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

These photos were taken February 22, before Aloha and Sun Beach Clubber actually opened. They also show the seaweed conditions that day.

Parking lot - room for lots of cars and parallel parking too.


Aloha - there is a nice "boutique" in the unit next door, they sell beach wear and jewellery.







Sun Beach Clubber





The beach









[img]http://i1301.photobucket.com/albums/ag104/Birdwatcher15/SXM%202016/DSC_2006_zpsa4jmm2ly.jpg[/img]

Thanks for the pictures! Wow, that seaweed is bad!

They cleaned it up the day they opened.

Yes indeed. I can't imagine sitting there and smelling that rotting seaweed baking in the sun. Not the SXM experience I would want. Hope they start doing something about that now that they are open and renting chairs.

Oops, I see you posted the cleanup as I was typing. Glad they did.

It's seaweed. It's a natural occurrence on all of the islands. They clean it up in the morning before they open, and more flows in during the day. The beach bars don't like it any more than their customers do, but they can only do so much about it. It doesn't rot on the beach and smell unless they leave it there, and they don't.

Nice photos - thanks. The parking area looks to be much improved.

By the looks of the pictures they weren't cleaning it up. I would think if they were gonna clean it up it would
Be done before customers get there. I'm curious though, in one picture there is a couple with their own umbrella and chairs set up in front of an establishment. How will that fly once all spots are up and running?

Wow
I think part of the clean up issue is not all the businesses are open. The resulting mess will probably be a reality unless the existing businesses decide to clean up the non open spots so the beach looks better and more appealing. But my guess is the 3 most north will as they are side by side starting by Kontiki, don't think they will assist in any clean up to their south.
An unfortunate side effect to the ongoing lease dispute

J&B

When we were last there, these new bars weren't open, so there was no cleanup going on there at that time. We talked with Karl at Kakao, and he's the one that told us that they cleaned it up each morning before they opened, and by 10 AM it was back.

As far as the personal chairs and umbrellas are concerned, I doubt there will be any room for those once all the establishments are up and running. That area has always been tightly packed.

It looks like they took down the tarp awnings and built something more substantial. Am I right or can you just not see it in these pictures

"As far as the personal chairs and umbrellas are concerned, I doubt there will be any room for those once all the establishments are up and running. That area has always been tightly packed."
Being a public beach they can't really prevent someone from doing that if they got there before set up.

... It looks like they took down the tarp awnings and built something more substantial. Am I right or can you just not see it in these pictures ...

Sun Beach, built a roof and then put the tarp back on top
Aloha [for sure] and Le String [I think] took down the tarp and the 2 white supporting poles [major trip hazard]and built hard roofs.
I'm told the tarps were supposed to stay per the lease [hence the SunBeach approach]- but they offer zero rain protection and with the tarp's lack of protection the resto front doors have to close when it rains. No way to add side curtains to the tarps [scalloped tarp design]. Note the orginal drawing [check out the signboard on site at the north end near the new bathrooms] it clearly shows timber roof frames albeit with what appears to be a white fabric roof, but those might have worked and allowed side curtains to be installed. Guessing the tarp was a last minute creative/cost saving feature by someone who does not understand it rains somewhat sideways in the trades!
J&B