Following is a trip report from our first visit to St. Martin. We were there from Feb. 2nd through Feb. 12th and wish we could have spent another 10 days. We took the suggestion of many people's advice and rented a car to explore the island. For all of you that made this suggestion - THANK-YOU!. We are convinced it is the only way to experience as much as possible that the island has to offer and would advise anyone planning a trip to do the same. Now for a few facts of our trip.

We stayed at Mont Vernon and got exactly what we expected. A large, clean room with the bare necessities. We did not pay for the all inclusive (again another suggestion from numerous posts on this board) and am glad we didn't. Breakfast was included which was at most barely average. Omelets made to order most days with the same assortment of very large tubs of pre-formed hash-browns, scrambled eggs, bacon, occasionally pancakes, all of which were usually pretty cold. Also the same selection of danish and croissants everyday along with cereal, usually stale . We never ate lunch and only ate dinner there once - our first night after we arrived - and it was horrible. As indicated earlier, the rooms were rather large and for the most part clean. Limited TV channels but that didn't matter as we were there only to sleep. Maid service was good and regular. the power did go out 3 times during the first 3 days (Late evening) but only for a short period - 2 -3 minutes at most, and on our last day we woke up to no water until 11:00 or so. Views from the resort were beautiful but the high elevation made for a lot of hard hiking up and down stairs and inclined paths. Definitely not for the out-of-shape person. I'm 47, consider myself in above average shape and I was tired! I felt sorry for an elderly couple, she was rather large and walked with a cane. I imagine she will probably tell her travel agent a thing or two when she returns home. The beach area was clean although allot of sea weed in the water on this end of the beach. The pool area was also very clean although at times there was a faint sewer smell from the kitchen area. We did spend some time on the beach the first couple of days until we arranged for a rental car and there was a small group of us (8 - 12 people, mostly couples) that laid out au naturel without any objection from anyone. After we got our rental car we did not spend anymore time on Orient except for walking the length of it once. For this reason I won't comment too much on Orient other then to say we saw very few completely nude except early morning and maybe 1/4 topless during the day. Both of us have very public jobs so when we vacation we like to get away from people and Orient was just a little crowded for us. Resort staff in general was pretty friendly and helpful but there wasn't much of them. The grounds and overall condition of the buildings need allot of work. There appeared to be allot of locals renting rooms also. The entertainment was rather low-budget and not very interesting except on 2 nights when the 4-person entertainment staff (2 guys, 2 girls) did amateurish skits. These were very funny and entertaining. The entertainment was mostly in French and the majority of the tourists also seemed French. Being American, we seemed to of been the minority. Not really a problem though.

We spent 4 days on Happy Bay. The first day was the busiest. about 16 people total, almost all male/female couples, all nude except for 1 couple. Another day we seemed to be the only male/female couple there, the rest (which was only 4 other couples) were 2 ladies together, and 3 pairs of guys. I don't want to label anyone gay simply because of this, but they were all bare and the guys were "helping" each other with sun tan lotion. We are "live and let-live" type people so this really didn't bother us at all. The other 2 days there were only 6 of us on the beach the whole day. We did encounter 1 "local beach boy" that did some close staring at us, but we just ignored him and he left us alone. I'd have to say this was our favorite beach. Well worth the hike. We spent a day on Pinel, and this too was well worth the trip. Only 8 total people on the far side, all nude except for 1 lady who was topless. A very relaxing place. On a somewhat rainy day we explored other beaches, Cupecoy being one of them. Mostly men with a gathering of male and female towards the Northern end. Didn't look like a place for us as we like the more un-populated areas, but it was still exciting to see first hand after reading about it for so long. Maho beach and Sunset beach bar was a fun atmosphere (both the planes and people). Also a must see attraction. Besides eating lunch on Friar's bay beach, we didn't spend any time on any other beach since we liked Happy Bay so much. My suggestion to all is to visit as many beaches as possible and I'm sure you will find one that has what you are looking for.

We ate somewhere different almost every day and I am not going to go into detail on every place. The selection of restaurants seems endless and my suggestion would be to get out and explore. don't limit yourself to one town and definitely not to one resort. Prices are a little higher then I imagined they would be, but what the hell, you're on vacation!

Anyone that criticizes the friendliness of the people of St. Martin must have done something wrong to be treated poorly. We found where ever we went the people we encountered were extremely courteous and happy. My feelings are if you treat people with dignity and friendliness, you will get it in return. We have decided without a doubt that St. Martin will definitely be a future vacation destination for us again very soon, but not at Mont Vernon. If anyone would like more detailed information please send me an E-Mail at jrobert@new.rr.com and I'd be happy to be of help.