Some Times on Orient

Since some people seemed interested in my recollections of our first trip to St. Martin, maybe something on the changes over the years might also be of interest. Orient Beach is one such area. We first saw Orient Beach in June 1979, when we found the path over the peninsula from Le Galion beach. We were there in 1978 but did not think to try to find Orient then, but this is a picture of Le Galion in 1978.

Le Galion hotel was the base for those wishing to be close to Orient in those days. Club O was started about that time; I do not remember if there was anything built when we went over, but the beach was deserted – we saw 2 other people.




We went to Orient on all of our subsequent visits, which were most but not every year. Regrettably, I did not take a lot of pictures, but here are some from various times. But up to the mid-80’s one could walk the entire beach any time of the day nude or clothed. The walk form end to end a couple of times was something we did frequently. You could find conch shells along it, but also dump trucks would come along to load sand. Each year there seemed to be a few more people and shacks selling T-shirts and souvenirs sprang up at the entrance. But even as late as 1989 nudity was accepted along the entire beach. After that, of course, development and the burgeoning cruise passenger market took over.
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Our earliest remembrances of Orient are clearly depicted in a few of your photos. It was such a beautiful stretch of beach. I forget what gimmies the French offered for development there but the development of the late 80's pretty much ruined what we knew as Orient. I guess if we didn't have those 'back in the day' recollections we'd probably love it as much as so many today do, but I'm glad we have those memories.

Thank you so much for sharing your photos. Like you, we took so few......<img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/handshake.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/handshake.gif" alt="" />

Thank you so much for sharing these!!!

We went in 1987 for a while and only saw one other person on the beach. At the time I did not know that Club Orient existed and did not see it.

Thanks for posting these. I can't believe how much actual beach there is! Especially @ Club O.

We were there in 1985 Pedro's was the only thing on the beach except for some cabins from club O , in fact it was a so,so day and Pedro's was closed . Just my wife and I had the whole place to ourself ,it was great and there was one vouyor he didn't see much

What a treat to see the development Orient Beach! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Clapping.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Clapping.gif" alt="" /> We know it only since 2015 but love the Club O section. What we love about Happy Bay is that it is so undeveloped! I hope it stays that way but it probably won't.

Wow, those are indeed amazing photos. I remember many of them very well. I have nearly duplicates of a few! We started going in '84 and it certainly has changed. I must say I loved to old Orient as well as the rest of the island but.....it's 'progress' and can't be stopped. We try to enjoy each stage.
Thanks for sharing!

<img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/handshake.gif" alt="" />
Contessa

Thanks for the great pics and great memories. I believe we started going in 88. Forgot how much sand there was in front of Papagayo.

Thanks so much for the pictures! My computer has been having some 'issues', but finally got all of the pictures to display. It's amazing to see the 'creep' of the development up the hillside and along the beach over the years. It looks like several of the pictures were taken from around Green Cay Villas??

What I noticed about some of the older pics is that there is seaweed on the beach much like now. I understand we have some bad days of it now but it appears to always have been around I guess.

Absolutely NO one was cleaning the seaweed at that time, so the amount of seaweed on the beach was very small.

Carol - Those pictures do look like they came from the same area as the picture on the Green Cay site, but the vllas were not there at the time and I can't give a specific location. But one year the hillside was all brush; the next visit a series of roads had been cut into it; the next they were lined with buildings.
Incidentally, the 02 picture is a duplicate of 01 that got in by mistake.
As for seaweed, it was an accumulation over time and I don't recall any heavy infestation of the sargasum type. Also, it was more apt to dry rather than rot. One year, though, there was a problem with tar balls.

Green Cay was definitely there by 95, as we stayed there in February 95. Not sure when it was built.

Thanks for posting these lovely photo's! It's interesting to see the progression over the years. Even in our times coming to St. Martin things have really changed! Are we still newbies after 16 years sometimes twice a year coming to the island??? LOL! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/toast.gif" alt="" />

Great pics, thanks! How about all that beach in front of Papagayo? Really hows how much it has changed.