As far as beaches go, and we’re beach people, all (almost all) were nice, clean and in good shape. Copecoy, near the old rundown building, was tops on our list. Plenty of sand and with friendly people. Great for swimming although it can be rough sometimes. However, that beach can be here today and gone tomorrow depending on the weather and waves. One day there’s sand, the next nothing but water. Mullet Bay and Bay Plum were also great. Mullet is the best for swimming (we sat all the way down the other end - not many people) and Bay Plum for one of the most scenic. Swimming is treacherous there for all the huge rocks in the water.
The worst beach (and you can’t blame the beach) was Baie Rouge. Huge piles of garbage as soon to as we got out of our car as well as strewn all over the beach. The best thing to do is walk far down the other end. There’s still a bush boy - notice it’s singular. One very obvious obnoxious jerk who walked and sat 20 feet from towel to towel as soon as a girl’s top came off. And owners of dogs, please pick up after them no matter where on St Maarten you are. We didn’t stay long at Baie Rouge. Years ago that was one of our favorite.
Also I’d like to thank chairman Craig (or Bob) from packlight. Great chair and umbrella rentals with reasonable rates.
And a big thank you St Maarten for coming back strong and beautiful again. Three weeks of joy in our paradise!

So sad to hear of your Baie Rouge experiences all the way around. Permit or no permit, government ruined a good thing by kicking the concession guys off this beach.

Cupecoy Beach looked very nice the two times we passed while on a boat. Mullet Bay was very nice the 3 times we were there, still my favorite. Sounds like a great 3 week stay.