Is Orient Beach a nude beach? Just booked a tour with kids - help! Anyone been there?

[fl-girl]

We just booked a tour on Bernards SXM tours bc of the high reviews on Trip Advisor. There is tour 1 or tour 2. We picked tour 2 because it includes Orient Beach. Of course AFTER I booked it I read the FAQs that mentions that Orient Beach is a fully nude beach. My boys are 11 and 13 - and the grandparents will be with us - so a nude beach isn't exactly on the top of my to-do list. I'm wondering if I should contact Bernards and ask to switch tours? Anyone been to Orient Beach? How much nekkidness should we expect? (If it was just me and the hubby we wouldn't care - we wouldn't "join in" but we wouldn't care... adding kids and grandparents into the mix makes things ... awkward).

 

Advice?

[SnorkelAway]

Orient Beach is NOT a nude beach. Orient Beach is a topless beach - topless women on busy cruise days are not that common but are on the beach. The 25% of the total 1.3 mile beach that is the southern part of the beach is the clothing optional beach of Club Orient; it is not a nude beach (a "nude beach" is a beach where people are expected/required to be nude), but lots of nudity on the beach there, of course. On a Bernard's Tour, you do not have to go to the clothing optional part and I do not think you even have to see it if you let the tour guy know that you do not want to go there or see it.

[traveler279]

Orient Beach is a two mile long beach. The southern end of it, by Club Orient, is clothing optional. The majority of it is just a regular beach. If you look on Google maps at Orient Beach you'll see that only a small part is what you want to avoid.

 

We enjoyed Kontiki Beach right next to Club Orient and only saw maybe a half dozen top less women. The further north (west) you go the less likely you'll have issues.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[gtaylor]

My Google Earth tells me that Orient is 1.3 miles long.

 

Point three (.3) miles of that beach is inside the Club Orient property, a Clothing Optional resort.

 

The rest of the beach, as well as all other beaches on the French side, allow topless sunbathing.

 

For snorkelaway, when we did a private Bernard's Tour a few years ago, we parked at Pedro's parking, as a lot of tours do, and you had to work a bit to avoid a casual glance onto the Orient property, which is immediately adjacent. :)

 

gary

[traveler279]

I stand corrected. Orient Bay has a two mile long beach which includes Orient Beach. While topless bathing is allowed on all the beaches on the French side, what I have observed is that at Orient Beach the topless-ness tends to occur towards the Club Orient area.

 

By the way, though it is officially discouraged, topless bathing also happens on the Dutch beaches.

 

 

http://www.sint-maarten.net/St-Maarten-Beaches/OrientBay.html

[Karysa]

I stand corrected. Orient Bay has a two mile long beach which includes Orient Beach. While topless bathing is allowed on all the beaches on the French side, what I have observed is that at Orient Beach the topless-ness tends to occur towards the Club Orient area.

 

By the way, though it is officially discouraged, topless bathing also happens on the Dutch beaches.

 

 

http://www.sint-maarten.net/St-Maarten-Beaches/OrientBay.html

 

Little Bay is the beach to go if you want everyone suited up.:)

 

At the bar at Sunset Bar and Grill at Maho topless is actually encouraged by most men and some women;)

[SnorkelAway]

Gary - yeah - if you are parked at Pedros, you are very likely if not pretty certain to see nudity. My understanding is that the driver (whether Bernard himself or another driver) will not park there if you specifically ask to avoid that area - but maybe that is not a guarantee. Shoot, Gary, I doubt you worried about it!

 

And, Karysa, most men encourage topless everywhere! But, the chances of a cruiser going to Sunset and seeing toplessness is pretty small, I think, because to do the free drinking, they have to be at the bar and I just do not think it is very common these days when cruisers are there.

[SnorkelAway]

I stand corrected. Orient Bay has a two mile long beach which includes Orient Beach. While topless bathing is allowed on all the beaches on the French side, what I have observed is that at Orient Beach the topless-ness tends to occur towards the Club Orient area.

 

By the way, though it is officially discouraged, topless bathing also happens on the Dutch beaches.

 

 

http://www.sint-maarten.net/St-Maarten-Beaches/OrientBay.html

 

Not sure where the two miles is coming from unless you are including beach at Pinel, Green Cay, or the "beach" at Cul-de-Sac.

 

Other than Cupecoy, which is a tolerated clothing optional beach, in my experience, topless is pretty rare these days on Dutch-side beaches - but it does happen.

[traveler279]

Not sure where the two miles is coming from unless you are including beach at Pinel, Green Cay, or the "beach" at Cul-de-Sac.

