St. Maarten Shore Excursions

[ransboec]

Hey there! I'll be on a cruise docking in St. Maarten in December and I'm torn between visiting Cupecoy Beach or Loterie Farm. I know they're pretty different experiences and that the beach would be free and at Loterie I'd have to pay for chairs, etc. but I just wondered if anyone had been to both and would recommend on over the other. Thanks for your help!

[Fergus]

Go check out the St. Maarten board in Ports of Call. There's lots of info about which beaches are still accessible after last year's hurricane and which ones are not yet back open.

[Bonnie J.]

Keep in mind the Orient Beach is primarily a nude beach but they drop you off where there are few nudes but we saw nudes just walking down the beach,

[Hlitner]

Keep in mind the Orient Beach is primarily a nude beach but they drop you off where there are few nudes but we saw nudes just walking down the beach,

 

That is not really true. Orient is not "primarily" a nudist beach and its more likely then not that you will see no nudists on most days. However, you may certainly see some topless females (and males) on any of the beaches located on the French side of the island.

 

The nudist resort is located at the far right end (when looking towards the sea) and the residents are warned not to walk along the beach totally nude. There are sometimes a few that ignore this rule and such is life :). We have been to Orient dozens of times over the years and only occasionally see somebody bottomless. Of course if one wants to go looking for it they can always walk around the rocks towards the semi-private nudist resort :). When we stay on the island one of our favorite beaches is called Happy Bay Beach. What we love is that there are never cruisers on that beach (you must hike in from another nearby beach) so its nice and quiet. But there are usually a few nudists that also go to that isolated beach where nobody bothers them (or tries to take their picture).

 

Han

[zqvol]

That is not really true. Orient is not "primarily" a nudist beach and its more likely then not that you will see no nudists on most days. However, you may certainly see some topless females (and males) on any of the beaches located on the French side of the island.

 

The nudist resort is located at the far right end (when looking towards the sea) and the residents are warned not to walk along the beach totally nude. There are sometimes a few that ignore this rule and such is life :). We have been to Orient dozens of times over the years and only occasionally see somebody bottomless. Of course if one wants to go looking for it they can always walk around the rocks towards the semi-private nudist resort :). When we stay on the island one of our favorite beaches is called Happy Bay Beach. What we love is that there are never cruisers on that beach (you must hike in from another nearby beach) so its nice and quiet. But there are usually a few nudists that also go to that isolated beach where nobody bothers them (or tries to take their picture).

 

Han

 

this is not really true. The whole of Orient Beach, as are all the beaches on the French side, is topless, and large portions of it are considered clothing optional.

 

 

OP's biggest issue now is not whether a beach is topless, nude or fully clothed, but what is the status of the recovery. Most of Orient Beach is years away from recovery. All of the bars were totally destroyed last fall, and recovery is very slow.

 

 

OP should check with people on St. Maarten for the status before making any decision.