I know I'm in the minority on this, but for one reason or another, I've never particularly enjoyed Pinel Island since it became so peopled and developed. Back in the day it was wonderful but all those chairs and umbrellas packed in like sardines just turn me off completely. But that's the really nice thing about St. Maarten - St. Martin....there really is a beach for everybody and if you search around and seek them out, you'll find the one that best suits your wants and needs of the moment. I've always thought one of the more fun things to do was to explore as many of them as I could to see what appealed and what didn't, and actually, that's how we got to Pinel the first time about a gazillion years ago. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/handshake.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/handshake.gif" alt="" />