Taxis to and from Orient Bay

Hello All!

I will be in St Martin in about a week and a half and was wondering about the availability of taxis to and from Orient Bay. Someone I know was there on a cruise a few weeks ago and said there were no taxis going to the french side. I didn't press but I got the feeling that might not be true and that it was more a thing of no ship excursions to the french side. I'm ready for a complete lack of facilities at Orient and would like to go there anyway. What's the latest we've heard?

We took a taxi to Orient and found another to take us back to the ship. This was in late Feb. There aren’t a million of them as in the past but it worked out for us.

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We just returned from St. Maarten on the 8-day Carnival Sunshine cruise. I had booked a tour online prior to leaving home with ShoreExcursioneers. This tour was to be 2-hours at Orient Beach and 2-hours at Maho Beach. We arrived at the tour departure area and paid the balance due on the tour then boarded a tour bus. As we pulled out of the terminal area, I noticed that we were traveling in the opposite direction of our first stop, Orient Beach. After driving for about 30-minutes, we arrived at a small (but very nice) beach about 3 miles from Maho Beach. I asked the driver why we didn't go to Orient Beach and he stated "the government doesn't allow tourists to go there because it's to dangerous because of the debris from the hurricane". I asked him why I wasn't told this before paying off the balance of this tour and boarding the bus? He said "I don't know. Ask when you get back". We booked this tour specifically because it went to Orient Beach, our favorite place on the planet. I realize that the hurricane destroyed 99% of the beach area, but we still wanted to go there. When we ended the tour, we were told "there won't be any refund because you went on the tour". Oh well...live and learn.

Tourists are going to Orient Beach. If he said what you say, he was lying.

Unfortunately Orient Beach was totally wiped out from Irma and rebuilding has really just started. There is very little on the beach itself. I am sure that is why most excursions are not going there.

From everything I read the French side is coming back much more slowly than the dutch.

Tourists are going to Orient Beach. If he said what you say, he was lying.

He DID say what he said!

visit youtube, Orient beachs was our fav spot , not anymore and with so many options Im not gonna risk it.

visit youtube, Orient beachs was our fav spot , not anymore and with so many options Im not gonna risk it.

We were there yesterday. Bikini Bar has rebuilt and is open for business. Nothing else down the beach anymore, unless you head to the Club Orient Side and go to Perch Lite.

Here are a couple Bikini Bar pics.