Enjoy your first trip to paradise!

To answer your questions before throwing in my personal observations:

- the Mount Vernon complex is at the FAR northwest end of Orient Beach...about as far away from everything else as you can get. We would recommend staying in Orient Village to be within walking distance of more of everything. Ideas include Cap Caribes, Townhouses Menorca, Alamanda, and many many others... I am sure other long time visitors will chime in with their favorites!

Your choice to get a rental car is very wise! Grand Case is the "gourmet capital of the Caribbean"' and you have to work very hard to find a bad meal amongst all that excellence. Park in the well-lighted free lot at the east end of town and stroll up the main drag reading the chaulk board menus outside each restaurant until something catches your eyes.

We have never gone over to St. Barth's but from years of posts here on TTOL it appears that the short flight out of Grand Case airport on a Twin Otter is much prefered to the VERY ROUGH boat ride.

A good St. Martin vacation is the exact opposite of an "If this is Tuesday, this must be Belgium" type frenzy. Relax, do not plan out a "must do this today" schedule, but just relax and enjoy each day as it unfolds....

If you would like to try out the nude beach at Club Orient you will be most welcomed. Just walk Southeast down Orient Beach past Pedro's, go past the Club O billboard sign, and into the sea of yellow umbrellas. Find a pair of lounge chairs with no personal items on them and no colored plastic "wrist bands" afixed to the chair frames. These are the ones available. Spread out your beach towels on the chairs (good nudist ettiquete is to always sit on your own piece of cloth) and relax. The Club O beach guys will eventually swing by and collect $20 for the use of those two chairs and one umbrella for the rest of the day...and put colored wrist bands signifying such on the frames of what are now YOUR chairs for that entire day.

When you are relaxed and comfortable, take off your suits and go skinny dipping in that crystal clear, 80*F water like carefree little kids.

Say hi to the people on the chairs around you. They will keep an eye on your "stuff" while you are in the water. Nudists are the friendliest...and most honest...people in the world we have found over the years we have stayed in Orient Beach.

Enjoy your vacation!