TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin A Trip to Oyster Pond

We hadn’t been to Oyster Pond for a few years, certainly not since Irma, so we decided on Friday morning to take a trip to Oyster Pond. We wanted to see what the seaweed looks like now. I am not that familiar with OP and not familiar with Coral Beach Club at ALL. We saw a sign which said Coral Beach Club, right by the buildings here.




I don’t know if there is more than one section of CBC or not, but this is the view from one of those buildings. Overturned boats and seaweed in the water, right in front of the buildings.



Nice stench too. And here are two pictures of Dawn Beach and the open water close to Dawn Beach.










Wow. So glad I’m not in Dawn Beach right now!!!

A taxi driver was by the side of the road, showing some tourists how to feed some ducks and iguanas.





We headed back toward Orient, headed past the relatively new Mambo Beach Bar, along Coralita Beach, which is the back way to Orient. I feel sorry for these guys, to try to start up a business, with the stench from the seaweed.







And a couple of pics for BeachKitten, of some goats by the side of the road

Thanks for the post, Carol.

Everyone has their favorite part of the island and puts blinders on. I don't put blinders on anymore and if I took my camera and took pictures of the island from the airport to the airport I could post a very depressing photo blog of SXM as well.

Not intended to be depressing, just factual, in terms of what's actually going on, at Oyster Pond right now. People who are booking vacations to SXM should know.

Carol, the second picture is of the few units of Coral Beach Club that are along the shore of Oyster Pond. The majority of the units are on the beach just out of view of your third picture. These units were totally destroyed by Irma. When we were there this winter, they were all being rebuilt, but not at what I would call a fast pace (ie. Island Time).

I agree this is very depressing to see how things are progressing on the island.

Was at OBBR from 5/18 - 5/30. The sargassum was patchy but not as bad as in photos today. No real odor. The Dawn Beach section was cleared daily by a bulldozer of weed which had washed up the previous night. This was our first stay at OBBR, since our units at Simpson Bay were destroyed as a result of Irma. Accommodations were all right when we upgraded to one bedroom from our "free" studio. As noted restaurants are scarce in that area. Did spend a late morning and lunch at Bikini Beach.

Let. Me clarify, people should know that the progress is not happening as fast as one would think it should.

The picture of the destroyed house is ours.....Irma changed our lives. The completely demolished apartment was our personal one and I lost everything that belonged to my Mother and myself. I don't appreciate the smart aleck comment.

We spent a week at OBBR in January, the beach may have not been as bad as the above pics, but it wasn't good. I walked down there only one time to check it out. The beach had been cleaned at that point in the day and there were a handful of people in chairs. When I say clean, there was a huge pile of seaweed down at the opposite end of the beach; I can only imagine how bad that smelled.

We were there the same time same place, saw some seaweed but never any bad smell.

Yay! I get a shout out and some GOATS!!!!!

Thanks Carol. Huh, who knew that ducks and iguanas could co-exist.

Dawn has never been my favorite area.

It is nice to go to SXM as a tourist rent a car and a villa... Hand back the keys and go home.
It is another thing reading comments or seeing photos of your property destroyed after one of the worst hurricanes to hit the Caribbean. Here is a pic of what it takes to your property after a devasting hurricane...

dawnbeachette--Sorry, I apologize. I removed the picture.

That was a super cool thing to do.

We just never know in the Internet age how many people can be reached.....and how something affects them. Wow.

Wow!!! Oyster Pond was home to the Moorings charter fleet, before the hurricane. The entire Bay was full of moorings and boats. A lot of the sunken boats were cleaned out and brought to Antigua as salvage. Your pictures show how bad things still are. So sad

The point of the photos was not to just show how bad things may appear to look. There are many good things also, but and a big but is saying beaches are clean no seaweed and other issues. That is not right. Maybe next week there will be no seaweed, but it just does not go away without help and right now there does not appear to be any help to make it go away and no activity currently working to make it go away. So that is an issue for your hard spent vacation dollars.

How much wine did you have at the beach today Eric?! Lol

I have NO problem spending on vacation. It goes real easy and quick.

Maybe hard earned?

Thanks for the report and pictures Carol! Since 2005 we have been renting villas in that area and know it very well, as well as most of the players in that area. We love to see pictures from that area and yours or anyone else’s thoughts pertaining to that area, as it is near and dear to our hearts. We have personally been in the Dawn beach area and spoke to many friends and realtors after the hurricane, and have seen the damage first hand, so I speak with understanding of that area. Yes it does break our hearts, BUT it is a FACT that that side of the island took the brunt of the hurricane, unfortunately! But it is a fact that needs to be discussed with fellow travelers, either in verse or photos, or BOTH, which is what you did Carol! We appreciate the information, as I’m sure many other people on this fourm do as well! That is the nice thing about this fourm, PEOPLE NEED TO BE INFORMED, and that is what you did based on an earlier thread where a couple was about to rent a vila and just asking questions about the AREA! We see nothing wrong in what you posted! So y’all have fun, AND BY ALL MEANS, PLEASE KEEP THE PHOTOS AND STORY OF YALLS VACATION COMING!

We are waiting! We hope you and Eric have as much fun as we did, and enjoy every moment of it!,,