Orient Beach

Have not seen any update lately on the condition of seaweed on the beach. Is it gone away ? How is tourism this week with New Years coming....

There was no weed to speak of in the water in front of Club O today (Monday).

Tons of seaweed in front of Kakao as of yesterday.

Has the seaweed been this bad since the hurricane or longer than that? I know many islands are dealing with this right now. We were considering moving to another location for our upcoming February trip but I think we are going to take our chances and stay on Orient Beach as planned.

The seaweed seemed to appear long before the Hurricane (Gonzales), as I kept watching the Perch cam every morning long before our trip in October. I even made some posts on the amount of seaweed on the beach. It was cleaned up quickly by the "tractor man", but on the mornings that Club O was closed, it didn't seem to be cleaned up as quickly. We were at Club O during the storm (we were there Oct 10th thru the 20th), and it was really bad the first few mornings after the storm. Club O personnel worked really hard cleaning the debris and seaweed from the beach in front of Club O. They even replanted several Palm trees that had been blown over. Up the Beach past Pedro's, the seaweed was three feet thick in some places, and we never saw that cleaned up even on the last day we were there, but the business owners were busy trying to rebuild their shops.

We are thinking of going somewhere else on vacation due to the seaweed issue.

It would be helpful if business owners and the hotels would provide information on the conditions.

There is a lot of discussion about seaweed issues on the trip adviser website. Enough information that we are on hold as far as vacation plans to St Martin or anywhere else in the area at least for now.

Your going somewhere else is exactly why hoteliers and business owners are not providing the information. "Don't come here; the beach is covered with stinky seaweed" would tend to reduce revenue! We were there for three weeks during which time we encountered seaweed on almost every beach we visited. We had a fabulous time.

We've been on Simpson Bay beach for the past 10 days and there has been no seaweed here at all. So not all beaches currently have a seaweed problem.

We never encountered it on Simpson Bay beach either, although Annie did say it came in the day we left. It was definitely worse on Orient than anywhere else we went.

There was a little weed in the water yesterday (tuesday 12/30) but none today (New Year's Eve), at least that I noticed while swimming.

How does one access Simpson bay beach? Also when you say you encountered seaweed on almost every beach you went to do you mean in the water or on the actual beach itself? How about Baie Rouge and Mullet, any seaweed there?

When seaweed is in the water, it washes up onto the beach, so it would both in the water and on the beach. It moves from place to place along the beaches, as well as from beach to beach; so there may be seaweed on a beach one day and not the next, and vice versa. We did not go to Rouge or Mullet, so can't answer that question.

I'm sure it happens but I don't recall seeing seaweed on the beach at Mullet Bay or even in the water in that area, and while I've spent a lot less time there, I don't recall seeing it on Maho Beach either.

And while I've seen it on Simpson Bay Beach on occasional, it's never been in the heavy amounts I've seen in some of the other areas of the island facing Anguilla and/or the beaches with more of an Atlantic exposure but I don't know if there's a connection. I also don't recall seeing it on some of the more protected beaches like Friars Bay and Ans Marcel but I've spent a lot less time on those beaches so perhaps I've just been lucky and missed it there. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/handshake.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/handshake.gif" alt="" />

The best way to access Simpson Bay beach is to stay there, like at Beachside Villas. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Smile.gif" alt="" /> Otherwise, there is Karakter, but not really a good public access, as there are houses, apartments, etc., all along it.

If you fill up all the villas at Beachside, we will all be camping there on the beach! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/jester.gif" alt="" />Advertise carefully! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Grin.gif" alt="" />

Oddly enough, during the summer, there does seem to be rooms available, when we are there anyway. This time, of course they were full.

So Simpson bay is not accessible to the public, only to those who stay at Beachside Villa's?

Simpson Bay Beach is accessible to anyone. It is just not a place that has a parking lot and steps-to-the-beach access. We always park on one of the side roads ending at the beach and walk a couple hundred feet and that's that. We have never had an issue with parking or access...there is a great beach walk from where we park past Karacters, past the runway to BSV and back.

We have even done many day walks from SBR, along the beach, up the steps to Beacon Hill and on to Sunset Beach....and we ain't youngsters anymore

No, sorry, what I meant was that there are houses or hotels, etc., all along and no real parking for the beach. There are many, many, many rental accomodations all along Simpson Bay.

The SARGASSUM seaweed situation is a problem throughout the Caribbean this year, so research carefully if you go somewhere else. It is normally not this severe and usually moves back out to sea by now.

Thanks SXMBEACHLOVER for the good info on the seaweed.

It sure looks to be an issue all through the Caribbean. We checked USVI, BVI, St Lucia, even Jamaica, similar issues.

We are hoping the seaweed disappears in the coming months.

We experience this a lot on the TX Gulf Coast and beaches full of seaweed is not something I want to spend vacation money on to go and see. I can see that here in TX. A nice clean beach is a big draw for us on vacation.

Continued informative posts on TTOL and trip advisor on beach conditions are very helpful to those of us planning our vacation trips.

Anyone have any new updates regarding Orient Beach; specifically the beach condition in front of Pedro's?

We have been at orient the last couple days and the beach is in good shape.

Club Orient section, or the other side of Pedro's??

Is there a forum on SXM beach conditions, daily? Perhaps i can check this one? Will be on island 1.7, and would so like to know best conditions, seaweed, etc before heading out for my beach day!

There is not much weed in front of Club O, either in the water or on the beach. North of Pedro's there appears to be quite a lot of weed, both in the water and on the beach, and that is affecting the business of the establishments in Pedro's Mall.

We tried Orient today and left. Seaweed, seaweed, seaweed. Ended up at Karakter. Mullet is on deck for tomorrow.

Well, that has been the case for a few weeks now--pretty good in front of Club O, horrible other places. I thought perhaps that had changed, but apparently not, according to sailbynight.

Thanks for the replies; we're mainly inquiring about the area next to Pedro's, Club Orient side, whether the beach there is in good shape?
Also, will the cab drivers still drop us off at Pedro's regardless?

Ok u have read all good and bad conditions on Orient... It changes very day. So enjoy what u like on Orient....But again seaweed still bad... For at less another 3 months per weather Channel... Pray for seaweed to go away.......

Tomorrow is Sunday--big local day at Mullet. You'd better get there early to get parking!

Friends were in Tulum over Christmas and said the seaweed there was significant as well.

Sorry I should have clarified location. We were down on the club o side and conditions were good. We didn't go north of there.

Club O section has been much better than the rest of the Orient during this whole time, either because of some wave action or because they have been more diligent about cleaning their beach, or both.

That area is pretty good. Better as you get onto the Club Orient lot, where the crew there has been grooming the beach. Today (Sunday) it is excessively windy and not a really good beach day, seaweed or not.

Perhaps the 'Christmas winds' have arrived?

The seaweed story can be found here:

http://www.brosnancenter.com/sargassum-summer.html

It certainly feels like the Christmas winds have arrived! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/jester.gif" alt="" />