My cruise will be stopping in St. Maarten at the end of February. We arrive at 8:00 a.m. and leave port at 5:00 p.m.
As with my St. Thomas post, I do not want to take any of the ship's excursions as they are usually cost prohibitive and we usually have more fun on our own.
There are four of us, all in our late 30s, athletic, we love the beach, sun and water sports. None of us are into shopping.
Does anyone know anything about parasailing operators? I asked about this on my St. Thomas post, but thought that I would repeat the question.
Any recommendations on free beaches? Can we rent snorkel equipment?
When we were in St. Maarten we did a ship's excursion, we don't normally do them for the reasons you mentioned, but this one was a total blast! We booked the Golden Eagle Catamaran Out-Sail. You sail on this big catamaran up the coast of St. Maarten, - very scenic, you sail over to this little island called Tintamar, its a natural preserve. Here you can swim, lounge on the beach, go for a walk or do some snorkeling. The guides feed the fish so there are tons to see! Alcohol is served, but not until on the beach and they have champagne on the trip back. We had a great time, you can only book this tour thru the cruise lines as they have exclusive rights.
If you just want to go to the beach then Orient Bay Beach is the most popular place to be, there is a clothing optional section. Lots of goings on at this beach, you can get here by cab. If you want a beach that is a bit more subdued then i would suggest Dawn Beach. There is some really good snorkeling slightly off the coast on Pineal Island. You can book an independant tour to this place.
There is a butterfly farm in Marigot if that interests you.
St. Maarten is also a great shopping port
Go to Orient Bay Beach, it is a 6 dollar( per person) taxi ride( van taxi) from the port. It is a great beach , with food places( yes drinks beer etc.) , rental stuff( wind surfers , wave riders etc.) we also saw para sailing.
Fabulous water, soft white sand, 2 dollar Heinken, what more could you want!
Rent a chair and umbrella, about 15 dollars a couple( some places throw in a free drink) food can be a bit pricey so bring snacks from ship( or buy some chips etc at port shops before taxi.Some of the restaurants that line the beach also have showers ( just the outdoor type, but nice to get salt water off you, we rented chairs outsdie a restaurant called the Tiki Hut, they had a shower.
Taxis are waiting to take you back to the port, so no worries.
PS Yes it is a clothing optional beach, but it is mostly to one side, we saw very little nudity, just a few topless , and an old man who should have definately covered up!
I agree with Orient Beach. We were there in July with our 3 teen daughters. We took a taxi to Orient in the morning and stayed until around 2pm and then went shopping. I really didn't want to leave. Next time I would skip the shopping and spend the whole time at Orient Beach. It is beautiful, with lots of activities if you want, or you can just relax with a drink if you want. Very little nudity, just a couple women without tops walked by. We were at Bikini beach which is pretty much in the middle and where most of the taxis drop off.
Need things to do in St. Maarten
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