Hi! Returning to SXM with one other couple in February, after an absence of several years. We have never visited in high season. Are we likely to be able to rent chairs at Club O, and if so, how early do we have to get there in order to secure a few? Thanks!

We would usually arrive around 9:30-10:00-ish and always found 2 chairs in the front row. Sometimes we would have to be closer to Papagayo than the Perch.

You may not be able to get the passes where you pay for 5 and get 7, but you should be able to secure chairs even in high season, if you're there by 9:30 or so.

Most recently (June 2015), it's been pay for SIX ($120 for a weekly pass) and get seven (ordinarily $20 a day).

We go mid April every year. Our husband go down at 6:30, lay our towels on the unmarked chairs, just in the water to wake up, stop at Good Morning in Orient Bay Village for croissants and bread and get back to our villa by 7:15. We make our way down around 9:30. On the first day, we head right for the watersports building after Papagayo and get 7 days for 120 dollars which includes parking at CO. We then don't have to worry about if there's a spot by Pedro's or if anyone is going to break in. The wonderful beach guys come by and we give them our tickets. The Perch opens at 10 or 10:30 I believe. Willie makes the best Bloody Mary's and then all is right with the world. 9 months and counting.

Oh, ok, thanks. It used to be pay $100 and get 7 passes. Inflation!!!

Okay, sounds like we will probably be able to get chairs, but some different answers on when to get down to the beach in the morning.

So - first question, when does the watersports building open in the morning in order to pay for the chairs?
Do some of you put towels on the chairs and then come back later to pay? If so, do people leave the towels alone?
Also, if we have friends staying at Club O, do you think this would help us in any way? I guess they could at least go put towels on the chairs for us.

The chair guys come around to the individual chairs to collect your money, unless you are on the multi-day pass and even then, they come around to the individual chairs to collect your chit from your book and they put the tag on your chair each day. I'm not sure right now where they sell the multi-day pass, that may be at watersports, but I thought it was at the store. Chairs are not reserved at Club O by putting down towels. If you are talking about people who are staying at Club O putting down Club O towels to reserve chairs for you, they only give out one towel per person, so your friends will not have any extra Club O towels to put down on chairs, even if they wanted to. Regardless, chairs at Club O are reserved only by either a daily tag or the tags which those staying there are given for the duration of their stay. I would not count on any chair being reserved just with a towel on it. Regardless, unless you have to have a chair in the front row, I don't really think you'll have that much of a problem getting a chair on the beach.

Thanks, Carol! We are usually up by 8 am anyways, so either we or our friends will go get the daily tags. Unless they decide to let us do the weekly, in which case we will probably do that.

If you're there by 8 AM you have zero problems, getting front row chairs..

I'm going to add a couple of points here. When we were there for 2 weeks last month, the Club O beach was a lot more crowded than usual, especially for low season - most likely because of the closure of some of the other bars on the beach. When the 4 of us got there at 10 am on several days, it was quite difficult to find chairs, and harder to find umbrellas. We managed, but it wasn't easy. Hopefully, by the time you go, the construction will be over and things will get back to normal. However, I would still advise getting there no later than 9 in high season.

As for towels on the chairs, no. Only tags (or you physically sitting there waiting for the chair guys to come by) will reserve your chair. We saw people removing towels from otherwise empty and untagged chairs when we were there. We heard one of the Club O guys telling another couple that it was okay for towels to be removed as those chairs had not yet been paid for and it was obvious no one was physically there yet. So best advice is get there early.

Okay, thanks. I was a little skeptical whether just putting down towels would do it in February. We have no problem getting there early, but I am wondering what is the earliest we would be able to actually get the chairs tagged. It would be nice, as lobstaroll said, to get the chairs, then go off for a little breakfast.

Usually, the beach guys have chairs and umbrellas lined up at 8:00-8:30 am.

Great!

Then we can get there early, get our chairs and head off to breakfast. Now if only it weren't still seven months away... <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/cry.gif" alt="" />