use their beach and chairs. Was a money maker for them.

Normally we wouldn't either --only if no restaurant in the area --but the food is so blah and sometimes it was outright bad (got food poisoning) I always brough snacks but bought drinks at the beach bar when at Divi.

It is a business so to me if they sell food or drink its just rude to walk in an sit on their chairs with a cooler. If you can assess access the beach without going across private land I would say a part of the beach is public up to that high water line , but depending on where that high water line is certainly their is beach that is on private property and they have the right to control that as private. Obviously if the sand goes right up to a bar, hotel, condo or home it does not mean its is public to use or be on.

All beaches are public no matter where the high water mark is.

Whether they are public or not isn't the issue. The beach restaurants pay rental to have their restaurants and chair concessions on the beach. To bring a cooler to an established restaurant is just rude. Would you bring your food from home into a restaurant at home?

Food no but wine yes and pay the corkage. It's quite common practice. I still say if your paying for a chair on the beach it's OK to bring a cooler unless otherwise posted as it is in Anise Marcel.

Interesting theory but all over the island beach sand runs right up to someone’s patio, bedroom window, porch, bar , hotel and it’s not public property. Yes a certain amount of beach is public But there are plenty a property lines on both Dutch and French sides running across the beach that’s private land Even if it happens to be Beach sand. Examples are all over the island of buildings being built on the beach Seawalls, private porches on beaches , etc. etc. etc.

We brought the cooler to beach at Divi when we were staying at Divi. We were not "walk-ins" I would not do it at other beaches with restaurants---especially not at Mullet when there's Rosie's delicious ribs.

On another note I personally wouldn't order one dish to split in an upscale restaurant. If it too much to eat then take leftovers back to the unit where you're staying. We each have that "one thing" whatever it may be, that we find rude.

Rosemary--I totally disagree with you on that one. We don't normally split entres, (but I feel no compunction doing that if the circumstances arise) but we split apps, soups, and desserts ALL the time. We've never had anyone look at us sideways regarding that at all. In fact, we have had a restaurant even ASK if we wanted a salad or app split before. In virtually all cases, leftovers just are not the same heated up.

Of course paying the corkage to bring your own wine is a completely different thing. We'll have to agree to disagree on the beach restaurant issue.

Yes we will have to agree to disagree one that issue. I will still do what I feel comfortable doing and you will too which is an individual's prerogative.

"especially not at Mullet "
"wouldn't order one dish to split in an upscale restaurant."
I will disagree with both your statements. Mullet is a place I see many coolers being used and Rosie doesn't rent out those chairs, somebody else not affiliated with Rosies does. And splitting dishes at restaurants is oftentimes asked and suggested by some wait staff. Totally appropriate to do so.

I think Rosemary is saying she would prefer to have Rosie's ribs, over bringing in food, but coolers are all over the place at Mullet, certainly. We took drinks and got ribs and chicken there this time. That's what we normally do.

My wife likes the ribs from Rosies when we go to Mullet but I prefer to pack a baguette sandwich rather than have messy ribs at a beach.

Just get lots of napkins! But a baguette sandwich is just fine too! We've certainly done that before on Orient.

There are certain beaches we look forward to buying our lunches like Pinel and Anse Marcel but always take our cooler to Pinel and have never had a beach attendant tell us we couldn't. When at Anse Marcel we tell the beach attendant we have water and a few snacks in the cooler when we make our lunch reservations and am told it is just fine to do so.

Exactly!

And I wasn't criticizing anyone who splits entrees. I was just stating that there's always something that bothers one group and not another. The split entree is my bug-a-boo. Maybe because I've been in the restaurant business, had people complain about an extra plate charge when they split an entree not thinking that it's more work for the dishwasher and that was the justification for the extra plate charge. That said, I have never seen a menu note of extra plate charge in any of the places we've dined on SXM. That's kind of them.

We usually split aptz and/or dessert. And some places on SXM bring that extra fork or spoon to the table without you telling them you plan to split.

CaribJo - so can you go to Divi and rent chairs/bring cooler if you are not a guest there? Is there a resort fee to get in?

Mouse - Other than the beaches mentioned, in the past we have brought a cooler to Captain Frenchy on Grand Case and they have never had a problem with it as we still spend a lot of money with them throughout the day. And they are much friendlier than Rainbow anyway.

Doesn't take much to be friendlier than Rainbow.

Good point - so true

We tried Rainbow in January, never again.

Yes. No.

ribs at rosies r dry rub, so not so messy....and on the other hand if 4 some reason u do get a bit messy the ocean is just a few steps away...LOL

good call on divi beach Jazzgal

To each their own.