TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin Status of Oyster Pond Area?

We normally stay up the hill from BZH Creperie with Maryse Gachot. Any word on Irma's impact on houses, restaurants in that area?

I saw a recent youtube video recorded with a drone that showed much of the Oyster Pond Area. Some damage is visible but not enough details

I live in Oyster pond and was there through the hurricane, There is tremendous devastation. Capt. Olivers marina is gone. Almost every house has damage, some are completely destroyed. About 3 boats in Oyster Pond survived. I counted 80 wrecks and those were the ones you can see. Many have just disappeared. The Great House and Mr Busbys is destroyed. All of the Sunsail / Moorings fleet is destroyed. Private Yacht Charters is destroyed as well as many of the boats at the OBBR marina. There was not police, Dutch marines, or Gendarmes after the storm and looting was rampant. One night there was gun fire and screaming. The road around most sides were blocked but no one came to block the roads leading into Oyster Pond from the French side or Dutch side. No was to call for help with no telephone, cell service or electricity. It was chaos. looters were free to come and take what they wanted.

Bob--sounds more terrifying than the storm! Glad you were finally able to get out.

Bob,

Glad you made it through without major personal issues and you are now safely regrouping here in the States. I know the boats are a major concern but safety and personal well-being matter more.

Thanks for the updates. My wife and I have most often stayed in the Oyster Pond area and have been wondering about Captain Oliver's and Mama Pizza. We are so saddened about what has happened to St. Martin but so look forward to sitting along the stone wall at Mama Pizza drinking a couple of bottles of red wine, looking out over Oyster Pond to the lights of St Barts in the distance. Thoughts and prayers to all those who have been through this disaster in the hope they can move forward and rebuild their lives and their beautiful island.

I received an email from Lyn, who wanted me to post the following note here

"If you can thank the people under the Oyster Pond thread for us as Bob
has his hands full & I forgot the password... That we are doing well, our family have all been evacuated & we are so thankful to be Together."

Has anyone heard anything more from Carine and David and les Balcons? My favorite place!

David and Carine are safe and working on cleaning up debris from the walkways at Les Balcons. Here is a video of Oyster Pond. In it, the roofs on the units of Les Balcons are still intact.

I'd seen a couple of stills of OP but this is the first detailed view I've seen. So sad. Interesting to see that they appear to be using a couple of sails as a temporary roof over the Moorings/Sunsail building (at around 5:30). I can't imagine where they start to begin to rebuild this business or how long it will take.

Thanks for posting this.