TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin Day 2 - First Trip Off to a Good Start :)

So this morning after the delicious pastries we ordered from the mini-market at Belair arrived, we headed off to the Butterfly Farm and really enjoyed the experience. I thought it was going to be boring but was pleasantly surprised to find the guides to be very interesting and entertaining.

Orient Beach was our next stop for some chicken and ribs at Pedro's before spending the afternoon at Club O. Pedro's was very good and we arrived at the right time. We got a beachfront table outside before the lunch crowd filled the place.

Club O....well, in all my research, I missed the explanation of how things work at Club O! We walked down to Papagayo's and did not see anyone from Club O so we asked a guy walking the beach about finding two chairs. He told us just pick two chairs and the Club O guy will find us. Sounded reasonable to us so we found 6 chairs on the front row that were totally abandoned (we thought) and placed our towels on two chairs, disrobed and headed for the water. No sooner do we get in the water and there is a couple standing at "our" chairs looking upset. Back to the chairs I go and apologized for taking their chairs and promptly moved my stuff to two chairs that really were available and not in the front row To the folks whose chairs we borrowed for a short time, I am sorry. For all the other people around that watched us set up camp and couldn't be bothered to help out a couple of newbies, thanks for nothing!

So now we know how it works. For anyone else reading this and contemplating your first visit to Club O's beach, look for colored tags on the head end of the beach chairs. If there are tags, the chair has been taken for the day. No tags means fair game. Set up your stuff and the Club O beach attendant will find you and collect the appropriate fee for the chairs.

The Club O beach is really nice. The water was warm, the sand was soft. We met a few nice people too.

Tomorrow we plan to have breakfast at La Sucriere and then we are headed to Cupecoy Beach for the rest of the day. Back to Belair for the BBQ.

Except for the Club O issue, SXM is great!

Another excellent choice for breakfast or lunch is La Croissanterie at marina Royale. Great people too! Its over the steps the other side of Tropicana. Enjoy! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Thumbsup.gif" alt="" />

So sorry about the Club O issue. I think it's damned if you do and damned if you don't. I have mentioned to "newbies" that the chairs with tags are taken.... usually I get a grateful response, but other times, not so favorable. Glad it worked out. Oh, and tags aren't always colored. The Club O guests tags are white, just to confuse you even more lol.

jeepers - thanks for the recommendation! We'll try to make time to check it out!

Thanks for the update and glad you enjoyed the Butterfly Farm. La Sucriere should not disappoint.

Thanks for the report. Enjoy.

Thanks for the report. The chair issue was a simple misunderstanding. You moved on and enjoyed the day. We've actually had someone remove our tags, and move the chairs. I've never had white tags - in Nov. they were pink.

Thanks for posting and glad you are enjoying your trip so far. Sorry to hear about the confusion at Club O, but in defense of the couple sitting beside you and didn't tell you the chairs were taken, they probably decided to not get involved. We have tried to tell people that those empty chairs were really occupied when others tried to use them and were told that they would take them anyway and see what happens. Perhaps the neighbors there had previously had a similar experience and just didn't want to get brushed off. Unfortunately some people take offence to being told what to do and are rude to others. I understand that you would not have reacted unfavorably, but others have. We have seen people come around 1:30 P.M. and sit in the paid chairs so they do not have to pay the beach boys for chairs.Sometimes around that time the paid chair owners return to their units for a siesta and do not come back the rest of the day.Now you know the rules so there will be no more problems there.

Chair tag issue--easily solved by a sign on the beach like all the chair places on the other side of Pedro's. "Price for a chair and 2 umbrellas, a guard will find you for payment. Do not use or move chairs with plastic dated tags." There's some reluctance to post rules, info, etc. for non-guests, but there are plenty of signs for other things. Also a sign somewhere easy to find with sports rental prices might increase the use of the boats and stuff.
Last comment, a sign with "Nudist rules'' at the Perch or somewhere would be useful--sit on a towel or put something between you and chairs, no sexual activity, etc..." I've seen a lot of unusual and inappropriate stuff on the beach and in the restaurant, especially in the last year or so.

I totally agree with those suggestions. I was merely trying to point out why your neighbors were not telling you to refrain from sitting in those chairs as you were not too polite in referring to them.It seems that Club O tends to forget about all the people that are day trippers to that area. They seem to cater to the people staying there and feel that since they know the rules there is no need to post anything.

I think we chased people off our ''tagged chairs'' about 3 times last trip--2 week period. There are those who don't know and those who don't care. We now put clips and wraps on our chairs even if we don't leave towels so ''something'' is there to hold our guest chairs. Nearly any item on a chair will warn people off if they are paying attention and choose to be observant. BTW the NO PHOTO signs have cut down greatly on camera-use, so signs work.

in the great report...you mentioned going to Cupecoy in the morning. Not sure what condition it is now...but a week ago, when we left the island...there was virtually no sand at the beach at Cupecoy. Some of it may have come back by now....but the entire three weeks we were there it was not there. Another close alternative would be going to Mullett...just down the road from there...and also home to the best ribs on the island...Rosie's!!!! My 2 cents worth. Enjoy either way.