Pinel Island to port; taxi availability

We will be in St Martin in October and want to snorkel Pinel Island.

My biggest concern is a return taxi. It sounds like Pinel Island has become a more popular choice with cruisers since the taxis group the cruisers going there when the ship docks. It only makes sense that they will bring you back to the ship later in the day. So my question is, do I have to worry about being stranded? We plan to ask our cab driver to return for us at a certain time. If he doesn't show up, can't we just call for another taxi? Or have the kayak rental owner call for us (we may rent from him). Is this a desolate area that we couldn't walk to a more populated area that would have taxi's? If I remember correctly, the drop off point is "5 minutes" outside Marigot. Sounds walkable to me!

Is there any reason for concern at all?

Thanks everyone!

Lauri

I have no direct experience with a taxi to the Pinel Ferry location, as we have always had a rental car when venturing there.

I do know that there have been many postings on this board mentioning being stranded when their scheduled taxi did not return for them.

I'm not aware of any changes with the taxi dispatcher grouping people together to go there, as they've always put together groups if you want. Where did you read about these changes??

It makes sense unless there is a more lucrative trip available to them when you might want your return.

I think that your rental company should be able to call for a taxi for you, but there could be a delay.

You could walk out to a more populated area, but as to the '5 minutes outside of Marigot', no way. It is about 6 1/2 miles and probably 15 - 20 minutes travel by car, at best.

gary

Hi Gary,

Thank you so much for the info and all you do on the board! That puts things into perspective for me! Hmmmm...I do not really want to rent a car just to get to Pinel. Maybe when I call to rent a kayak, I will ask the owner.

Here is the post from Emmatravels327:

Things have changed in 10 years. We went to Pinel island for the day, this past Saturday. The taxis group those going to Pinel with those going to orient beach @ $8pp. The ferry leaves @ 9:30am and every half hour after that. Return ferry is every hour after 1pm. Ask your cab driver to pick you up at a certain time & someone will be waiting there for you. It has become a popular location. Our ship left at 5pm so we asked the cabbie to pick us up at 3pm. We took the 3pm ferry back -it's less than 10 minute ferry ride. Got back to the ship in plenty of time. Ferry is $10pp round trip. We had a FABULOUS day in paradise. Hope you enjoy it as well!

Maybe I shouldn't base so much on this one post. But a lot of posts say how busy the island is and I would assume a lot of those people are cruisers needing to get back to the ship. We have only been to St Martin one other time and toured with Bernard. I would be totally happy going back to Orient and Maho since we did not get much time there. Maybe that is a safer route to go!!

Just how good is the snorkeling on Pinel compared to other places you have been? That is our real draw to Pinel.

Thanks again,

Lauri

We haven't snorkeled at Pinel, but have nearby off of Cay Verte. I wasn't impressed. The best snorkeling that we've found on St. Maarten is around Creole Rock, on the French side.

You mention renting a kayak. You can do that at Wind Adventures, right in the heart of Orient Beach. Taxi to-from there is a no brainer, as they are always available, especially when it is back to the ship time. If you still want Pinel, it shouldn't be more than a 20 - 30 minute paddle to get there.

FYI, here's a Google Earth shot of the path from Marigot to Cul de Sac.

(click)

gary

I just reserved kayak and SUP on Pinel thru Caribbean paddle company. They were quick to respond to my email.

He does have a taxi he recommends but we have decided to rent a car. We hope to spend a couple hours then go to the next beach to explore

We spent a day at Pinel Island while on our cruise in May 2013. We also heard, before our trip, that relying on a taxi may not be the best idea, unless we wanted to "extend our stay" in St. Maartin. :D The easy part is getting a cab from the cruise center to Cul-de-Sac, but taxis normally aren't waiting for cruise passengers at Cul-de-Sac for the return trip since it's not normally a popular destination for cruise ship passengers. We got "burned" by a taxi driver on another island on our very first cruise who promised to return for us and didn't (got a ride back to ship with a ship tour that day, thankfully), so we're hesitant to rely on them. Since we really wanted to get back to Pinel Island (was there on a snorkeling excursion sponsored by the cruise line a long time ago) and there were no ship excursions going to Pinel Island, we went the "Private Tour" route since one of their tours was spending a day in Pinal Island. Reasonably priced, transportation to and from, snorkeling included, and everything was on a set time schedule to insure cruise ship passengers are back at the ship with plenty of time. If Pinel Island is something you'd really like to do, you may want to look into a private tour. Renting a car is another option, as gtaylor mentioned, but we didn't want to drive and I'm not sure how expensive that is, but something you can look into. Hope you're able to get there - some of the nicest views, we think.

