TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin Orient Nude Beach

Hello All

We are making our first trip back to SXM post Irma on May 1 2018. I have heard various reports about the nude section of the beach so I'm hoping there may be info on the beach as of late. We are hoping that the nude section and Perch Lite are still primarily nude and that the clothed people aren't taking over. Not that there is anything wrong with the clothed folks, but we have made many friends at the nude beach and are hoping it is still primarily nude. Anyone been lately?

Earlier reports here on this forum indicate that the Club O section of the beach remains nude friendly. Looking forward to returning in November.

There are some textiles on the beach, but there always were before. It's a clothing OPTIONAL beach. Go and enjoy!

We have been in St Martin for the last 4 weeks and spent may days at Club O.
The beach at Club O is mostly occupied by nudists although some cruise boat people come, rent chairs and remain clothed.
I haven't seen any problems. The beach has the same feel and vibe as before.
Club O also has the most chairs to rent on Orient Beach and the Perch bar helps bring in the patrons.

Thanks for the report. To sort of change the subject, what is going on with any other places to eat along Orient, other than the Perch?

Friends of ours ate at Chez Leandra's last week.
We haven't ventured off of Club O's property to check it out but I believe that she may be the only other place to eat.
There hasn't been any new construction started of any of the other beach restaurants yet.

We are on Sxm now. Perch lite and Chez Leandra are the only places for food on Orient Beach. We have eaten at Chez Leandra least 3 times a week for the past 4 weeks. Food is great as usual. Must say the weather has improved this week. The wind is calmer.

Thanks for the report. I wasn't sure if the Collectivite' had shut down Chez Leandra or not.

And we too have been here for the past 4 weeks. Prices at Peach Lite are in dollars, not euro. Yesterday, I had the ribs at the Perch Lite and my wife had the chicken. Both were excellent.

Great to know 76 days and counting
Carib cheers,
doctorj

Wife and I decided to return this July and spend our money here at our beloved Caribbean paradise. We weighed and looked at other destinations for this year while the island heals from hurricane...but why not help the cause by spending money and reinvest here where it is needed and wanted.
Besides there is no comparable to Club O/Orient beach and all the awesome people that make this “one of a kind place on earth”! Yes it will be scarred and set back 😢 however there are still many restaurants reopened all over the island along with beaches and “what are we going to do today” places. Undoubtably Club O will take the longest to reopen, but the nude beach at their property even in its bare bones shape is still the place we want to be at.

We are going to stay in Orient Beach area and frequent Club O beach and hope that spending our vacation monies will help the where it is appreciated most.
Hoping many others will feel the same and do the same!

thatisi, you have the perfect attitude to have a great time, we were there in January thinking the same thing and had the best time ever, genuinely felt we were helping and were thanked for coming regularly. You will have a great time. Many things will be even better by July.

Thanks for all of the great replies. We are looking forward to our trip to SXM and really look forward to helping out by spending our tourist dollars. 20 more days to go!!!

Thanks again

Currently on SXM. Club O seems to have it's share of "clothed", depending on the day (mostly around the bar). Likely cruise shippers. Do not hesitate to go!!!

Beautiful day on the beach today. Bit windy and choppy, but lovely!

Is there still a "No Photo" policy on the Club O beach and is there anyone there to enforce it?

Someone above mentioned that Perch lite and Chez Leadras are the only places for food on Orient beach. I think a person will find that the Alamanda kitchen is also open, although a person would have to check their hours. The Alamanda bar also has a nice happy hour, and, FWIW, sometimes a nice lady is making crepes in a stand around the Alamanda pool. Might ask at the bar for specific days and hours of all that.

Le Noon on Avenue des Plages is also offering very nice, reasonable, lunches, as well as coffee and croissants in the morning. This info is all as of early March, when we finished our 2 weeks in paradise and returned to the snow!

It is probably best to ask those around you if they mind you taking their picture. If they mind, then be polite and don't. If they
don't mind, have at it.

I have no interest in taking pictures on Club O beach and would consider it in poor taste to do so....It has been my understanding that many enjoyed that beach because they didn't have to worry about someone taking pictures of them.

My apologies, misunderstood the nature of the question. Of course it remains in very bad taste to take pictures without permission(as well as being against French law...), but it is probably largely self-enforced while the staff is still somewhat limited.

