Hi All,

We are planning of heading back to SXM for a week in early December. The last time we were at Orient Beach was prior to the hurricane. Has anyone spent any time at Esmeralda recently? Do they still have the pools by the villas, is the beachside restaurant functioning & is the small nude beach section open? Any feedback on Esmeralda would be welcomed.

We also rented a condo at Mount Vernon in the past and enjoyed our stay including the pool and early morning nude walks on OB before the beach became busy. Any current info on Mount Vernon would also be welcomed.

We are looking forward to visiting this fine Island again.

Cheers

Esmeralda is fully functional with pools at the Villas etc... There were a couple of units that weren't repaired for whatever reason, but the vast majority are good. There is a new restaurant on the beach between Esmeralda and Orient Beach Hotel. And no, they no longer have the small nude section. You'll have to take a walk up the beach to get that, but the old Club Orient beach seems to be thriving. Cheers.

A couple of other things to add about Esmeralda. The big Villa (1st on left when coming up from the beach ) has apparently been sold and has to be booked through the owner, while still on the property(obviously) it is no longer part of Esmeralda. There is a new Coco Beach restaurant/bar. A bit more upscale. Esmeralda offers free beach chairs at a number of beach bars, but no longer free at Coco. In April chairs and umbrella at Coco were 25(don't remember if it was $ or Euros as we never used them), but 15 if staying at Esmeralda

My wife and I have stayed at Mont Vernon every February since 2013 and are very familiar with what has been going on there since Hurricane Irma in 2017. All of the repairs to the buildings have been completed, and the complex looks better than it did prior to Irma. When we left the first of March, repairs still had not started on the pool and pool area. These repairs may have begun by now, but I have not gotten any information on this.

Thanks for your feedback, have a fine day

Just spent a week at Orient Beach, can confirm that Mt Vernon looks good (all roofs replaced, etc.), though still no work on the pool area. There is quite a bit of seaweed at that end of the beach though. Esmeralda looks like it's mostly back, Astrolabe is still a great spot for a meal as well.

Yes, the roofs definitely looked good. We saw the brand new blue roofs from the main road.