TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin Orient Beach

Quick review of our trip to Orient beach. We stayed at the Esmeralda which is about 300 yards from the beach. If you are just into beaching it and relaxing you do not need a car at all. Esmeralda is a fine place. We spent 2700 for 7 nights prime season. It is about what you would expect for the money. If you truly want 5 star you should go to la semanna and pay 1000 plus a night.

You get a chair and umbrella at 4 or 5 different spots or half off at the nicest one. We opted to pay and sit in the front row. Much prettier view of the water and the people. Topless everywhere and full nude on one side of the beach. You can avoid it easily if you want to. The beach is a 2.2 mile round trip walk so fun to do 2-3 times a day.

Resteraunts are walkable from all the resorts and you can spend as little as 50 a couple by sharing app and meal or you can drop 500 a couple if you want.

Very little seaweed this year. Weather was perfect with two little rains.

Enjoy and take the plunge and go

What was your best meal?

Altier right in Orient was very good. Exceptional wine prices also 20 -30 over cost for a nice bottle.

Is that L'Atelier in orient square?

Did you notice if they are allowing Au naturelle use of their pools?
Thanks

4 units share a pool. In 5 visits one time a couple used it that way. This is the opposite side of the nude beach so i think most folks who want that stay somewhere closer

So this is interesting. I think Esmeralda sold off a few properties to support the Irma rebuild. We are renting this AirBnb (https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/888259..._id=53580928-e8a5-4563-84f8-d350b9ff3872) which is on the Esmeralda property. We are staying from 3/1-3/11 for $3400 including fees, and we have the entire building and pool. Granted no breakfast or towels, but we can live with that. Plus no rules at the pool!

My first visit to Esmeralda was 2002, you would have thought it was a nudist resort back then.

Does Esmerelda allow au natural sunbathing?

Sir Richard--not on the beach, not for a long time. They used to have an au naturel section, years and years ago. Traditionally, in the past, if the other people staying in your individual building didn't mind, people would go nude around the pool. Not sure if that still happens or not.

We'll be there in two weeks and I plan to use it that way assuming no one in the other 3 rooms that share the pool objects. In six previous visits over the past 20 years, no one ever objected. Usually we were the only ones using the pool as most people spend their time at the beach or sightseeing.

Best to follow the rules and no one is offended.

Are you talking about Esmeralda or Coco Beach?

I was referring to the pools at each of Esmeralda's 14 villas.

Coco's has a new name. The last time we were there was 2017 just before the hurricane, I don't recall any provisions for being nude at their beach. As I recall, in 2012 they had a portable bicycle rack type barrier that had a sign indicating the clothing optional area, but they had the rack pushed to the back of the beach up against some rocks so there really wasn't any space for a clothing optional area. In the years prior to that, they had the rack/sign out a little further onto the beach and some lounge chairs so there was a small area that could have allowed for nude used. Even before that, when the nude area was larger they had signs saying that you had to cover up to walk to the ocean, bar, or rest room.

In 2017 I noticed that there were more people nude at Club Orient's beach, than there were non nude people at all of the other beach areas on Orient combined. I don't know why some of the beach bars don't push to be allowed to have clothing optional areas.

" I don't know why some of the beach bars don't push to be allowed to have clothing optional areas.'
Thank God they don't.

Coco Beach? We were just there this past December, and it was still called Coco Beach then.

Scuba--get over it. Orient has been used nude since before you were even going there.

I agree with Scuba.
There is an entire clothing optional area of the beach. Go there. The other bars don't need to be having their own little areas of it.
Frankly, it is like having smoking areas in restaurants. One table is smoking and the one next to it isn't.
Best to keep it all in one place.

The naturists already use places like Happy Beach and Cupecoy illegally.

Thanks.