 

The "two miles" comes from the article to which there was a link.

 

"Orient Bay, or in French "Baie Orientale", sweeps around a blue cove, facing east, as the name suggests. The 2 mile long, white powdered sand beach is protected from the Atlantic waves by a reef, and the bottom has a very gradual slope."

[ancfun]

All good to know info. Thanks!

[OCruisers]

No problem! Go and Enjoy!

The only place that is actually "clothes optional" is Club Orient.

Bernard's tour will not be taking you there.

The most nudity you might possibly see is a couple of topless women. Even that where Bernard will take you is unlikely.

[kenrod]

We took Bernard's tour just over a week ago. We were taken to La Playa club where it was family friendly. I did see one topless girl walking along the beach, but that was it. No big deal.

 

Enjoy your excursion!

[beachbum53]

We just booked a tour on Bernards SXM tours bc of the high reviews on Trip Advisor. There is tour 1 or tour 2. We picked tour 2 because it includes Orient Beach. Of course AFTER I booked it I read the FAQs that mentions that Orient Beach is a fully nude beach. My boys are 11 and 13 - and the grandparents will be with us - so a nude beach isn't exactly on the top of my to-do list. I'm wondering if I should contact Bernards and ask to switch tours? Anyone been to Orient Beach? How much nekkidness should we expect? (If it was just me and the hubby we wouldn't care - we wouldn't "join in" but we wouldn't care... adding kids and grandparents into the mix makes things ... awkward).

 

Advice?

 

 

As others have already said, Orient Beach is not a nudist beach. That's a common misconception. Pedro's is sort of the dividing line. If you're at Pedro's, the section of beach to your right is the clothing optional section. To the left it is not, but you may occasionally see a woman going topless. Don't worry too much about the clothing optional section. Many of the folks there will probably be close to the age of the grandparents with you. Your boys will quickly realize that gravity does indeed have an adverse effect on a maturing body.

[BobK in NJ]

As others have already said, Orient Beach is not a nudist beach. That's a common misconception. Pedro's is sort of the dividing line. If you're at Pedro's, the section of beach to your right is the clothing optional section. To the left it is not, but you may occasionally see a woman going topless. Don't worry too much about the clothing optional section. Many of the folks there will probably be close to the age of the grandparents with you. Your boys will quickly realize that gravity does indeed have an adverse effect on a maturing body.

 

You can go to Google Maps, zoom in on Orient Beach, then click on the little figure to turn on street view. There are no street views but there are a number of Blue Dot 360 degree photos to show you what the beach looks like.

Orient Beach is one of the nicest beaches we have ever been to.

[WisconsinFan]

We have been to Orient Beach and it is truly a very beautiful beach. We went with Bernard's and they do warn you that you may see nudity- especially as you drive in near Pedros. Our first trip my youngest son was 15. We told him before what he might encounter and how to act. We did see topless women on the beach (it is French) but no total nudity (by the way, on Grand Cayman we saw plenty of Europeans "deck changing" on the beach and women taking off their swim tops to put on street clothes. We are a swim family, so you might not know that "deck changing" is changing on deck and trying to stay under a towel). On the way back from Orient he told us that there should be an age limit on going topless- and he meant an upper age limit :) This year (he is now 18) it didn't phase him at all.

[Turtles06]

We did Bernard's Tour number 2 a little over a year ago, including time on Orient Beach, and had a very enjoyable day. Where Bernard drops you at Orient Beach is nowhere near the clothing optional part of the beach (Club Orient), which is at the far right end as you face the water. But as others have noted, you may see some people walking on the beach who don't have much on, much as you might wish they had. ;p

 

[navybankerteacher]

We did Bernard's Tour number 2 a little over a year ago, including time on Orient Beach, and had a very enjoyable day. Where Bernard drops you at Orient Beach is nowhere near the clothing optional part of the beach (Club Orient), which is at the far right end as you face the water. But as others have noted, you may see some people walking on the beach who don't have much on, much as you might wish they had. ;p

 

 

As you can see, an occasional mansiere might not be a bad thing. The sad fact is: as people get to be much older than 19 years old, the more their appearance is likely to be improved with more, rather than less, clothing

[beachbum53]

As you can see, an occasional mansiere might not be a bad thing. The sad fact is: as people get to be much older than 19 years old, the more their appearance is likely to be improved with more, rather than less, clothing

 

It's a shame that the majority of people here in the U.S. are so prone to body shaming. I suspect that people's present day attitudes about keeping covered up go back to the Pilgrims and their Puritan beliefs when they first came here from England.

