What to do next?

We have done Orient, Maho a few times, Mullet and Divi. What's next on the list of things to do? Should I check out Le Galion this time around?

This time, so far, family of just us 3 going. Love the ocean and swimming. Snorkeling is an added plus but not required.

Tell me your beach thoughts, cost of a taxi to get there, how far of a drive, and if they rent chairs/umbrellas (cost) and if there are any food vendors there.

Thanks in advance.

(Help me out here Karysa) :D

We have done Orient, Maho a few times, Mullet and Divi. What's next on the list of things to do? Should I check out Le Galion this time around?

 

This time, so far, family of just us 3 going. Love the ocean and swimming. Snorkeling is an added plus but not required.

 

Tell me your beach thoughts, cost of a taxi to get there, how far of a drive, and if they rent chairs/umbrellas (cost) and if there are any food vendors there.

 

Thanks in advance.

 

(Help me out here Karysa) :D

Haha no pressure right:D

What about Pinel island? Someone recently posted about Caribbean Paddle providing transportation to and from the Cul de Sac for a fee. From there you could rent kayaks and paddle to Pinel Island or take the ferry over from there. Renting a car and driving would be another option.

There are restaurants and chair rentals there. I think that it cost us $20 for 2 loungers and an umbrella last year.

Haha no pressure right:D

 

What about Pinel island? Someone recently posted about Caribbean Paddle providing transportation to and from the Cul de Sac for a fee. From there you could rent kayaks and paddle to Pinel Island or take the ferry over from there. Renting a car and driving would be another option.

 

There are restaurants and chair rentals there. I think that it cost us $20 for 2 loungers and an umbrella last year.

Yep, no pressure. :D You always give me great ideas and steer me in the right direction...I'm counting on you. :)

Pinel Island looks beautiful from the pictures I'm looking up. But man, all the way on the other side of the island. Geesh, you trying to scare me right?

Give me some more details if you could. How long does it take by taxi to get over to the FERRY dock (paddle my way over there in a kayak? Maybe in my pre-cruise weight days, but not these days) :p

How much is the taxi to the ferry dock? How much is the ferry? How long of a ferry ride over? Is the ferry on a certain schedule or does it just run back and forth all day?

Come on Karysa, you know I love complete details. :D

You don't think I should check out Le Galion anymore?

Le Galion is a nice beach but there is absolutely no snorkeling and usually no waves. There are no planes and little people watching so I wonder if it's just going to be a little boring to you now to be honest Kim. It's much easier to give suggestions to a rookie.:)

I think price wise you have to think of Pinel Island more like a excursion day rather than a beach day. I would think that the taxi ride would be about 30 minutes so it's on the same line as Mullet from that standpoint. You just don't want to get stuck there as there is no " Maho" entertainment area nearby with taxis waiting.

The ferry is $12 round trip and takes maybe 8 minutes. I believe it starts at 10 and ends at 4 and goes back and forth rather than on a schedule per say.

Look up Caribbean Paddle and contact them re: just transportation to and from the ferry dock. I think that you would really like it over on Pinel.

I haven't snorkeled there for years but there is some snorkeling and some people report that it's pretty good. I don't think it's Sapphire good though. :)

caribbeanpaddling dot com :D

caribbeanpaddling dot com :D

Can you share a little more about the company? Did you use the cruise pick up or just rent kayaks from Caribbean Paddle? Do you happen to have the taxi persons contact so folks can just call that person and pre-arrange transportation to and from the Cul de sac?

mitsugirly

I think Pinel makes sense as your next beach to visit - of course what we all want is another of your excellent travel reports for another beach in SXM.

You are experienced enough in travel to be able to deal with getting to the ferry terminal and back, I think. One thing about the ferries - they say they leave Pinel every half hour but remember you are on island time there.

At Yellow Beach, one of two vendors on island, Karibuni is other one, two chairs and an umbrella is $25. You can get food/drink service at chairs or go to seating at restaurants. It is relatively expensive but you are in France after all.

There is space on beach just to put down towels or blankets if you do not want to pay for a chair.

With regard to the snorkeling, if you want more than just a few fish, you all probably will want to snorkel within the buoy lines of the main snorkel area and there is a fee to do that. Just to get the required vest and permission to go into area is 12 euros or 13 dollars, I think. You can swim/snorkel to good reef outside buoy lines but I would guess that is not what the snorkelers in your crew will want to do. Here is a link to the group that runs the snorkel area: http://www.gopinel.com/index.html You can check out what they have posted and get a pretty good idea of what that is. They also offer snorkel tours for a bigger cost.

