TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin Perch

Can anyone confirm if the Perch is still opening at 10:00AM and Happy hour at 2:00PM.
Thanks

I believe it opens at 10:00 AM. Happy hour is 2:30 to 3:30.

2:30 to 3:30 for happy hour, for sure. I think opening is either 10:00 or 10:30. It has definitely been slow at the Perch lately. |Many of the days we have been there there isn't even a line up at 2:30.

How narrow is the beach between Pedros and the Perch? Looking at the webcam there only seems to be one row of chairs.

1 row from Pedro's to about 50 yards past Perch. Very narrow.

Looking at the webcam, every day that one row seems to get further back. In fact, you can't even see the chairs directly in front of the Perch. When we were there last month, there was an HH line, but it ended up in the water.

Karma, I love it... The greed of taking every spot on the nude beach with umbrellas and chairs packed in like sardines..glad they are losing thousands a day! Yes there should be umbrellas and chairs, but also more open space like the rest of Orient!

IMHO, computerwise, you should get coal in your stocking next year.

Ditto to sxmdoc

The difficulty is that, with the evolution away from nude use along the length of Orient beach, the folks (and they are obviously numerous) who wish to sunbathe nude are being compressed into a smaller area. Of course, this is just my opinion. We enjoyed staying at Club O for years before the relatively recent evolution of the rest of Orient forced all the nude usage to occur in front of the resort we have always stayed at. We also don't like the conditions being so crowded but we don't dislike it enough to stop going to our favorite place.

<img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Thumbsup.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Thumbsup.gif" alt="" />sxmdoc, I agree. Unfortunately, some people think that if they don't care for something, or don't like it then no one else should be able to do it.

On the contrary, We do enjoy the nude beach, not crammed in like sardines. When the beach has 3 rows of chairs, do they have to take over every inch of the nude beach. If your in the 3rd row, you can't even see the water from the chairs because the ones in front are so tightly packed together. Also in all honesty, do you really like it when the person next to you is one foot away? I like the way the rest of Orient beach is setup with spacing for those that want to lay on the beach..

Preferring to go somewhere else is one thing. Wishing someone ill is quite another.

Its called supply and demand.
Unfortunately Club O is the only sanctioned c/o beach. While I agree it does get crowded I like the fact that they have a 'no photo' policy and security. It is a trade off imo.

I wouldn't say that people are one foot away at Club O. I would say the people on the chairs in front of the former restaurants especially from Andy and Cheryl's down on sitting on top of one another. Can't even find a way up to the restaurant. Reminds me of Italy where they seat you like being ain theater. Row 5, seat 1-4. Won't have to worry about that anymore though as the Collectivite has taken care of that.

I am not sure how reliable the No Photo rule will be going forward. Today, for the first time, I noticed a drone go over the beach. It looked like it went as far as the Perch and then back to the other side of Pedro's which is where I assume it was being controlled.

That's just wrong.

Couple of weeks ago, one was flying over cupecoy.

Since shotguns are out a sling shot would do the trick. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/jester.gif" alt="" />

I'm a little confused. When was the rest of Orient Beach nude? Toplessness has always been allowed and there used to be a very small secluded section of Coco that was C/O, but the only nude sunbathing has always been only at Club O, not the length of Orient Beach. Yes, you used to be able to walk the entire beach nude as long as it was early AM, but never nude sunbathing past Pedro's. The only reason there seems to be more people is only because the beach is smaller, but that will change like it always does. Can't wait till it gets wider again.

I don't know when it changed, but on my first visits to the island in 1990 and 1992, the beach was completely CO all the way to Mont Vernon. In fact, the sign designating it was on the Mont Vernon property line.

Nudity was allowed/tolerated/common all the way to Mt. Vernon in October/November 1991 and for some time after. It became a problem sometime after the village was constructed. I can't recall when the village construction took place somewhere around 2000, I think.

Since shotguns are out a sling shot would do the trick. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/jester.gif" alt="" /> [/quote]

Pull!

Coco Beach still has a very small nude area.

When I walked by, there were 6 chairs and a couple of umbrellas, really small, screened off area. Not very inviting, I thought.

Back in the day, The Legend used to "hang out" down at the big rocks by Coco. To this day we still refer to them as Long D...'s Rocks. So...nudity was common the length of Orient a number of years ago, especially so from Coco down to Mt. Vernon but even some in the main body of Orient. There used to be, not that many years ago, a large clothing optional area at Coco, patronized heavily by folks at Esmerelda. Now.... everyone is in front of Club O. I'm sure MANY members of this board experienced those days.

Orient Village killed wide spread nudity on OB or that's the way it seams to me. Before it was built you could go nude anywhere except some of the indoor bars and restaurants but slowly but surely since then a ban has gone into effect. Some say it has been banned by the government some say visitors are opposed to nudity. I don't know which if either is true.

All of Orient should go back to being c/o

That would just ruin a great place to spend a day. Can't think of anything worse.

When we go to Orient beach we usually get loungers at Club O and enjoy being nude. That said, it seems like plenty of space there for all who choose to do that. Not sure I would be in favor of making it Clothing Optional everywhere. I can only speak for myself but I know that I wouldn't feel comfortable being nude where most folks were clothed. And I certainly understand why a family that might take their teenagers would stop going if it was CO everywhere. The current situation seems to strike a fair balance to me.

Well said. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Thumbsup.gif" alt="" />

Well said <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Thumbsup.gif" alt="" />

There are plenty of places on the island and Caribbean for those not interested

I think adding a 200 yard nude section without 1000 chairs and umbrellas in a more natural setting at the other end of Orient from CO would be a nice compromise. It would not effect the "boat people" area and cram less people in the Club O area..

Having Mont Vernon and the empty beach to the south of it as sans vetement would be a great idea. Walk the beach one way in the morning and the other way in the evening.

When we visited Orient for the 1st time on a cruise 15 years ago we laid or towels down north of CoCo's for that 1st nude beach experience.

I've been going to Orient Beach for 30 years and lived here for 15 years and the entire beach has never been C / O. There were a few people that would be nude on the beach in the areas between restaurants. I used to see naked people on the beach between Coco and Mont Vernon, but never the entire beach. We could be nude in some of the Restaurants early in the day (Andy & Cheryl's, Pedro's) until a few yrs ago and Kon Tiki would sometimes open at night for dinner & dancing (Club Orient people) back in the mid 90's. And walking the beach nude early AM and later afternoon was always ok until a few years ago.

Actually, it was Kakao that there were some evening parties at, as far as I know, and not Kontiki. We were there for a few of those parties at Kakao. And Andy and Cheryl had them in the evening about once a month for a while.

<img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/circle.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Yikes.gif" alt="" />In the mid 90's Kon Tiki did have some WILD party's at night after the bar closed to the public

TY, I have pics, so I knew i was at Kon Tiki. Kakao may have had after hour parties too, but just don't remember them.

John-OK, guess I was never there for those. I do remember a few at Kakao, not really 'wild', just naked, including one that happened to be on our anniversary. That was a lovely night.