Covid-19 - French side

Stay home!
To prevent the spread of the Covid-19 virus and save lives, people are asked to stay at home. Travel should be kept to a minimum and only condition of having a personal discretionary certificate which commits your responsibility.

All gatherings are prohibited. Family and / or friendly celebrations (baptism, marriage, birthday), picnics, group activities are prohibited.

Wise move.

Id have a hard time not going to a fresh air beach and sitting in a chair with a carib.

So id have to stay on balcony.

Good luck to all, wash your hands frequently.

WOW. I understand that French St Martin is under the direction of France and what France has ordered for mainland France.

We all know this but has to be repeated again. Feel terrible for the people on both sides. First Irma, which as you know they are still re-building(some not even started) and now this. They survive on tourism only. Why couldn't Covid-19 have hit in Aug/September when many restaurants etc are closed anyway, but it just had to happen in the height of the season didn't it. I feel particularly on the French side, many owners will say enough is enough and go back to France. Not sure how much more they can take. I hope I will be totally wrong and somehow, it gets back to normal in May for example..Is this a possibility, who knows? But at the end of the day by saving lives of their own people is the right thing to do.

I posted this already on another thread, but it's relevant. Look at the document that the French authorities ask people to voluntarily fill out when they leave their homes.

One justifiable reason to leave one's home is "short trips, close to home, related to the individual physical activity of the people, excluding any collective sporting practice, and the needs of pets." (En francais: "déplacements brefs, à proximité du domicile, liés à l’activité physique individuelle des personnes, à l’exclusion de toute pratique sportive collective, et aux besoins des animaux de compagnie.") That justifiable reason can be used to visit a beach close to one's home. I think such trips are legal.

thanks for the info.

I think in reading this, it applies if they want to go between French islands

https://www.thedailyherald.sx/islands/travel-within-st-martin-regulated-from-today

All very confusing

I don't know, it's not very clear to me. Reading it again, I'm pretty sure they are talking about travel within St. Martin itself. Still seems like you should be able to go to the beach and walk? That is exercise. Perhaps you're not supposed to sit on the beach. That seems excessive to me, as someone else said, if you're away from other people.

The story is about the lockdown which was talked about in the French Side thread.

The limitation on travel between the French islands is a whole 'nother can of worms. There's a press release discussing air travel on the Préfecture's FB page.
https://www.facebook.com/prefet971

Friends are staying in Orient Village leaving tomorrow on Delta to Boston. Their Jet Blue flight was what they had tickets for.
They can not leave their hotel room except to go to the pool. They can travel to the airport tomorrow for their flight out. Safe travels to all leaving and don't touch your face. Wash your hands and try to stay 6' away from strangers.

What???? We are in Orient Village now and have been to the beach and back this morning already. We are heading back to the beach later. The Gendermanes were driving the rode along the beach as we were walking back and they had nothing to say to us. Just drove right on by. The is no requirement to stay in your rooms. Even the PM press conference yesterday states take this is the time to spend with your families and go to the beach. Just try and isolate yourself from others. That's not a problem.

Great news... Try to drive to the Dutchside for dinner...

OK, PM Press Conference was on the DUTCH side. The rules regarding using the beach on the French side seem confusing, but apparently you can WALK the beach without any problem. When you say you went to Orient earlier, did you just walk the beach, or sit in a chair on the beach? Are there chairs for rent on the beach??

Only for takeout. As of midnight the Dutch side was closed.

That French form allows for personal exercise and that of pets. You would be allowed to walk the beach with no concern. There may even be chairs from enterprising operators. There could even be "takeout" food available on Orient. All this provided you have filled out your forms. The Gendarmerie seems to love levying fines, so don't give them the opportunity.

We are anchored on the French side of the lagoon so filled out our forms this morning to take the dog to the beach for a walk. We chose Simpson Bay beach this time. Tomorrow may be the rocky beach at Galisbay.

You're killing us Ritchard with your talk of being anchored there and walking on the beautiful SXM beaches. So many cancelled trips not to mention those people whose trips have been called to an abrupt end by this virus. So jealous.......but enjoy your time for all of us who can't do so right now!!