Le Galion is a nice beach but there is absolutely no snorkeling and usually no waves. There are no planes and little people watching so I wonder if it's just going to be a little boring to you now to be honest Kim. It's much easier to give suggestions to a rookie.:)

 

I think price wise you have to think of Pinel Island more like a excursion day rather than a beach day. I would think that the taxi ride would be about 30 minutes so it's on the same line as Mullet from that standpoint. You just don't want to get stuck there as there is no " Maho" entertainment area nearby with taxis waiting.

 

The ferry is $12 round trip and takes maybe 8 minutes. I believe it starts at 10 and ends at 4 and goes back and forth rather than on a schedule per say.

 

Look up Caribbean Paddle and contact them re: just transportation to and from the ferry dock. I think that you would really like it over on Pinel.

 

I haven't snorkeled there for years but there is some snorkeling and some people report that it's pretty good. I don't think it's Sapphire good though.

LOL, easier to tell rookies about Le Galion. (Wait, is it Galion or Gallon? When I look it up on Google Maps, it's saying Gallon??) That seriously cracked me up but I get what you're saying. You made a comment somewhere else about hundreds of school children being there and the crowd if it's during the summer months. Would the week of Aug 14th still be crowded? Do you know when they go back to school?

I'm a pretty laid back person. I can be perfectly happy with a lot of beach fun, snorkeling, water toys, or the opposite end of that and just relaxing and laying out getting my tan on. :D With this cruise, it is so port intensive (5 ports) that I think it really won't matter if I have a nice relaxing day on the beach doing nothing but watching my little mermaid swim. I know I do feel better about her being in the water when it's calm and she can really swim good with her fin(s) than when it's wavy or rough. But I'll have to look this place up again and see if I can find pictures to persuade me one way or the other. :p

So you are saying that Pinel is about a 30 minute ride to the ferry dock or that Le Galion is? I see that Le Galion is around the corner before getting to Orient according to the map. So how do you get back if there's no taxi's? (Or once again, you may be referring to Le Galion since I do remember people talking about the taxi issue from this place in the past).

Good to hear about the ferry running back and forth. That puts my mind at ease. Are children the same price?

I just looked up Caribbean Paddle and found this info:

Ferry runs every half an hour in the morning, and every hour in the afternoon from 9.30am to 5pm.

Price is $13 per person roundtrip. Pay cash.

The ferry will drive you in 5mn to Pinel Island. You only have to enjoy your day, and don’t miss the last ferry at 5pm!

Now I'm looking at the kayaks and the pictures on there. I have to say that it is peaking my interest. :p How long would it take someone to paddle over there? What do you do with the kayak when you are there to keep someone from taking it?

Ok, I'm starting to change my mind about this. The kayaking does sound fun. But looking at the pricing...I'm now wondering because the "video" it shows a couple with a child sitting in the middle, but their pricing only shows renting a 1 person or 2 person kayak. :cool:

Pinel Island Package - 2 person Kayak

$78.00

Spend an amazing day at Pinel Island! Tour includes kayak rental and taxi ride. Options can be added.

Taxi ride is from and back to the ship, the meeting time should be set to 30mn after your ship arrive in town. Don't forget to provide with your ship name.

So does this include the transportation for both parties? Or is it $78 per person? It did say there was an option to add on lunch, but I'm not finding it on their site or a price.

Is this snorkeling right there at the beach? I seen it said you could paddle over to another island (Little Key) and there was snorkeling. I think I might have found my new weight loss reduction for that day. :p

[

mitsugirly

 

I think Pinel makes sense as your next beach to visit - of course what we all want is another of your excellent travel reports for another beach in SXM.

 

You are experienced enough in travel to be able to deal with getting to the ferry terminal and back, I think. One thing about the ferries - they say they leave Pinel every half hour but remember you are on island time there.

 

At Yellow Beach, one of two vendors on island, Karibuni is other one, two chairs and an umbrella is $25. You can get food/drink service at chairs or go to seating at restaurants. It is relatively expensive but you are in France after all.

 

There is space on beach just to put down towels or blankets if you do not want to pay for a chair.

 

With regard to the snorkeling, if you want more than just a few fish, you all probably will want to snorkel within the buoy lines of the main snorkel area and there is a fee to do that. Just to get the required vest and permission to go into area is 12 euros or 13 dollars, I think. You can swim/snorkel to good reef outside buoy lines but I would guess that is not what the snorkelers in your crew will want to do. Here is a link to the group that runs the snorkel area: http://www.gopinel.com/index.html You can check out what they have posted and get a pretty good idea of what that is. They also offer snorkel tours for a bigger cost.

