Can someone help me with St Martin?

[carmel]

I have researched the PoC board but can't make a decision. We are looking for a beach on either side of the island. We will have our young daughters with us so the more 'non' nude beaches would be better. Here is what is important to us.

1) calm, clean water (we aren't going to snorkle or water sport or anything)
2) relatively kid friendly (my daughter would probably point out every nude rear end she saw!!)
3) safe

Thanks so much! I'm so frustrated that I can't decide!

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Until Explorer of the Seas!

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Until Carnival Holiday!

[imsulin]

All the beaches in St. Maarten/St. Martin are quite safe. We've been to Orient Beach on the French side many times, and it's not as nude as you might think! You might see a few topless women, but that's about it. It's our favorite beach there, it's beautiful and very long, and they have a water trampoline, banana boat, parasailing, etc. On the Dutch side, you might want to go to Everyt'ing Cool beach, which is right near downtown Phillipsburg. The beach is smaller, but nice. Calm water, and bathing suits are required. Great bar, music, rental chairs, and lots of fun.

[powriel]

We went to Orient Beach in February and I have to disagree with imsulin. I don't consider myself to be a prude, but it was too much for me. We were at a little hut on the clothing side and it truly didn't matter. When you get off the ship we took a water taxi and got off at the 1st stop and ended back there after we took our little "sightseeing" trip to Orient Beach. We had a great time - rented an umbrella and two chairs and spend the day there. Beautiful water!!

8/25 Carnival Spirit
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[finoky]

If you have young kids they might really like the beach right in town near the soon to be gone Everyting's Cool. It isn't a pristine beach by Caribbean standards but it is much nicer than most beaches here. The bottom is soft sand and there is a water trampoline they can climb on for $5 all day. They also rent chairs and umbrellas and have jet skis available to rent.

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Tony

2004 Legend March 28th
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1998 Fantasy

[born2crooz]

We have 2 small children (6 and 8) and were also worried about the nudity.

We took a taxi to Le Galion beach. It was about $25.00 total each way. VERY calm waters, similar to a lagoon. The water was very shallow and you could pretty much walk out 75 feet or so. Great also for windsurfing. There is a small restaurant and facilities. You can rent an umbrella and chairs. NO PEDDLING there as it is a privately owned beach (by the restaurant). To give you a perspective: there were 3 ships in port that day and there were about 10 other people on the beach with us NONE of them were from the ships.

HINT: Arrange for return transportation in advance. Taxis do not regularly stop there and you will have no ride back.

Hope this helps!

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[cruzn buckeye]

I have to reply to this. Although Orient Bay is one of our favorites... it is beautiful.... We did see at least 3 nude men at the non-nude end of the beach. You probably don't want to take your young daughters...although I did see other kids there.

[Cotton]

I've been to St. Maarten only once on a cruise; however, I've flown there on two other occasions and had 4 and 5 day land vacations.

I definitely think the Dutch side is much, much more tourist-friendly. They seem to realize, also, that "families" are there, whereas the French don't seem to care at all. Their cavalier attitude is too much to handle at times.

Think Dutch side! [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img]

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[Codfish]

My comments about Orient Beach are more concerning the wind not the view [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_eek.gif[/img] [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif[/img]. Orient is on the windward side of the island. The day we were there it was quite windy.

If the kids like to see airplanes landing, check out Maho Beach. It's right at the end of the airport. We were there for a couple hours and saw lots of small planes and several big ones come in for a landing. The beach itself was very quiet. It's not the best for little kids swimming though. It dropps off quickly, but there are alot of small seashell fragments near the top by the road.

Here is a link to a list of [url="http://www.jmbcommunications.com/sxmbeaches.html"]The Beaches of St. Maarten/St. Martin[/url] Be careful this site has some topless photography. it's not safe for work or the little ones, but ig gives a good list of the beaches and what there is to do at them.

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[ilbn]

Just so everyone is properly prepared: there is no non-nude side to orient beach. It's true that areas dominated by cruise visitors won't have much. But is is highly likely that you will see people walking along the water from one end of the beach to the other.

Of course there is no reason to shield your kids from this. It's only people as God made them.

[BigDoug]

[size=3][color=red]I would recommend the Divi Little Bay Resort Excursion. It was only a 15 minute bus ride from the ship. It includes lunch and two free drinks. The beach was great and the water calm. They had lounges (free) and umbrellas (rent). There was a DJ who was very entertaining. You could use the pool and all the facilities at the resort. There was also shopping, volleyball, hermit crab racing, jet ski rentals, etc. We had a great time.:cool: [/color][/size]

[rob&tam]

I think that Everything Cool closed in May for renovation? I know that Chris (cruisingislife) has mentioned this before. You might want to check before you make plans to go there.

[VinLinNJ]

Basically, the French Side beaches are primarily clothing optional, while the Dutch side is not.

To be honest, the beach right across from the pier is close, is pretty. and the water is crystal clear. The Water Taxi right at the end of the pier will get you there in less than 5 minutes and you can get an all day pass to ride back and forth as often as you like. All the shopping is right there also.

If you want to take a tour and excursion then any of the offerings are great. But if you just want to sit in the sun and enjoy the water with the kids, then you really don't need to spend any additional money..

JMHO..

Vin

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[cynic957att]

Not a bad beach - I only saw a single topless woman on the entire beach - very nice water and reefs and everything you need.