Pretty sure there is a sign of some sort, and have seen beach goers politely ask the camera pointers to stop. But at this time there are no security people there.

I agree that it is in bad taste to snap photos of people who frequent the Club Orient section of this beach, but in reality if it's a harmless photo from someone new to the area who may be on vacation I wouldn't concern myself too much with this. Then you start worrying about who's doing this rather than relaxing and enjoying the day. And, I suppose in some ways I would be flattered if someone actually wanted to take a photo of me in the buff! A few years ago while I was 'walking' the beach I was almost at the rocks by what was Pedro's when I noticed two couples looking down the beach at all the people and the yellow umbrellas. Rather than call them 'gawkers', I told them they didn't know what they were missing and I encouraged them to give it a try! The two women giggled and shook their heads, but guess what? Less than an hour later one of the couples was walking hand-in-hand 'au natural' approaching Papagayo's with big smiles on their faces! So, I suppose if you encounter someone taking photos in bad taste send them a smile and invite them to join in!

Is Pedro's the only place with Chairs to rent currently?

Pedros is gone. Club Orient & Chez Leandra are the only two who have chairs, I believe.

At Chez Leandra do they expect nude?

I don't think that"s the expectation. All they care about is renting chairs, selling drinks/food and you having a good time.

I am not positive...but i believe that La String has reopened a temporary dwelling on Orient....with beach chairs and umbrellas..bar and food??

No, they don't.

We sat at Le'String yesterday. They rent chairs and a have a limited bar. The plan now is to configure the container to include a kitchen, bathroom and bar. Also the water sports next to Le'String is renting chairs.

Are any of these places raking the sand of sea weed and maintaining their areas?

Club O has, but there's seldom any seaweed there

Thank you. Pictures I've seen of the beach further North showed a lot of seaweed washed up. I'm sure once the big three get build that would change some.

To reach them do you have to access from that other road and not through the village?

You can't get to Club O from the village.

Yes, we found that out in Jan and Feb when we were there. Parked at the rocks blocking the way through, and carried our stuff the distance to Club O the first day, but drove there via the main drag the following beach days. It's like deja vu around Orient beach when I was there in 1986. With the development starting at Club O and moving down the beach little by little. Of course Orient Baie Resort was not there at that point, so I'm sure the beach will get plenty of bars at a much faster pace now, than back then.

We just returned from a 10 day vacation there and spent most of our days at the Club O section. While I don't mind the boat people being there, we did see a problem towards the end of our vacation, we parked at the Perch lite parking lot every day, the first 8 were okay they had a sign to the entrance that read Perch lite parking and taxi parking straight ahead near Pedro's but at the by the end of our vaction they added taxi parking to the Perch lite parking sign and the taxi's swarmed to the area with loads of boat people taking over the parking lot and large sections of the beach with many of them snapping photo's with total disregard to the sign's, plus the women selling there merchandise were waithing next to the Perch selling their stuff, and if you walked within 200 ft of the Pedro rocks you would get attacked by them, I noticed this also took away from Chez's and le string renting their chairs and selling food, the last day I saw no chairs rented at Chez's and only a couple people eating lunch there, while the Perch was packed with boat people, I know some people will say they have a right to be their and I agree, but it would help out the other places if they would keep the taxi parking area at Pedro's so it would spread the tourist out to support the other bussinesses and not over crowd the Club O section, we did not enjoy our last 2 days.

Stopped at Perch Lite for a brief drink and swim....saw "Gerry" from Mass, he will be down for a few months. I asked for Willie....they said she was okay....anyone know why she is not running Perch Lite??

Thanks for the info. I was a little concerned about that. We leave on Monday. Our hope is that the nudist aspect is preserved and the place is not overrun by non nudists. I realize they have a right to be there.

I couldn't agree more with Randy & Wendy. This aspect of Orient Beach is one of the many things that makes this place so special, and this tradition needs to be preserved. I believe that once the other establishments begin to reappear north of the 'rocks' those folks who wish to keep their suits on will settle in those upper areas (Kontiki, Kakao, etc.). But, it appears that this will take a little while. Please provide us with a report or your observations when you return. We are targeting our 2018 return for early December, followed by another visit possibly in April '19.

I will let you all know of our experiences upon our return. We love the island and hope to help out by spending some cash there. We realize it wont be like last May but that's just how it goes