I do think it would make for an awesome review!! :D

"You are experienced enough in travel to be able to deal with getting to the ferry terminal and back, I think." LOL :p I'll take that as a compliment, I think. hehe :D

Oh yes, island time. I do remember that.

I'm still wondering what you do with the kayaks to keep them safe while you are on the beach or eating? I'm not sure if we would take the time to rent a chair and umbrella if we have just rented a kayak and I would feel obligated to put it to use and maybe explore in it (or go to the other island it talks about?) Any suggestions on how you go about this? If you did rent a chair and umbrella, do they just hold it for you if you leave in the kayak to explore?

Is there much shade in this beach area?

Since there's two places to eat there, I assume chair rental is from either one at their establishment. Is one area/beach better than the other at the restaurants?

Thanks for the link for the snorkeling. I will definitely check it out. :)

Not a lot of shade in beach area - shade at restaurant tables, but not really in beach area without getting an umbrella.

You can pull the kayaks up on a little beach next to the big tree at the edge of where Yellow Beach has chairs - some people pull up onto the main beach - if you rent from Caribbean Paddling they can advise you on where to beach them. I have never heard of any problem with kayaks being stolen or taken at Pinel - I would think that would be extremely rare. Although you have to be careful at any beach, I would think that Pinel is one of the safest beaches in St Martin - with very little petty theft. Certainly if you did rent a couple chairs, the rental would be for the whole day and you could leave some stuff at chairs to make clear you are still there. We routinely leave all of our stuff (except cash or camera which we have with us - cash in water wallet) at our chairs when we spend well over one hour in the water snorkeling and really do not worry about it much at Pinel.

In all the years we have gone to Pinel, we have always gone to Yellow Beach - creatures of habit and it is closer to ferry dock so it may be because we are lazy - at this point we know some of the people there and it is closer to the snorkel area than Karibuni. I am not sure of prices at Karibuni but I think rental for chairs and umbrellas is same - cannot confirm. Some people do like Karibuni better, of course.

If you can get transportation through Caribbean paddle, I'll throw in another vote for Pinel Island! :D We were there in 1992, our first cruise, on a snorkeling excursion but had an hour and half at the beach and I loved it. There was NOTHING there, not even a lounger (we threw our towels in the sand), but it was gorgeous. We wanted to go back and spend the day there in 2013 on our Valor cruise but read that it could be risky getting a cab back to the ship. Someone mentioned to me a tour company that offered a private tour, so we booked and spent the day in Pinel Island and got back to the ship with plenty of time. The snorkeling wasn't the best that day since there was a storm that went through the day before (same storm that basically rained out our St. Kitts day), so the clarity of the water wasn't the best and the water was still a little choppy over on the other side. Unfortunately, the tour company we used are no longer doing the Pinel Island tours, but if you're able to do a tour where you can spend time there and get guaranteed transportation back to the ship, it would be worth it. I mentioned there was nothing the first time there, there are definitely additions now, but they don't take away the beauty and are modern conveniences (restaurants, restroom, gift shop, loungers, umbrellas).

I know I posted a portion of this link to another thread for you, but it's the Valor review again, but hoping it opens to the Pinel Island portion. If not, they're on Page 16 (Post #308) through Page 19. I was very "camera happy" on that trip since I was making up for a lack of pictures on our first visit in 1992 when I had a film camera...film camera, nuff said.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1917645&page=16

Isn't there a "snorkel course" around the south portion of the island toward Little Key?

And I thought I saw an advertisement once that CP had Kayaks at $15 per day. but transportation and gratuities weren't included. Taxis could run you $60 RT for 3 people.

Not a lot of shade in beach area - shade at restaurant tables, but not really in beach area without getting an umbrella.

 

You can pull the kayaks up on a little beach next to the big tree at the edge of where Yellow Beach has chairs - some people pull up onto the main beach - if you rent from Caribbean Paddling they can advise you on where to beach them. I have never heard of any problem with kayaks being stolen or taken at Pinel - I would think that would be extremely rare. Although you have to be careful at any beach, I would think that Pinel is one of the safest beaches in St Martin - with very little petty theft. Certainly if you did rent a couple chairs, the rental would be for the whole day and you could leave some stuff at chairs to make clear you are still there. We routinely leave all of our stuff (except cash or camera which we have with us - cash in water wallet) at our chairs when we spend well over one hour in the water snorkeling and really do not worry about it much at Pinel.

