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Saint Martin/Sint Maarten.
Nov. 2-16, 1996.
Written by Bill Arnett.
Introduction:
The tiny Carribean island is like two islands in one. A French island
(Saint Martin) and a Dutch island (Sint Maarten). As you travel
freely between the two countries, you'll notice small signs
indicating that you are crossing the border, much as you would see as
you enter or leave a town in North America or Europe.
But you will notice differences between the two countries. Most apparent are the official currencies and the native languages, but you will find that US dollars are accepted everywhere and almost everyone speaks English. You'll notice a difference in tourists---the French side seems to be favoured by French, German, and French-Canadian visitors; the Dutch side by Americans. And you'll notice a difference in attitudes---the Dutch side is very capitalist; the French side, more laid-back. For nudist possibilities, the French side has far more options.
Getting there:
We flew from Toronto, but you can sometimes fly directly from
Vancouver or via several American cities. To get around the
island you can rent a rent a car (which is what we opted for), or you
can take a bus or taxi. Unless you plan to spend 95% of your time on
Orient Beach, you'll probably want a car (at least part of the
time).
Where to stay:
There are many places to stay on the island. Prices and quality vary
a great deal. We stayed at the Nettle Bay Beach Club on Nettle Bay,
just outside of Marigot, the capital of the French side of the
island. This resort offers attractive accommodations. Our upper floor
room (like all the other upper rooms) lacked any sort of closet
space, but had air-conditioning, television, a small refrigerator, a
coffee maker, a brightly lit bathroom, and a large private deck. The
room was spacious, attractive and clean, with a spectacular view of
the water. Unfortunately, our deck faced the road rather than the
water, but we hung towels over the railings and enjoyed the deck au
naturel.
The lower units included a kitchen, but didn't offer as much privacy. The upper and lower units could also be rented as a single unit, joined by an inside stairway. The resort had a small restaurant/bar and several good-sized swimming pools.
Many nudists opt to stay at Club Orient Naturist Resort or elsewhere on Orient Beach. Club Orient is a nice resort, but was out of our price bracket. Some of the other hotels on Orient Beach can be used as cheaper alternatives to Club Orient, but we didn't investigate these.
If you plan to rent a car and tour the island, you can pretty well stay anywhere you want and drive to a different beach every day. If you don't plan to rent a car, you should probably stay on Orient Beach where you have several choices of restaurants and activities.
Dining:
Dining on the island is quite expensive. Many people who stay at Club
Orient buy their own groceries and cook their own meals. This will
recoup some of the money you spend to stay there! We kept food in our
fridge for breakfast and lunch. We usually dined out for dinner. The
town of Grand Case is highly recommended for it's abundance of
restaurants, but there are good restaurants in all the other towns as
well. We kept asking frequent visitors for restaurant recommendations
(good restaurants and cheap restaurants). Over time we learned where
some good choices were.
Maps:
There aren't very many roads on St. Martin, so any tourist map should
do. We never had any difficulty finding our way around, and we
covered most of the island.
Topfree:
All the beaches and probably all the pools on the French side of the
island allow women to be topfree. It was mostly only the French women
who took advantage of the freedom; the American women preferring to
keep their tops on. The Dutch side tends to be more conservative, but
I don't know whether that is the Dutch themselves or the fact that
the Americans tend to stay on the Dutch side.
Nude beaches:
There are a number of beaches which are known to experience nude use.
All except one are on the French side of the island. In fact, we saw
nude people on every beach we went to on the French side of the
island---mostly discreet nude use at the farthest end of the
beach.
Baie Oriental (Orient Bay) is one of the most celebrated nude beaches in the Caribbean. Most nude use occurs at the south end of the beach in front of Club Orient naturist resort. Club Orient is a destination resort for many nudists. It features small, cozy cabins with kitchens and bathrooms and outdoor showers. A clothing-optional restaurant and bar, plus a clothing-optional shop will take care of all your needs. Club Orient was badly damaged by a huricane in 1996 and they were still rebuilding at the time we visited. There was enough rebuilt, though, to know that this is a nice resort...if you can afford their prices.