All great ideas..we really are do-it-yourselfer's when it comes to excursions.

We were hoping to not have to pay the private tour price...those are $300+ and split between 2 people is pretty pricy. Pghsteelerfan, do you remember who you used? And it was a private tour, right?

I certainly don't mind renting a car but it seems an awful lot to go through to just park it most the day. And an extra $90 or so...

Maybe I will call the owner of Caribbean paddling and ask about his taxi referral. Maybe he can set my mind at ease. I will also look into Wind Adventures since they are right at Orient..plenty of taxis there! Orient seemed pretty wavy..is kayaking from there more difficult than from Caribbean paddling storefront? We are fairly inexperienced kayakers.

You gave me lots to think about! Thank you again for your advice,

Lauri

All great ideas..we really are do-it-yourselfer's when it comes to excursions.

 

We were hoping to not have to pay the private tour price...those are $300+ and split between 2 people is pretty pricy. Pghsteelerfan, do you remember who you used? And it was a private tour, right?

 

I certainly don't mind renting a car but it seems an awful lot to go through to just park it most the day. And an extra $90 or so...

 

Maybe I will call the owner of Caribbean paddling and ask about his taxi referral. Maybe he can set my mind at ease. I will also look into Wind Adventures since they are right at Orient..plenty of taxis there! Orient seemed pretty wavy..is kayaking from there more difficult than from Caribbean paddling storefront? We are fairly inexperienced kayakers.

 

You gave me lots to think about! Thank you again for your advice,

Lauri

The private tour that we did was through SXM Deals. It was about $75.00 per person for the day from my memory. I just looked them up and the have a message posted that they no longer offer the two Pinel Island tours due to partner on Pinel Island closing down. They did mention if you want to get to Pinel Island, they do have other tours that stop there for lunch. I'll attach the link to their site for you. There are two links, one specifically mentioning Pinel Island and their updated site with current tours.

http://sxmdeals.com/st-maarten-excursions-pinel-island-tours/

http://sxmdeals.com/

I had no idea they stopped going there on a regular tour. :( We really enjoyed out time there and loved being able to spend the whole day there for a reasonable cost and worry free. I really don't know what to tell you know other than maybe your plan of calling the owner of the Caribbean paddling about their taxi referral. Maybe you'd still be able to go that way and it would be cheaper yet. If possible, please keep us updated and so sorry that the information I gave to you is no longer valid.

Pghsteelerfan, Do not apologize! Thank you for the great information! I checked out the websites and the tours do sound interesting, though I am not sure how much snorkeling you could do during lunch...But..they also go to Creole Rock which Gary said had the best snorkeling he has done. Still not decided but I think this may be a better choice for us than chancing it at Pinel! In a few years, I am sure we will be back and maybe by then taxis will be more reliable in that area!

I could not find many reviews here but I think I will go spend some time on tripadvisor and read some reviews there. You gave me lots to think about!

Thanks again for the great advice!

Lauri

Pghsteelerfan, Do not apologize! Thank you for the great information! I checked out the websites and the tours do sound interesting, though I am not sure how much snorkeling you could do during lunch...But..they also go to Creole Rock which Gary said had the best snorkeling he has done. Still not decided but I think this may be a better choice for us than chancing it at Pinel! In a few years, I am sure we will be back and maybe by then taxis will be more reliable in that area!

I could not find many reviews here but I think I will go spend some time on tripadvisor and read some reviews there. You gave me lots to think about!

Thanks again for the great advice!

Lauri

Lauri, I'm so glad that you were able to see some other options from their site that could be other options. I was looking at the Creole Rock tour and that sounds pretty good and Gary said it's the best, so that is another option for the next time we get there.

