Is it ok if you bring your own umbrella / chair to the beaches, or is that frowned upon? we want to make sure we are properly distanced, and renting umbrella/ chair seems to be best option.. THX

Yes. All beaches are public.

All fine if not near a place that rents, if in their turf, sand area, it's at a minimum rude.

Orient Beach has several spacious open areas where you can set up shop with your own portable chairs, towels and umbrella. So does the clothing optional section if you proceed the far end (southern part). But, for Orient we prefer to rent beach chairs and an umbrella to help the locals who rely on this source of income. On Maho Beach and almost all the other beaches you can bring your own stuff, but one time on Maho we were asked to close and take down our beach umbrella because some woman told us that in could interfere with the low flying planes that were landing. I just laughed and said "I realize they fly low, but I don't think they fly that low."

Some beaches do not have a chair/umbrella rental option, so if you decide to check out a beach such as Happy Bay Beach be sure to bring your stuff along. And, if you decide to scoot over to St. Barth's for the day definitely bring your chairs and umbrella over there because such rentals are almost non-existent, and the beaches that do offer this option are prohibitively expensive (i.e., Nikki Beach). Hope this helps.