ST MARTIN

From: richard@West.Sun.COM (Richard M. Mathews)

| HURRICANE NEWS (as of 2/2/96):

  Hurricane Luis hit St. Martin hard.  Club Orient was especially hard
| hit.  The chalets are mostly trashed; the mini-suites are mostly
| repairable; the studios came through with little more than superficial
| damage.  Many common buildings survived, but Papagayo and the back
| part of the front office building were heavily damaged.  Between the
| hurricane and disease, most of the vegetation is gone.  New palm trees
| will be planted, but they will be just 7 feet tall (plus 3 feet per
| year).

+ Club Orient is scheduled to reopen (partially?) in November.  For now,
+ Papagayo is operating out of Art's house (chalet #45) with tables set
+ up on the slab that remains of chalet #46.  It has a very limited menu.
+ Beach chairs and umbrellas are being sold.

+ An excellent article on the status of Club Orient and St. Martin can
+ be found at
+ http://www.caribweb.com/caribweb/cgi/caribtalk?country=co&message=15&month=96,01

  A side effect of the hurricane is that Orient beach is now much wider
  than before (a report says 150 feet at Papagayo's and 250 at chalet
  #54).

  Other resorts on the island did not do so badly.  Esmeralda, for example,
  had moderate damage to four of the villas, mostly roof and water damage;
| and was able to reopen quickly.  A number of beach-front restaurants and
| bars such as Bikini and Bou Bou Jam are open, but Pedro's restaurant
| and mall are gone.  There are indications that the mall will never be
  rebuilt due to both building code issues and the fact that the shops
  there were "squatters".

| Both the French and Dutch governments expected most things to be
| functioning near normally by the start of the winter season last
| month; however, some Dutch-side hotels will be closed for 9-12 months.
| Progress seems faster on the French side.

| The remainder of this St. Martin article reflects the status before
| the hurricane.

  Orient Beach is, quite simply, one of the nicest beachs in the Caribean.
  The south end of the beach is the best and also the most nude part of
  the beach overall.  Club Orient is the naturist resort that occupies
  that part of the beach, though nudity is allowed on almost the entire
  beach (there have been attempts to restrict nudity to Club Orient's
  stretch of the beach, but it looks safe for now).  Textiles are also
  free to wander onto Club Orient's beach, though they are trying to see
  what they can do to reduce the number of gawkers.  There are many other
  (non-naturist) resorts within a short walk or drive of the beach.

  The units at Club Orient all have patios with benches and tables and
  two beach loungers.  All units have an outside shower for rinsing
  down after being at the beach.  All units are knotty pine thoughout.
  You really never have any need to leave the Orient beach area.  The
  resort has a little store for anything you could possibly need.  The
  restaurant, Papaguyos, serves three meals a day; and they are all good.
  I always eat there nude.  The resort is totally self sustaining in
  electrical generation and desalination of ocean water. One of things
  that struck us is that all of the people we talked to at Club Orient
  had been there before,  usually more than once a year over a period
  of 7 or 8 years.  You can't get better recommendations than that!

| The accommodations at Club Orient are quite nice, though the ones at
  the Esmeralda are "fancier".  Also, there are TVs and phones at the
  Esmeralda but not Club Orient.  Some consider this an advantage of
  Club Orient, though.  It is often easier to get reservations at the
| Esmeralda.  They are not friendly to nude guests.  Esmeralda has posted
| a "no nudity" sign at their beach bar.  They don't seem to enforce this
| for people walking through or sunbathing a bit away from the villas and
| restaurant.

+ Green Cay Villas is a resort in the area that has U-shaped villas
+ with 3 bedrooms, but you can have the entire villa just by renting
+ one or two bedrooms. The elevated pool areas are screened from view
+ by dark tinted glass and unless someone was in the villa with you, no
+ one would know you are laying by the pool nude, unless you walked to
+ the edge.

  St Martin has several other nice CO beaches.  One is Baie Rouge.  This
  is a nice quiet beach located between Maho and Marigot.  The CO section
  of the beach is located to the left when you arrive via the path.  The
  beach gets a little rocky (not little pebbles but big rocks), but there
  is plenty of sand in between the rocks.  If you want quiet and not to
  many voyeurs, then this is the beach.

  Another fine beach is Cupecoy.  This is a gorgeous little stretch of
  sand.  It is located close to Maho on the way to Marigot.  The only
  drawbacks are that the water tends to be a little rougher here than
  at Baie Rouge or Orient and that muggings have been increasing in the
  area.

  Plum Bay (Baie aux Prunes) is between Cupecoy and Baie Rouge.  It's a
  beautiful crescent beach, rocks and either end and sand in the middle.
  'Boat People' don't go there.  It's mostly locals and people in the
  know.  Usually it's mostly G-strings with nude folk scattered here
  and there.  No toilets, no drinks, no hassles.  I did see a guy there
  once wearing a pair of 'jams' that were so big I was sure he was going
  to drown but he only got his ankles wet.  He was an exception.
  	[Original from too many people to list]