[hapster85]

It's a shame that the majority of people here in the U.S. are so prone to body shaming. I suspect that people's present day attitudes about keeping covered up go back to the Pilgrims and their Puritan beliefs when they first came here from England.

Americans tend toward the puritanical on a lot of subjects. And yes, it is sad that body shaming is so rampant.

[navybankerteacher]

It's a shame that the majority of people here in the U.S. are so prone to body shaming. I suspect that people's present day attitudes about keeping covered up go back to the Pilgrims and their Puritan beliefs when they first came here from England.

 

It is also possible that your tiresome Puritan cliche has nothing to do with it. I think the human body is a wonderful thing - and Michaelangelo's David is a beautiful celebration of man - as Boticelli's Birth of Venus is of woman. But an elderly man's bulging paunch and hanging scrotum are better concealed - as are the sagging mammaries and adipose-dimpled derrière of women similarly past their prime.

 

 

It is not a matter of fear of nature - rather one of esthetics.

[hapster85]

It is also possible that your tiresome Puritan cliche has nothing to do with it. I think the human body is a wonderful thing - and Michaelangelo's David is a beautiful celebration of man - as Boticelli's Birth of Venus is of woman. But an elderly man's bulging paunch and hanging scrotum are better concealed - as are the sagging mammaries and adipose-dimpled derrière of women similarly past their prime.

 

 

It is not a matter of fear of nature - rather one of esthetics.

 

From your description, you only think the human body is a wonderful thing when it is young, perfect, and tight. I'm none of those things, and as far as I'm concerned, if you don't want to see my fat, surgery scarred abdomen, don't look.

[beachbum53]

It is also possible that your tiresome Puritan cliche has nothing to do with it. I think the human body is a wonderful thing - and Michaelangelo's David is a beautiful celebration of man - as Boticelli's Birth of Venus is of woman. But an elderly man's bulging paunch and hanging scrotum are better concealed - as are the sagging mammaries and adipose-dimpled derrière of women similarly past their prime.

 

 

It is not a matter of fear of nature - rather one of esthetics.

 

On our most recent cruise, one of our ports was St. Maarten. We went to Orient Beach, and spent the day in the clothing optional area. We saw a middle-aged man on crutches, with a colostomy bag attached to him. He was nude, and enjoying time with his friends. I say God bless this person for wanting to spend the day clothes free, to feel the sun and the warm ocean breeze on his body, without worrying or caring what others might think. If a friend or relative of yours had on their bucket list to go to a clothing optional beach for a day, and had (in your eyes) a less than perfect body, would you be supportive, or try your best to talk him / her out of it?

[navybankerteacher]

From your description, you only think the human body is a wonderful thing when it is young, perfect, and tight. I'm none of those things, and as far as I'm concerned, if you don't want to see my fat, surgery scarred abdomen, don't look.

 

You missed my point - I was simply saying that it was esthetics and not Puritanism which made many of us not enjoy seeing the unclothed human body. You are welcome to flaunt your "fat, surgery scarred abdomen" - and I assume that you will recognize my preference for "young, perfect, and tight" bodies, without suggesting that it is Puritanical.

 

A still life painting of ripe, bedewed, colorful fruit is better to look at than one of wrinkled, shriveled green-fuzzed rotting vegetables - and preferring it is comparable --- so let's just leave pseudo-sophisticated references to Puritanism out of the discussion.

[exercisemama]

We were on a Bernards tour 3 years ago. There were kids on our tour, so the driver was asked to take us to the clothing side of Orient Beach.

We did see topless women lounging on that side also, and people walk the beach ..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Orient Beach is NOT a nude beach. Orient Beach is a topless beach - topless women on busy cruise days are not that common but are on the beach. The 25% of the total 1.3 mile beach that is the southern part of the beach is the clothing optional beach of Club Orient; it is not a nude beach (a "nude beach" is a beach where people are expected/required to be nude), but lots of nudity on the beach there, of course. On a Bernard's Tour, you do not have to go to the clothing optional part and I do not think you even have to see it if you let the tour guy know that you do not want to go there or see it.

[SnorkelAway]

Anything is possible, but the odds of a cruiser seeing any type of nudity other than topless women on Orient Beach north of Pedros between 9am and 4pm is pretty close to zero. Not sure what you meant by "people walk the beach." People still do walk the entire 1.3 mile beach nude early in the morning and, far less frequently, in the evening, but not during the day when cruisers are there. If you meant that people on a tour can "walk the beach" and find nudity if they would like to find it, true enough.