Part 1

We have appreciated all we have learned from reading the TTOL board over the years and wanted to share our recent trip with everyone.

Sunday April 24th

We flew into San Juan, Puerto Rico (AA) and decided to spend the night then catch a noon flight to St. Maarten the next day (AA). Our reservation was at the Marriott Court Yard on Isle Verde adjacent to the airport. We loved this hotel. It sits right on the ocean with a pool and outer restaurant area that has a view through palm trees looking out toward the beach and turquoise waves. Hammocks line a grassed area just beyond the patio and we watched as young couples, a mother and her children and an older gentleman on a cell phone swung lazily in the comfortable breeze. Down a bit, toward the expansive pool area, family members from an earlier wedding were taking photographs against this beautiful setting while we enjoyed a light, late afternoon meal of scallops with white wine followed by a margarita. Our room was very upper scale, as was the entire hotel. We decided to go down to the bar before retiring, for a glass of red wine. We sat and talked about our vacation in St. Martin. This would be our first experience staying at Club Orient and we looked forward to it with anticipation. We slept very soundly that evening.

Monday April 25th

Check-in and security in San Juan was uneventful for our noon flight and we waited at our gate much earlier than expected. We only bring a carry-on each and another bag we stuff under the seat holding incidental items. It turned out that we did not wear literally 85% of the clothes we brought. Next trip, if we stay at Club O, we are bringing one carry on between us. It is actually doable in our opinion….think about it!

The flight into St. Maarten was less than an hour and we landed in beautiful sunny weather with only a few clouds in the sky. This would be the case, meteorologically, for the next nine days. We only experienced two 10-minute showers at night during this time while the days were warm and sunny with only a mild breeze. On some days there was hardly a cloud in the sky. It was fantastic! It only began raining two days before we left. One day was a washout, spent mostly at the Perch and Baywatch, the other was partly cloudy with a few showers but a day in which I got most of my tan. I made the mistake of not using sunscreen since I had already developed a nice brown cast by then. As you might guess, the sun through the clouds gave me a shiny pink tonality by the end of the afternoon. I’m still peeling today!

For whatever reason, we never received the customs form on the plane and had to take time to fill one out before going through to get our car. My wife noticed that the majority of people from our plane did not go through this line and somehow walked around and simply got their luggage. What is up with that? Another first for us was not using Unity and going with Hertz. We went to the Hertz window in the courtyard area and then hopped on the Hertz van that was waiting to take us to their location just down from the airport on Airport Road. Our car was a KIA (“Kan’t Initiate Acceleration”). Whenever we pulled out onto a busy street, I had to calculate a 3 second delay between the time I stepped on the gas pedal and when the car actually kicks in with acceleration. What a piece of junk. We did like that it was a smaller vehicle than we had on other trips, which made parking convenient, but the air condition (“Kan’t Initiate Air Conditioner) left a lot to be desired. We didn’t find the personnel at Hertz to be as personable as the folks at Unity but more business-like. We always felt welcomed by Michael at Unity so we’ll probably use him again next time.

We picked up our rental phone from Sharon and then headed off to the French side and Club Orient. The drive through the Simpson Bay area was smooth but as we neared Marigot there was a backup of vehicles going into the city. But heck, we are on vacation and it is really no big deal! We just looked around when traffic slowed or stopped and took in the sites. We made conversational notes to stop back in a few days at Match for supplies and of course our much loved “noodles” to float together in Orient Bay. Before arriving in St. Martin, we purchased eye-goggles and they proved to be a lot of fun as we waded in the water off Orient Beach. There is not a whole lot to be seen below the surface, but we’ve taken three trips over the past three years and for the first time someone told us that there were a lot of fish to be found along the reef that runs out from Pedro’s. The goggles were perfect for viewing these fish. We literally saw hundreds and many different species.

This would be the first time we drove past the entrances to Orient Village on the left and up over the winding road that snakes past the access road to Club Orient. I’ve read all the stories, but when we made the left hand turn onto the road I felt like we could very well disappear into one of the huge potholes in our little KIA, never to be heard from again. Last time I saw craters like this was watching the lunar landing back in ’68. However, by the end of our 11 days at Club O I was handily weaving my way around, having memorized the most drivable spaces available between the “death valley” and “the grand canyon” (I gave prominent pot holes personalized names). This road leads to another more drivable road which leads into the guarded entrance of Club Orient. Not really knowing what to do, we chose to park on “this side” of the gate and entered the registration area, picked up two yellow towels (a possession of distinction on the beach) and then made our way through the gate and into our chalet.

Ours was a garden chalet that my wife thought much nicer than she had imagined. We had a nice view of palm trees and the hedged area on the backside of the beach. Someone should have mentioned the little pricklies you encounter on the way to the beach from the chalets that HURT when you walk on them with bare feet. I had to purchase a pair of sandals (flip flops) in Marigot to solve that one. I was looking forward to “clothing optional” all day and here I am having to wear sandals. I laughed when I saw the clothes closet in the bedroom (an after thought?) and was grateful that the bedroom had air conditioning, which made sleeping at night very comfortable once we found our temperature of choice.

The first thing we did was ditch our clothes and jump right into our new lifestyle for the next 11 days. I really doesn't take any time to get used to this if it is your first time at it. We put our clothes away in the dresser and closet, set up the bathroom with our toiletries and then took a nude stroll down to the beach, which for us was only about 30 yards away. It was later in the day so there were not many people laying about. We chose to stay at Club O this time because we thought the proximity to the beach in front of the club was going to be to our advantage. On previous vacations, we'd have to walk a distance down to the Club O beach area, pay the $18 for an umbrella and two chairs. None of that was the case this time around and we had the convenience of simply walking back to our chalet to retrieve a drink or something to eat. We'll do this again!

It was around 5pm so we decided to head down to Papagayo’s for a drink and possibly something to eat. We decided first to "check out the place" with a bathing suit for me and a wrap for her. To our surprise we found a wine and cheese spread “on the house” for guest of Club Orient. We sat out in the open area by the beach and soon another couple sat down and we talked for the next hour or so. The cheese, bread and four glasses of red each went down too easily and filled us to the place that we decided to share a meal at dinner. We got a definite feeling that the waiter was not too happy with that idea but he did oblige us. The meal was good, nothing stupendous, but good enough that we dined there on several different occasions during our stay. I have to be honest when I say that dining nude is not something we embraced easily and the most we contributed to the experience was my wife going topless. I choose to wear a bathing suit each time but the choice of others to do otherwise was fine. It is truly a clothing optional experience and though we wondered if our occasional walks through the club, me wearing a suit and she a sarong, might draw comments, we never really felt like it was an issue with anyone. I think the attitude is “to each his own” and so when I felt like being nude I did, when I didn’t I didn’t and I don’t think anyone really gives a rip either way. The beach is another thing altogether and we were always found there in the altogether!

Part Two to follow soon…..