Beach close to Maho to spend the morning

[Hambone]

My husband and I were in St. Maarten in February and did a full island tour in a rented Jeep (we had an awesome time!)

 

Now we're headed back on a cruise with my entire family. We plan to go to a beach in the morning and hang out, and then spend our afternoon (between 1 and 3 as advised) eating lunch and seeing the planes at Maho Beach.

 

I'd love a recommendation for a beach that doesn't require a lot of travel time either from the pier or to Maho Beach. From photos, I don't think Maho Beach could entertain us for an entire day. We spent a few hours at Orient Beach last time we were here, and would definitely go back, but we would rather not have to go 15 minutes in one direction only to go 45 minutes the other direction. It can get costly with cab fares.

 

Any recommendations? I am wondering if Divi Beach is close to Maho?

 

Thanks! And if anyone has questions about car rentals or driving in St. Maarten, please let me know.

 

E

[L_T]

Maybe Mullet Bay - just a little past Maho Bay? We checked it out once, but did not spend any time on the beach. We plan to try it one day during our visit this winter. The day we were there the parking area was full and there were a lot of people on the beach. There are a couple small places to get food and drinks and I assume chair rentals were available. It is by the old Mullet Resort that was damaged by a hurricane years ago, and never rebuilt, and near the golf course. Hopefully someone with more experience along that area can give you a better answer. I know nothing about Divi.

[39august]

Mullett Bay beach is quite beautiful. But, it is further from the pier than Orient and in the other direction. It is near Maho. We were there last year and the cab fare was pretty high as I recall. We did walk up the hill to the hotel and flagged down the local "bus" back to Phillipsburg. These are vans and the sign in the window says Phillipsburg". The price I believe is $1 pp to go to P-burg. We asked how much to take us all the way to the cruise pier, and he delivered us back to the pier for $5 pp! You could, of course, take the bus to Mullett Bay as well. The bus stops are not on Front Street, but on the next street over which is, what else, Back Street. For the cheap fare, I'd recommend the bus. I don't know what the sign going that way is, but just ask a bus driver if he goes to Mullet Bay. I THINK that is what the sign says. The traffic was horrible both ways and took 30-40 minutes.If you take a taxi, and don't want to take a chance on catching the bus back, arrange to have the driver come back for you as there are no taxis waiting at Mullett Bay. Or get the taxi company's phone number and the folks at the beach bars will call for you on their cell phone.

[gtaylor]

I'd second Mullet as the beach of choice for you. For your description of requirements, I'd say that you don't need to rent a car, though depending on the size of your family you might break even re:taxis.

 

It's a fine beach with some services available, and it is right next to Maho for your lunch and airplane spotting. Note: it is very popular with the locals, and it can get quite crowded on the weekends.

 

With a family, the taxi fare from cruise pier to Mullet should be about $5 or $6 per person each way. If you decide on the bus (that would be from downtown, not cruise pier), the signs in the lower left window will read 'Mullet' 'M'Bay' 'MulBay' or some such -- easily recognized. Usually P'Burg on the way back.

 

If it's not too hot, you can walk from Mullet back to Maho, as it is fairly level, and you pass some refreshment opportunities along the way. I'd allow maybe 20 minutes or so, depending on how quickly you walk.

 

If you need to have someone call for a taxi, be aware that local cell phone calls are on the order of $.30/minute, so if you ask someone to call for you and you haven't given them some significant business while on the beach, it would be a great idea to offer a tip for the service.

 

gary