Question for GTaylor

[gracie65]

Gary: You seem pretty well rounded with things to do in St. Martin. I'd like to get your opinion about if my plans are doable. Last year we used Bernard & loved him & what we did except for all the shopping. I'd like to basically go to Orient Beach ( the area that's more family oriented) & see the planes at Maho. We'll have our 9 year old son with us. I know there are taxis or shuttles at the ship taking people to Orient Beach. I figured we'd take one of those to get to Orient. Do you know if the drivers tell you some things about the island on the way?

Next will there be cabs to then leave there & take us to Maho? I figured about 1:00 - 1:30 is when we should leave Orient. That would give us about 30 minutes at Maho. Will there be cabs there to go back to the ship or do we need to arrange this with the driver that takes us there?

We are in St. Martin 7-5 not sure if that will be ship time or island time in Novemeber.

Thanks so much for any advice you can give.

[gtaylor]

I'm certain that your taxi driver will be personable and give you a bit of a 'tour', especially if you ask questions and indicate your interest from the beginning.

 

With ships in port, there are usually many taxis available near Pedro's, that's the area that we are most familar with. Orient to Maho is not a regular route, so you may have to ask a couple drivers to find one to take you to Maho instead of the simple (short) trip back to P'Burg.

 

There is not a posted fare for that route, but we had a comment here a while ago that they paid $30 for the trip. That sounds reasonable to me, but it might be a bit more. Gas has gotten really expensive.

 

You could make arrangements with that driver to also return you to the ship if you know that (only) 30 minutes is when you'll want to leave, but if you want to be flexible, I have to believe that someone at the bar could call a taxi if there wasn't one waiting. Most bars have 'relationships' with some drivers.

 

Absolute worst case would be to walk out to the Maho shopping/resort area for a taxi. Five minutes from the Driftwood Boat Bar, 10 minutes from Sunset.

 

gary

 

p.s. If you do this, please report back on your experience, especially the taxi fare.

[gracie65]

Gary, thanks for the response. I'll let you know but as you can see it's 9 months before we go. As you can tell I'm a compulsive planner. I'm still not ruling out Bernard. It was going to be quite expensive to hire him as a private tour. it's possible there could be others that don't care about the shopping so much either. We just wanted more beach time. We may have to lessen our beach time just for the peace of mind going as a group with Bernard would give us.

Do you know if there is atill a problem with the water at Great Bay? I think it was the only other beach I've read about that has the trampolines. If that problem was resolved I would consider going there & to Maho. I'm sure that would be easier on our own.