 

In all the years we have gone to Pinel, we have always gone to Yellow Beach - creatures of habit and it is closer to ferry dock so it may be because we are lazy - at this point we know some of the people there and it is closer to the snorkel area than Karibuni. I am not sure of prices at Karibuni but I think rental for chairs and umbrellas is same - cannot confirm. Some people do like Karibuni better, of course.

Thanks for the information on the shade situation and the "parking" of the kayaks. :p

How far apart is Yellow and Karibuni?

If you can get transportation through Caribbean paddle, I'll throw in another vote for Pinel Island! :D We were there in 1992, our first cruise, on a snorkeling excursion but had an hour and half at the beach and I loved it. There was NOTHING there, not even a lounger (we threw our towels in the sand), but it was gorgeous. We wanted to go back and spend the day there in 2013 on our Valor cruise but read that it could be risky getting a cab back to the ship. Someone mentioned to me a tour company that offered a private tour, so we booked and spent the day in Pinel Island and got back to the ship with plenty of time. The snorkeling wasn't the best that day since there was a storm that went through the day before (same storm that basically rained out our St. Kitts day), so the clarity of the water wasn't the best and the water was still a little choppy over on the other side. Unfortunately, the tour company we used are no longer doing the Pinel Island tours, but if you're able to do a tour where you can spend time there and get guaranteed transportation back to the ship, it would be worth it. I mentioned there was nothing the first time there, there are definitely additions now, but they don't take away the beauty and are modern conveniences (restaurants, restroom, gift shop, loungers, umbrellas).

 

I know I posted a portion of this link to another thread for you, but it's the Valor review again, but hoping it opens to the Pinel Island portion. If not, they're on Page 16 (Post #308) through Page 19. I was very "camera happy" on that trip since I was making up for a lack of pictures on our first visit in 1992 when I had a film camera...film camera, nuff said.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1917645&page=16

This is awesome information. Thanks again. I had 3 papers to write tonight, so haven't been able to get back to your reviews...but I will soon. :D

Being camera happy=good thing for people like me who are also OCD camera happy and I'm a visual person. :p

Isn't there a "snorkel course" around the south portion of the island toward Little Key?

 

And I thought I saw an advertisement once that CP had Kayaks at $15 per day. but transportation and gratuities weren't included. Taxis could run you $60 RT for 3 people.

Yes, Snorkelaway mentioned it above and you have to pay. While I'm sure that the hubby and the munchkin probably won't do it, I just may have to try it and see what it's all about. :D

Well, if there are taxi's waiting there to take cruisers back to the port, I guess for $60 I'll have to do that if I decide not to book something with the Caribbean Paddle people. Their website said rental of the 2 person kayak and transportation to and from there from the cruise port would be $78. So only a few bucks more and knowing that we'll have a for sure ride back may be worth it. I just need to email them about a 3rd person and the extra charge for her...or if she's even able to be on the kayak with us (I mean we do it all the time when we kayak other places and she fits fine).

I'm just wondering how easy it will be to kayak with our beach bags (usually 2 of them) and the small cooler. :eek:

I know I posted a portion of this link to another thread for you, but it's the Valor review again, but hoping it opens to the Pinel Island portion. If not, they're on Page 16 (Post #308) through Page 19. I was very "camera happy" on that trip since I was making up for a lack of pictures on our first visit in 1992 when I had a film camera...film camera, nuff said.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1917645&page=16

I was able to get a free day today and managed to read your review on Pinel. Wow, love that place. I am definitely going to do this in St Maarten this time around.

After reading your review, I did go back to see who you actually booked with (just looking at other options instead of the the kayaking option) and it looks like the place you booked with is no longer offering this tour. :(

So, I put an email in to the Caribbean Paddle to see how they do the 3rd person (with it being a child) and I'll wait for their reply.

If anyone else has any suggestions on a vendor to use for a trip to Pinel, please chime in. :)

I emailed Caribbean Paddle with questions and reservation info. I ended up getting some email back from them saying to "confirm your subscription" :confused: "If you received this email by mistake, simply delete it. You won't be subscribed if you don't click the confirmation link above."

What subscription? Is this just spam mail they send out? I don't want a subscription to the happenings there, I just want some questions answered and to make a reservation. :rolleyes: But then I don't want to delete this if I have to subscribe for them to email me back about my questions/reservation. :o

I was able to get a free day today and managed to read your review on Pinel. Wow, love that place. I am definitely going to do this in St Maarten this time around.

