I have seen a lot of information that helped us on our trips to Pinel Island, so I thought I would give a detailed report. I saw a number of questions on nudity as well that I will try to answer. Topless is allowed on any French beaches, but the main beach and snorkeling area at Pinel does not allow nudity. We went there twice during the Easter break so that meant there were a few more people there. The locals seem to all go to Pinel on holidays, so you have to adjust to the local customs when there are a lot of local people present. You also can get a crowd when the cruise ship bring over groups. You can tell the cruise ship people, they are the ones that have to snorkel with the life preservers on. <br><br>On one trip there were not too many people there but we took the path to the other side of the island anyway. Just get off the boat and follow the path behind the lolo and bear slightly to the right. It is not too far, it will take about 5 minutes. We got there early (9:30) and were alone for a about an hour. After that there were nevert more than 6 people on the entire beach. I went nude and so did a few others. There were not enough people there to worry about it. Snorkeling was okay, but the water was rough. The trip is not too long, so you may get a few cruise trip people wandering over to take a look, but they usually do not stay long.<br><br>We went again on the Thursday before Easter, Got there early again. This must be a holiday because there were a lot of local people and tents set up near the primary snorkeling area. We took the short walk to the deserted beach only to find a lot of people there as well. Mostly locals. We did not stay because I know many of the locals do not like nudity. So we followed the paths to the other deserted beach that is located on the left side of the island as you get off the ferry. The walk is a little longer, maybe 10 to 15 minutes. It is only a small island so you will not get lost. With the large crowds at main beach and first beach, we were surprised to find only one other person at this beach. Once again I was able to go nude. A few others came to the beach as well, about half were nude. The beach area is large, but there is not a large area where you can get into the water. The snorkeling may have been good, but the current was so strong we were concerned that we might get taken in to the channel.<br><br>The best snorkeling we had was at the roped off snorkeling area at 4:00. We were the only ones there and there were quite a few fish. We had to hurry to make the last ferry at 4:30 though. I had to wear my suit for swimming at the main area. Bummer. We were at St Martin for almost 2 weeks, and that was the only time I had to wear a bathing suit to go into the water.<br><br><br><P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by Administrator on 4/30/01 03:53 PM.</EM></FONT></P>