TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin Beach walks on Orient Beach

Can one still walk all the way down Orient Beach? Wasn’t sure if uncleared seaweed or small pieces of debris were still an issue? Are water shoes still needed? Need the beach walks to counter the gourmet food :-)

Yes, walked it every morning with no foot wear. The seaweed gets a little heavy near Mount Vernon though.

Absolutely. Might want to wear sandals for those areas with thick amounts of sea grasses on the shore, because you can walk right on top of that stuff. Walking on the seaweed with bare feet is not advised. Or, move inland a little bit if you want to avoid the seaweed. There is some debris and sharp rocks where the Club O. beach begins so be sure to look down when crossing onto that beach.

Can you still walk the length of the beach nude in the mornings?

Probably can but not legal.

Not if you come across some fully clothed gendarmes!

I wouldn't suggest it. Unless it's like 7 a.m. or something really early like that. What I do is walk the entire 1.2 miles of Orient Beach a few times each day, but when I cross the rocks 'off' comes the suit and I roll it up and carry it with me. When I turn around back on it goes and this seems to work fine for me. If you grab chairs on the Club O. beach you could just bring the suit with you if you decide to head north.

On our last trip a few weeks ago, we walked in the early morning (around 7 A.M.) from the village and headed toward Club O beach wearing our T-Shirts and gym shorts. Once we reached the rocks, the suits came off and we continued down the beach and turned around near Papagayo's and headed back toward the village. During our Club O section we noticed a couple in the water but they had their suits on and then further up, about 1/2 way between Papagayo's and the rocks there was a group of 3 women walking toward Papagayo's and they were all wearing clothing. Finally just before the rocks we again had another couple walking in the opposite direction but they too were clothed. Once we were near the rocks we again put on the shirts and shorts and continued to our rental in the village. I definitely would have had reservations going any further north of the rocks without clothing of some sort.

In April, we were out walking the beach at sunrise, which was around 6 am, and back by maybe 7ish. Each morning i would say we met maybe 10 to 15 people and probably 3 or 4 were sans textile, and all were men. It was quite the opposite in 2017, with both sexes or at least topless. We never saw a Gendarme, so i guess its up to your comfort level.

We've done it early in the AM. Never were stopped but i can't recall the time.