 

After reading your review, I did go back to see who you actually booked with (just looking at other options instead of the the kayaking option) and it looks like the place you booked with is no longer offering this tour. :(

 

So, I put an email in to the Caribbean Paddle to see how they do the 3rd person (with it being a child) and I'll wait for their reply.

 

 

If anyone else has any suggestions on a vendor to use for a trip to Pinel, please chime in. :)

If they were still doing the tours to Pinel Island, I definitely would have recommended them to you, but found out before we even booked our Liberty cruise that they were no longer offering the tour. :(

If they were still doing the tours to Pinel Island, I definitely would have recommended them to you, but found out before we even booked our Liberty cruise that they were no longer offering the tour. :(

No worries. We'll figure it out. :) I'm definitely going to make sure we get here one way or another. :D

Ok, WE BOOKED! We (well "I"...the hubby don't know yet lol :D :p) decided to do the kayak with Caribbean Paddle to Pinel Island. The more I thought about it, the more fun it sounded like. We kayak around the beach all the time in ports and what's a little more to get across to a beautiful island. I think it will be fun. :)

Thanks so much for everyone's help in helping me find a place. I am so grateful and can't wait to do a picture review on this place. :D

We are back and had a wonderful time.

If anyone is interested in my review it's located HERE. There's TONS of pictures. Pinel Island is amazing and beautiful.

Great review of Pinel and kayaking. We have never kayaked over to Pinel or Petit Clef - your review really gives a lot of information for anyone interested. What was the temperature that day - it does sound like the heat made it harder to enjoy. I also was surprised by how bad the water was right there at cul-de-sac the day you were there. I have not seen it that bad - had it rained hard the day before? Within the buoy line, you do have to swim around the point before the snorkeling gets very good.

Great review of Pinel and kayaking. We have never kayaked over to Pinel or Petit Clef - your review really gives a lot of information for anyone interested. What was the temperature that day - it does sound like the heat made it harder to enjoy. I also was surprised by how bad the water was right there at cul-de-sac the day you were there. I have not seen it that bad - had it rained hard the day before? Within the buoy line, you do have to swim around the point before the snorkeling gets very good.

It was extremely hot! Like 90's hot I'm sure.

I'm honestly not sure if it had rained prior to going there. I didn't ask. But, this was tons of sea grass...like it wasn't from a previous rain a few days ago unless this stuff comes in and grows an entire colony within a few days. It was covered. Not really a "beach" there. :(

It was extremely hot! Like 90's hot I'm sure.

 

I'm honestly not sure if it had rained prior to going there. I didn't ask. But, this was tons of sea grass...like it wasn't from a previous rain a few days ago unless this stuff comes in and grows an entire colony within a few days. It was covered. Not really a "beach" there. :(

Im so glad that you made it to Pinel Island. Great review. I must say that what I saw in you pictures, the seaweed was about 1/25 of what it looked like last summer. I second the smell. It was horrible last summer. The first 80 feet of water was seaweed. It was bad at 10:30 but it was horrific by 3.

Pinel is a lovely way to spend the day and I'm glad that your family enjoyed it.:)

Im so glad that you made it to Pinel Island. Great review. I must say that what I saw in you pictures, the seaweed was about 1/25 of what it looked like last summer. I second the smell. It was horrible last summer. The first 80 feet of water was seaweed. It was bad at 10:30 but it was horrific by 3.

 

Pinel is a lovely way to spend the day and I'm glad that your family enjoyed it.:)

I just have to thank you for making the suggestion and everyone else in this thread. It was a beautiful island beach. :)

I just have to thank you for making the suggestion and everyone else in this thread. It was a beautiful island beach. :)

I'm not sure why someone doesn't offer a shuttle service to the ferry terminal at Pinel with payment due upon return. The thought of someone getting stuck out there as prevented me from referring to cruisers relying on a taxi for the return trip. Caribbean Paddle has made a good business decision by having a pick up and return service.

For those worried about my comments about seaweed I will say that 2015 was a really bad year for it especially on the eastern side of the island and not just St. Maarten as She'll beach in St. Bart's was closed for a couple of weeks from what I was told due to seaweed problems as well. From everything that I have read things are much, much better in 2016.

Helping you enjoy your day on St. Maarten is always a pleasure Kim. The bar is getting pretty high now though for future visits so I'm a little worried for your next visit.:D