Toppless at all beaches?

[Natalia]

I know there is topless/nude sunbathing at Orient Beach, but recently I was looking at some photos from Maho Beach and I noticed several topless women in the pictures. Im just curious if this is common practice at all the beaches in St Maarten? I was assuming that I would only encounter this at Orient Beach since I had not seen in metioned otherwise.... I just need to know so that I can prepare the children/teens in my group as well as their parents. Dont want anyone to :eek:

[Zeno]

I know there is topless/nude sunbathing at Orient Beach, but recently I was looking at some photos from Maho Beach and I noticed several topless women in the pictures. Im just curious if this is common practice at all the beaches in St Maarten? I was assuming that I would only encounter this at Orient Beach since I had not seen in metioned otherwise.... I just need to know so that I can prepare the children/teens in my group as well as their parents. Dont want anyone to :eek:

 

In a word: Yes As a matter of fact you will find topless sunbathing on ALL Caribbean islands that have a Continental European colonial past. Only on the islands with a British or Spanish colonial past is it not as common.

[Natalia]

Ok thanks. I guess I just hadnt thought about it. When people are discussing Orient Beach, there are always comments or reminders about the nude sunbathing... but Ive never once seen it mentioned in regards to any of the other beaches.

 

Thanks for the info!

[Zeno]

Actually it is TOPLESSNESS not full nudity that is common. Full nudity - you will see the OCCASIONAL nude person walk by on Orient (and of course the entire area in front of the naturist resort - Club Orient (extreme south end of beach) will have many nude people on it. On the rest of Orient beach, virtually everyone will have at least bathing suit bottoms on. (About 1/4 of the women will be topless (just an approximate guess)). On SXM you will also see nude people at Cupecoy and I believe at one other beach whose name escapes me. You will see topless women at all beaches.

[LUPY48]

We were at Maho Beach and there were some children in our party. We saw 2 or 3 topless women, but i think the draw was the sigh that said "TOPLESS WOMEN DRINK FREE". Our kids did look a couple of times and that was that!

They were more interested in the planes!

[texancruzer]

We did Serenade sailing last Nov. and this was only island we encountered topless/nude sunbathing. On Barbados our tour guide made a point to tell us it was illegal....not that I asked. Every other beach we went to everyone was clothed....

[Zeno]

We did Serenade sailing last Nov. and this was only island we encountered topless/nude sunbathing. On Barbados our tour guide made a point to tell us it was illegal....not that I asked. Every other beach we went to everyone was clothed....

Of the islands I have been to:

Barbados, Bahamas, BVI, St. Kitt's, Turks and Caicos = British colonial influence therefore no topless sunbathing (or very rare)

Martinique, Guadeloupe, SXM, Curacao, Aruba, St Bart's (French or Dutch colonial influence) - plenty of topless sunbathing

[Coolcruise02]

We also had topless women at Mullet Bay. :)