Orient Beach nudity?

[TwoWeebles]

I am looking into using Bernard's Tours next summer and I was checking out his website when I noticed in the FAQ about Orient Beach being a nude beach. :eek: We will have two children with us. Do you recommend doing a different tour to a different beach? Is the nudity very common, or are there lots of tourists that will most likely be in bathing suits?

[TwoWeebles]

Which beaches are family friendly (no nudity) on St. Maarten / St. Martin?

[Karysa]

No Orient is not a nude beach. Orient Beach is over a mile long and at the very end of the beach there is a clothing optional section. By the way, on St. Martin topless is permitted on all beaches and in St. Maarten it is also common to see topless women at most beaches except at resort beaches where it is uncommon but not unheard of. I have personally only seen nude beach goers at Orient and at Happy Bay.

Since you have children besides Orient, two beaches that are really great for children in my opinion are Le Gallion and Pinel Island and if toplessness is a concern, then and only then, would I suggest Little Bay, which is the beach that Divi resort is on.

[138east]

There are endless discussions about nudity on the St. Martin beaches. Do a search and read some of them. The nudity is supposedly limited to the French side, but folks have reported seeing topless bathers on the Dutch side.

 

What age are your kids? With 2 children I would consider just doing the downtown beach in Phillipsburg which is easily accessible for $6/pp by water taxi or can be walked for $0 from the ship. You can rent some chairs and umbrella and hang out for the entire day - there are places with inflatible play areas for the kids if they are old enough for that. The shopping is right there, so you and your husband can take turns supervising the beach activities while the other takes a shopping break.

[gtaylor]

le Galion is known as Family Beach.

 

I'd suggest going there if you have such problems with toplessness. A taxi should be about the same charge as to Orient.

 

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There are facilities and it is a well protected sheltered bay for children.

 

You MIGHT observe female toplessness there, but I doubt that your children would notice it, even it occurred.

 

gary

[Meredith9217]

Don't miss Orient Beach - beautiful beach. My grandchildren were with us and 3, 7, 10. Warned them about it before we went. If you stay away from the end with the nudist you will only see some topless women. My grandchildren were so busy playing they did not to even notice them until one grandmother (topless) came in swimming. My grandaughter said "that's just not right". Told her to ignore it and have fun. Would not hesitate to take them back there. The beach is just to beautiful to miss.

[Spurs Fans]

Good advice Meredith. Ditto on your comments about just having a talk with the kids and then have them enjoy the beach. It has been my experience that the adults are more concerned about it than the kids. Orient is one of the most beautiful beaches in the Caribbean.

[zqvol]

In my experience on any beach on the French side you are likely to run into topless women, and often you will see nudity. This is especially true up and down the entire length of Orient Beach. While the nudity is supposed to be at the south end only, the bathers walk up and down the entire length of the beach. Topless sunbathing is very common. IMO this will only bother your children if you let it bother you.

[TwoWeebles]

Thank you all for the replies. I will have to think on it and discuss with my husband. I don't think I would be too bothered by just topless, but really I have never been to a beach like that, so I am not positive of how I may feel. I will also have to discuss with the other family we are traveling with to see what they think. By the time of the cruise their daughter will be 8 and my son will be 7.

 

Again, I appreciate your thoughts. Thanks!

[CruiseLover824]

I took Bernard's tour recently. Just to warn you, he did drop us off right at the spot that divides the clothing optional side from the side you would want to be on.

 

However---Bernard's tour was fantastic!!! You will see so much with him. Two of my favorite stops were the lookout area where a man brought starfish, sea-stars, and urchins out of the water for us to hold and the stop at Maho to see the planes land. Your kids would likely enjoy those things too.

 

Bernard was very accomodating with our group---perhaps he could drop you off just a bit farther down the beach so your kids don't see the full nudity side??....because I will tell you, you could definitely see some people in all their glory from where I was standing. (Nothing close up, but you knew they were sans clothing) Orient Beach was very beautiful and I would go back in a heartbeat.