TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin Club O - Is "not naked" OK?

Went to orient Beach last week. All our favs, gone now. Hated the vibe. Stayed on the clothing side of the rocks. My question is-- What do or would you "regulars" of Club O area feel about people coming over to spend the day there with no intention of getting naked? I know it is "legal" and the PC response is clothes or no, its all good, but do you feel like us with suits on are there to gawk? I know we would have liked that area much better, but we felt like we were invading a space we shouldn't, so out of respect, we stayed out. What do you think?? Phil

It depends on what you're DOING, once you get there, but in general, frankly I personally couldn't care less what you're wearing or NOT wearing, on Club O beach. Now, if you're standing over top of me, leering at me, or standing staring at naked people in the water, or .. obviously... taking pictures, that's something else. In general, Club O people are the most accepting people on earth... Try it. You might decide to get naked too! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Smile.gif" alt="" /> Or not. Either way, it's all good..

Club O is Clothing Optional. It is NOT nude - only.

However, it's certainly a great place to try out the nude thing.

As long as you are not acting weird, gawking, leering, or otherwise drawing attention to yourself as a lurker or as passing judgment you will be welcome. nobody cares if you are nude, as long as your activities do not make the others uncomfortable.

While I will agree with what everyone else has said, I still have to ask; with a over a mile of beach, why would you decide to come to the Club O area if at least one of you is not intending on being nude?

Right NOW, with those 8 restaurants closed, there probably aren't many places that you can go and bring your own cooler, for one thing.

Rhitek: Well said!

What's wrong with the mt. Vernon end if you Never intend to get naked

Club O was great for us because although my wife Never intended to get naked, I did. That was our first trip. Trips 2-5 she now gets naked and loves it.

Good security, great beach, nice water to name a few.

the beach in front of Club O is public and everyone has a right to use it

it's been a while since I've been do a nude beach. from what I've read on forums and overheard... there's been a disintegration of nude beach etiquette. the rules of no staring and no photography seem a little lax. I overheard one story of a van driver leading his charges thru the beach (with kids) to get a look. so I wonder if general rules of behavior have changed?

Clothing optional means just that -nobody really cares what you wear or don't wear. However: I would be extremely uncomfortable wearing a swimsuit in the middle of a known naturist resort, when nobody else is. We love Club Orient, and the effort they put into maintaining their beautiful property and promoting naturism. As the old Mikey commercial went - Try it, you'll like it! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Wink.gif" alt="" />

I've always felt.... If you want to stand out and be noticed on a "nude beach", wear a bathing suit. If you want to blend in and be un-noticed, go nude.

<img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Thumbsup.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Thumbsup.gif" alt="" />

Club O's section of the beach is great, with less seaweed. If you are curious about shedding your suits, consider a more sparsely populated part of Club O's beach. While we would never say anything if you sat in chairs next to us with suits on, we/my wife especially would be more comfortable with the suits off. Something that rings true for for me is: "taking your suit off is only the second hardest thing. The hardest is putting it back on!"

so many people just can't fathom that bathing/sunning at a nude beach is the most NONSEXUAL thing a person can do.

I go there with friends who don't go nude. The attitude there is: Who cares?

When we walk over the rocks, we normally try to get past the gawkers before we "desuit". However, contrary to what some have posted, there are those naturists who find it humorous to harass those who are still clothed. We have been confronted and offered beads to take our suits off, when we fully intended to doff them in a few feet. When we tried to explain, we were laughed at. Not all of the Club O denizens are as tolerant and friendly as some may have you believe.

I personally find those people who do that stuff unacceptable. Club Orient is a clothing OPTIONAL beach. Wear what you want, when you want. Those people who DEMAND that everyone be nude are more uptight than those who wear bathing suits.

I completely agree, and it was very unsettling to us. Although we choose not to spend our entire day at Club O (mostly because we like chairs with cushions), we are always nude when we're there. The harassment of clothed persons is inappropriate on a clothing optional beach.

I do appreciate the question that the original poster is asking. It shows respect, which is a very good thing.

Hear! Hear!

Yes, I agree, a thoughtful question. In general, I find the people on Club O beach, and nudists in general, to be some of the most accepting people in the world. I have a not very complementary name for the non-accepting nude folks..

Well said... and there are a few posts in this thread, suggesting that the OP go to other sections of the beach or questioning why they would want to come to Club O, that seem to reflect a less than accepting attitude.