I'm also wondering if the partner who is closed down is Isabelle, of Isabelle's Ecosnorkeling, the gal who headed up the snorkeling on Pinel Island. She was our main contact once we got to Pinel Island from the ferry and got us set up with everything. She was awesome to deal with. She's also a Marine Biologist and Diving instructor and from my understanding, she handles all of the Pinel Island snorkeling. She's even on TripAdvisor with reviews. I noticed her webpage (ECOSNORKELING St. Martin, F.W.I. but it's all in French) and the following message appeared: "Ces 2 activités sont momentanément suspendues et reprendront au mois de mai 2015, merci" and used the translator and this is what it says: "These 2 activities are momentarily hanging and will resume in May 2015, thank you". Maybe this is just temporary??? But it IS May 2015 now. Either way, there is a lot to do and I'm sure one of these days the taxi drivers will be more reliable in that area. We liked that it was so scenic yet very quiet.

Holly

Thanks Holly! I looked at Isabelle's reviews and they look great but the last one was months ago! Hopefully she will get back to business! It sounds like she was based on Pinel so I wonder if she could solve the "no return" taxi problem!

It sounds like there are quite a few speedboat snorkel excursions that pretty much make the same stops and include lunch, all for $109. A few of them go to Creole Rock, most go to Maho and Tintamarie (spelling) Island to swim with the turtles. Soualiga destinations have reviews of stopping for 1 hr 45 minutes at Pinel Island for lunch. If that is true, we would snorkel most of that time! They are rated #1 so I may start with them and ask a few questions.

Thanks again for your advice! Lauri

Thanks Holly! I looked at Isabelle's reviews and they look great but the last one was months ago! Hopefully she will get back to business! It sounds like she was based on Pinel so I wonder if she could solve the "no return" taxi problem!

 

It sounds like there are quite a few speedboat snorkel excursions that pretty much make the same stops and include lunch, all for $109. A few of them go to Creole Rock, most go to Maho and Tintamarie (spelling) Island to swim with the turtles. Soualiga destinations have reviews of stopping for 1 hr 45 minutes at Pinel Island for lunch. If that is true, we would snorkel most of that time! They are rated #1 so I may start with them and ask a few questions.

 

Thanks again for your advice! Lauri

Isn't Soualiga destinations Captain Bob? Although we haven't used them, I can tell you I have seen numerous cruise reviews on the Carnival boards where person writing the review has used them/him and I have not seen a bad one. An hour and 45 minutes is plenty of time to enjoy Pinel. We were there on our f9rst cruise in 1992 (ship's excursion) and that was the amount of time we had there. There was nothing on Pinel then, just the island and the beach and not even a lounger. There are restaurant/bars there now, along with restrooms, a gift shop, and loungers...all done tastefully and some nice added conveniences. I hope you have a great time in St. Maartin/St. Martin and on your whole cruise.

Holly

Oops..it is not Capt Bob that stops at Pinel for lunch. Capt Mike (Robinson Boats) stops at Pinel for lunch but in his email said "this is not our snorkeling spot" so apparently you just have to eat and shop there but not snorkel!

That is exactly the reason why we like to do our own thing...so we can do what we want when we want!

Bummer...but I still may contact Capt Bob and get the details of his tour. I think he stops at the Lolo's (I think that is what they are called) in Grand Case for lunch but advertises stopping at Pinel "to relax on the beach". Maybe we can snorkel then!

So much fun planning the perfect day for us!

Lauri

Just went to Pinel Island on a cruise stop on May 16. We took the group taxi from the port to Cul-de-sac with no problem. The ferry was $12 each round trip and the driver advised us to ask the ferry drivers to call a taxi if one wasn't available when we were ready to return. We happened to find another couple who had already made arrangements for a return and rode with them. The water is very calm and clear here - so very beautiful. We sat on the brown (color of chairs) beach, $25 for two chairs and an umbrella $$cash only. beach and it was very nice. The ferry side is "yellow beach" (again the chair color) It was more crowded after lunch but not bad. There are two restaurants, the one on Brown beach was pretty expensive, but very good. I would have tried the other if I realized it was some cheaper. Hope you enjoy it!!! Make sure you check out the mountainside across from brown beach...there were beautiful wild horses there!

Mary