Sint Maarten - Saint Martin is famous for its nude beaches. Many visitors tried it here for the first time and never went back to a textile beach to enjoy the sun and surf. If you consider visiting Orient Beach, the island's most famous beach, read up on what to do and not to do on a 'clothing optional' beach.
Nudists enjoying the beach on Tintamarre Island off the coast of Orient Beach
The trouble starts with the terminology: a beach that is designated to be enjoyed unencumbered by any textiles is labeled 'clothing optional' on the American side of the Atlantic Ocean. Not so in Europe, beach nudity is handled more straightforward: to enjoy the sun and surf in your birthday suit, you go to a 'Nude Beach'. Period. And if beach goers don't drop their attire within minutes of arrival, they will be chased away quickly and not with kind words.
You see, on a clothing-optional beach, there is the dilemma of two very different kinds of nudity. The first kind is the obvious one where a person doesn't wear a bathing suit. The second form of nudity concerns the exposed (nude) mind: someone stays dressed on a nude beach and attempting to mingle with nudists is perceived as a voyeur, and this is glaringly obvious to the naked people. Every naturist will assume that a dressed-up person walking among naked people is there for the wrong reasons.
Most naturists don't wear bathing suits for swimming for the same reasons that very few people take showers in their pajamas: it's just not practical and doesn't make much sense. Once used to swimming in the nude, the thought of wearing wet trunk-sized pants with happy germs breeding in a fertile environment appears absurd. It was the Surgeon General C. Everett Koop of the usually prudish USA who stated several decades ago that the only scientifically legit health advice for beach-swimming would be to do it in the nude as a sanitary matter.
But let's explore the positive aspects of the term 'clothing optional'. It is meant to take the pressure off nude beach newbies, who need some time to get comfortable. Rule No. 1: When visiting our island's most famous beach, Baie Oriental, don't come as a gawker. Settle in by renting a chair, or just lay down on a towel.
Remember this: nobody cares. It doesn't matter what your age is, what your body type is, and if you are shy or not. A clothing-optional beach lacks vanity. It is best suited for people who have overcome these concerns and are comfortable in their skin (and only their skin). There are physically attractive sun-worshippers on the beach, and it's okay to notice. But don't dare to approach someone with flirtatious intent without keeping the situation equal with regard to attire or, more importantly, lack thereof.
To overcome the initial hesitation to strip down, consider picking a spot in the second row from the water. This way, exposure to gawkers, which frequently come from cruise ships, is limited.
On the cruise ships, excursions to Orient Beach come with a warning label: "You might experience beach nudity!" This sentence seems to be the best advertisement possible to sell these tours because hordes of eager passengers walk up and down the clothing-optional beach segment of Orient, fully dressed, including shoes, commenting on the perceived pandemonium they witness. The Spanish language crowd touring the scenery appears to be blissfully unaware that their words are understood by many. Spanish is not an exotic language on SXM, and someone needs to tell them.
Beautiful Orient Beach is worth a visit, even though the once-famous naturist resort Club O was destroyed by Hurricane Irma and is now a sad background. The popular Perch Bar was replaced by a simple structure called 'Perch Bar Light'. Secure free parking is right there on the former resort's property and across the bar. Cedric and his crew are renting beach chairs and umbrellas for $7 each.