This is the type of responses/opinions I was hoping to get. Nudity on the beach does not excite nor offend us and we are not "curious" to see naked people (been married 42 years to the ONLY one, so to me, seeing some other person naked is like counting someone else' money), so no gawking from us. Quite a few years back, the first time we ever visited Club O's beach,we both went naked. Decided I didn't care to do it (don't do it in the locker room at the gym either), so we stayed on the other side of the rocks ever since, and always got chairs at Baywatch. What I am taking from your opinions is- next time we will probably go to Club O beach, but try to find a place that makes clear our intention, and doesn't make the "regulars" feel invaded upon. Phil

We agree with you on those Club O chairs. You almost have to bring your own cushion to be comfortable.

I think that most negative reactions to non-nude on Orient is related to the huge number of cruise ship gawkers that we have to endure. I have a problem with the drive by gawkers but know I can't do anything about it. I have no problem with anyone that spends the day on the beach regardless of what they choose to wear, or not.

We started going to St. Martin in 2011 and again in 2012. Both times, we spent a few afternoons on the beach at Club O. We had an excellent time. Everyone was very nice.
Here in Massachusetts, we have Provincetown, which has Herring Cove Beach. The beach is unofficially nude waaaaaay down on one end, away from tourists. It's primarily gay men like ourselves. Anyway, we got used to going nude there, so it wasn't a big stretch to do so at Club O. It was a bit of an odd sensation going up to the bar naked to stand there and order a drink, but I got used to it pretty fast. That place is awesome and the people at Club O are the best. And for the record, every time we went, we saw people with and without clothing. Going back in October. Cannot wait....

A long time ago during one of our first visits to Philipsburg, I asked one of the vendors how to get to Orient Beach. She responded by asking if I wanted to see naked or be naked? When I responded, "both". She smiled and gave me directions. I've always been grateful.

The chairs at Pedro's (on the Orient side of the rocks) usually have a fairly even mix of textiles and non.

gary

I'm curious to know how you can tell cruise ship passengers from tourists staying on the island. I doubt you can. Just as many tourists staying on the island have the same curiosity to see what Club O is all about as much as cruise ship people. In my daily interaction with cruse ship passengers and on island tourists, the vast majority of on island visitors have mentioned checking out the sights and most of the cruse ship passengers have no idea Club O even exists!

Maybe I am just a simpleton, but when I am on the beach in front of Club O, I don't think about what others are or are not wearing, nor care what others think of what I am not wearing.

"how you can tell cruise ship passengers from tourists"

lanyards around their neck, blue and white stripped towels, black knee socks, camera hanging from their neck, OK, I'm profiling, BTW, we love cruising too, usually leave the knee socks home <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/jester.gif" alt="" />

Sorry this thread has take a side turn away from the intended subject.

I know several hotels with striped towels Very few ships have striped towels as a matter of fact! I know plenty of tourists who wear black knee socks and stay on island. 90% of tourists carry cameras. Plenty of island tourists keep their id in containers on lanyards around their necks. I work with over 1000 tourists per month including cruise ship passengers and hotel time share people. It is impossible to tell the difference.

[quote]soualigacapt said:

I'm curious to know how you can tell cruise ship passengers from tourists staying on the island. I doubt you can.

Oh, c'mon now ... you can just tell; maybe it is the wrist bands, or the socks, or the swiveling head, or the hand where it shouldn't be, but regardless, it is the reason we go somewhere else for our "relaxation" time.

There are no more wrist bands. That's ancient history. So only cruse ship people wear socks? Cruise ship tourist or on island tourist will have a swiveling head when confronted with total nudity for the first time. Hand where it shouldn't be? That's a new one!

it was a joke, relax <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/duh.gif" alt="" />

Sorry I didn't realize it was a joke but I get it now. It's just difficult for me when people perpetuate the same myths over and over again.

I'm totally relaxed! LOL

I should stay out of this, but I've never been any good at staying mum.... ;-{

It seems like the cruise ship people blame should be easily determined.
Are cruise ships in port every day?
Are there clothed gawkers walking through club O every day?

As many of you know, there is something about those yellow umbrellas that gets into your system. I get my fix by checking the web cam most every day, and I see clothed walkers every day. I am pretty certain they aren't all coming from a cruise ship......

The all inclusives use wrist bands - as do the ships for children under 12 - not a lot of gawkers in the under 12 age group.....

I think that statistically cruise folks are more likely to be new to Club O and show more obvious curiosity than those on a land vacation - and there are standard beach towels if you know the ships - so I think you can guess substantially better than random chance as to whether a person is a cruiser or not - but that doesn't tell you anything about the individual person other than whether they are there on a port of call or not, anyway.

The answers are yes and yes and anyone that has been on the Club O beach understands but the original point stands, none of us that hang out there care about textiles.

I would agree with that. My wife and I have spent 2 days at Club O (both from cruises) and this is the only place we have been nude. Textiles walking by all day did not seem to phase her one bit.