Although we didn't stay at Club Orient, we visited them twice to use their beach. The beach is a definite "must see", but it wasn't our favourite place on the island. The beach is crowded, especially in the Club Orient area. Nudity is allowed everywhere on the beach, but people who journey beyond the Club Orient beach sans clothing will find that they are an extreme minority. We walked the length of the beach one day and I made a decision not to get dressed, but most of the time I was keenly aware that I was the only nude person in sight. We did find a few clumps of nude sunbathers along the way, but nothing that compared to the throngs in front of Club Orient.
There are many restaurants along Orient Beach. At one of these beach cafes, the open-mindedness of the French was illustrated once more: the restaurant had a single, unisex washroom with the urinals directly in front of the entry door...er...doorway (there actually wasn't a door at all).
The hotel at the north end of the beach has, at times, tried to prevent nudity in front of their hotel, but we walked past anyway, touched the end of the beach, and turned around to head back to Club Orient.
Back at Club Orient, we went snorkelling, but saw little of interest. Combined with the throngs of people and the continual boat traffic and noisy sea-doos, we were glad that we weren't staying at Orient Beach.
Visitors to Orient Beach can park at Club Orient or behind any of the other restaurants and hotels.
Baie Rouge (Red Bay) is a small, beautiful, quiet beach with lovely sand and good swimming and snorkelling. Umbrellas and chairs (and sometimes food) are available at the entrance to the beach, but this is the clothed/topfree area. Nudists should head left (west) when they reach the beach. How far you have to go to encounter nude bathers depends on how bold they were. We visited Baie Rouge on two occassions. The first time was in the afternoon and we walked a long distance before finding any nudists.
On the second occassion, we arrived early. We walked past two topfree women and when we thought we were far enough away to not offend them, we laid down our towels and took off our clothes. As the day progressed, we observed people walk past us and then to an open patch of sand to disrobe. It seemed that as the first nudists at the beach we were the boundary between the clothed section and the nude section!
That suited us fine, though. We didn't want to go too far from the beach entrance because we planned to go snorkelling at the textile end of the beach which featured beautiful rock formations. The plan was to swim through a rock archway, but the waves proved too dangerous, so we gave up before being pummelled to death on the rocks.
Baie aux Prunes (Plum Bay) was said to have nudist opportunities, but once we found the beach we failed to find any nudists. We walked for what seemed like miles and simply walked beyond all the people to a section of the beach which was deserted, but was also directly in front of people's houses. Honestly, I don't think this beach was worth the search.
Baie Longue (Long Bay) is 1.5 km of wide, sandy beach, located between Baie Rouge and Cupecoy Beach, just north of the French/Dutch border. To get to the nudist section we headed to the right and walked quite a way to find nudists. Getting into the water proved tricky in this area because at the edge of the water it is solid (and slippery) rock rather than sand, but getting into the water was worth it as swimming and snorkelling were terrific. Unfortunately, we didn't take a camera into the water during our first visit here. The water was crystal clear and teeming with fish. But our second visit was after a storm and the water was cloudy with silt.
Cupecoy
Beach is spectacular. The rock formations alone are worth a
visit. Combine that with perfect sand and no dress code, and it is
unbeatable. There are two clothing-optional sections to Cupecoy. The
main beach is long and popular, but we preferred the cozier beach
next door. This was, by far, our favourite beach on the island.
Usually, we had the beach to ourselves, but sometimes we had to share
it (with as many as 5 other people). We spent many hours here,
suntanning and snorkelling, diving down after thousands of
shells.
Gawkers:
At Cupecoy, numerous people looked down on us from the top of the
cliff, but I don't know if I'd call them gawkers. But at Orient,
there were many gawkers---especially when the cruise ships were in
port, which was almost always. There was a constant parade of people
walking past Club Orient to get a look at the nudists. Luckily, they
are mostly decent human beings who want to be perverts without
anybody noticing that they are being perverts. So they aren't as
bothersome as the gawkers at some other beaches I've been to.
Male/Female Ratios:
The vast majority of nudists were couples. There were some single
males, mostly at Orient Beach.
Photos:
Many of the photos we have are slides and my scanner can't scan
slides, so I need to print them and scan them. I don't know when I'll
get around to it, but sooner or later I will try to add some more
photos...
References:
Lee Baxandal's World Guide to Nude Beaches and Recreation
<http://www.naturist.com/wguide.sht>
GoBeach <http://www.gobeach.com>
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