Swimming in the ocean is also a legitimate form of exercise, it seems to me. I hope the gendarmes agree.

Ritchard--I would think that it would be illegal to rent chairs on the beach on either side at this point? I don't think you need to fill out that form for the Dutch side though?

It's all you guys for all these years I've been reading this forum that convinced me to stay here. I cannot be blamed!

Carol,
Plenty of people are occupying rented chairs at Cupecoy Beach this morning. No signs yet that chair rental has stopped on the Dutch side.

I am very certain no-one cares if you take a swim - it certainly falls under personal exercise. The idea, I am certain, is to prevent social gatherings and transmission of viruses. You can't very well do that while swimming in the ocean. I believe the regulations are in place so that the authorities will have something to point to if problems with people gathering arise.

This morning I watched a whole bunch of young people piling into a powerboat to go for a day of partying. Not everyone is taking this all that seriously.

Interestingly, scuba diving was discouraged yesterday in Martinique (and perhaps other places as well) because should you have an accident, there would likely not be hyperbaric medical facilities to care for you.

Whether chair rentals are strictly legal or not may not deter enterprising people who are willing to test the authorities. I did not see chairs for rent today (have not been to Orient, for example, in weeks) but I would not be in any way shocked to find a few chairs for rent that were strategically placed a safe 2 meters apart.

We filled out the excursion form because our boat is checked in on the French side, we're anchored in the French side of the lagoon, and we have to cross the French side of the lagoon to get anyplace. I am trying to keep within the letter and spirit of the regulations. We are also carrying copies of our boat papers, check-in documents, and passports. I don't want to give an overworked Gendarme (or Dutch Coast Guard for that matter) any reason to get frustrated with me.

There a pictures on FB of Gendarmerie personnel on Orient Beach. Some walkers walking down the beach. It's seems they were checking to be sure no big groups. This was just couples and 3's walking the beach. No problem.

I would think that renting chairs would fall under the no vendor restrictions ordered on Dutch side. And if food is served for take out that it would fall under the restaurant rule of no on premise seating which would include those rental chairs.

Perhaps, perhaps not.

Just commenting on the fact you can go to the beach.

That's what I was thinking. Don't see that there's any way that renting beach chairs is an 'essential business'. Doesn't matter whether you sell food or not. Probably falls under the category of the cops have bigger fish to fry and won't bother people. The Dutch side PM said for people to go to the beach, but I have to assume she's mostly talking about locals, who probably have their own chairs they can take to the beach.

What about rented chairs on the French side? Seems like the French side is being more strict with things..

There are no chair rentals on Orient Beach. There are no restaurants or bars serving food.
You can walk the beach. Club O beach has people on it, but no rented chairs or food. Some people have brought their own chairs or towels.
People are out walking and exercising.
We are staying in Mount Vernon and walk the beach daily. We leave tomorrow for Canada. At home we are required to self-isolate for 14 days in our residence after this trip

French side form.

OK, thanks for the info.

We are on Grand Case beach and there are a few people walking and in water.

tbaybob--Any chairs out on the beach?

We went orient beach this afternoon and about 2:30 the gendarmes came to the beach at Coco and told us and others down the beach , the beach is for the walk not the sit, so walking is fine. There was no one closer than 100 ft. from us and with a nice breeze so i think we couldn't have been any safer. But we packed up and left. Then needed a few things at store so went to super U at hope estate and on the way back orient were stopped on road by them again and were told we needed the travel form from the gov. No printer so will copy by hand and fill out what we are doing on each trip. Will use tomorrow taking daughter and family to airport. Looked like maybe 30 people from where we were sitting to Bikini on beach. No chairs available for rent anywhere.

B. Beach,
Thanks for sharing your report.

Thanks for the report, bbeach. Sad stuff.

That’s a sad stuff for sure! A bit scary too... What’s next- curfew?

A local SXM friend who lives on the French side told me yesterday just prior to me leaving, he fully expects a curfew.

A curfew is need for more reasons than just as a preventive of the spread of the virus.