First time to St. Martin/Maarten

Hi folks--

I'm heading to St. Martin in late June. Anyone been? Suggestions on where to eat/shop/have fun?

Is there any sort of gay scene? How do the apps (Grindr/Scruff) work out over there?

Thanks!

Greg

If you go to St. Maarten, go to Maho Beach to watch the places land almost on top of the people on the beach! http://mahobeachcam.com/

Also, there is Orient Beach, a nude beach. Not particularly gay and not particularly Grindrish.

We visited St. Maarten in February. Here's Maho Beach.

(photo by turtles06)

Hi folks--

I'm heading to St. Martin in late June. Anyone been? Suggestions on where to eat/shop/have fun?

 

Is there any sort of gay scene? How do the apps (Grindr/Scruff) work out over there?

We went last November. We did an excursion "4-Wheeler Expedition" which I mistakenly thought would involve riding on trails or something. No, it was driving 4-wheelers on the roads with all the other cars. It normally wasn't too bad though I definitely felt that I was taking my life in my own hands going through some of the traffic circles!

Our tour (it was just me and my husband) stopped at Orient Beach for a few hours, then took a meandering route back to the ship with a stop at Rotary Lookout Point. Orient Beach is indeed clothing-optional, and it was a fun stop. Hey, it's not often you get a chance to skinny dip in the ocean! As noted above, it's not gay-oriented in the least and pretty straightforward as naturist beaches go (all body types and genders welcome). I found it very pleasant.

After we got back to the ship I took the water taxi (US$7 round trip) across the harbor from the cruise ship docks to Great Bay Beach. It's your usual Caribbean tourist beach hell - mildly interesting if you're not used to it, but otherwise unremarkable. I did stumble onto an interesting Peruvian bar/restaurant (https://www.facebook.com/Nazca.Peruvian.Restaurant/) that had a nice selection of cocktails, free wifi, and a friendly bar dog and bar cat.

I can't speak for Grindr, but I was amused to bring up Growlr and see eight people listed within 200 miles, all obviously cruise ship passengers. That pretty much sums up gay life in the Caribbean, unfortunately.

We were there in January and had a blast. We rented a jeep at the cruise terminal for about $75 and went over to see the planes come in at Maho Beach. Very cool. We then cruised around for a bit before we headed over to Orient Beach. Parts of it are the nude beach, which we went to, and had a wonderful lunch at the restaurant at the end of the beach on the right hand side; Club Orient I believe is the actual nudist resort.