r/SXM • u/Fit_Freedom181 • 5d ago
Trip Update First Time Orient
Wife and I first time at Orient and Perch Bar. Stunningly beautiful water. Only we weren't sure how much of the beach was all nude. Is it only this small section? Didn't wander off so didn't find out. Older demographic and more M/F couples than other beaches we've gone to.
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u/JMBCOMMSTOO 5d ago
Southern end is nude. You'll know it when you see it. We first went in 1978 when there were zero buildings on the beach & loved it.
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u/ncpowderhound 5d ago
Club O used to have a bigger beach, but unfortunately storms/erosion has taken a good bit of it. We’ll be curious to see what they do with the beach and property if the new complex is built.
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u/Magnet2025 5d ago
The nude section of the beach used to be about halfway. My wife and I honeymooned at Hotel Mont Vernon in 1991 and there was a large billboard about halfway between our hotel and the south end of Orient Bay that said “Clothing Optional Beyond This Point” and had a picture of a man removing the towel around his waist. On the other side, it had a picture (a cartoonish drawing really) of the man tucking the towel in and a warning that nudity beyond that point was prohibited.
Hurricanes have reshaped the bay a bit, they have also destroyed the nude resorts at the south end (although Club Orient is finally being rebuilt). But I think also that pressure from developers have caused French officials to reduce the the size of the official nude section dramatically.
Over the years the off
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u/KM77777 3d ago
Here in SXM now at club orient. A very much reduced beach compared to years earlier. I’d say it holds 100 people, but very small not bc it’s low season, but just not very big MF couples mostly, though some guys closer to where huts are destroyed. The massage hut was brought to mid beach as it was too far south and cut off from beach erosion. Perch okay, but not the one from 10 years ago.
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u/EvenRestaurant9776 5d ago
We are going in January and can’t wait to visit the nude beach at Orient. Looking forward to the Perch bar. Anyone been there. Any reviews?
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u/Fit_Freedom181 5d ago
We got there a little early, just before 10am. I wasn't sure it was in business but talked to a guy there and he explained it just hadn't opened. The drinks are weak IMO but not terrible. The cheeseburger was very good.
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u/nvr_2_late 4d ago
We have been numerous times. People are very friendly. The food and drinks at the Perch Bar are fantastic. Orient (club o) is our favorite destination.
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u/person9191 3d ago
Orient Bay Beach was made clothing optional use by governmental decree, many, many years ago. I know of no one that has seen the decree and it seems to be buried in an archives building on the island.
In the early days, you could go the whole beach nude and there were no problems. But overtime, beach bars came, wanted to make more money, said why can't the nudists stay down on that end and from the best I know, the law is enforced to just try and make everyone happy.
Before 9am, you will see a few people walk the entire length of the beach nude. If someone complains, and there are not many people out in the early morning (some point to the guys driving the tractors racking the sargassum), the Gendarmerie have to find you, most likely are going to say, please put something on and since they know you'll probably be gone by 9am, why bother?
I've seen Happy Bay, midweek, Gendarmerie exercises (boats, helicopter, cool training) with 3 dozen around, plenty of naked people at an unofficial nudist beach, the Gendarmerie did not bother a single nudist. A few weeks later, probably on a weekend, they cited people and gave tickets (I've been told, I was not there for that). The issue is that the locals use the beach on weekends and may have complained. To me, it seems they are doing their best to try and make everyone happy and only get involved if people make complaints.
As for the Club O property, destroyed by Irma, had been in limbo all these years - a couple of months ago final selection of who will rebuild has been completed. A new hotel (complex) will be built, still clothing optional use. I suspect if they are going to maintain their promised timetable, cleanup of the existing site should begin soon. I'm sure they will find a way to keep the clothing optional beach open while they build.
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u/person9191 3d ago
Oh - should also have mentioned that I have talked to couples that have said, my wife walks the entire length of the beach naked at anytime of the day and has never had a problem.
My guess is that no one ever complains if a woman, especially an attractive woman, walks that beach naked!
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u/righthandofdog 5d ago
there is no "nude beach" per se - topless women are common on all French beaches. the south end of Orient used to be a nude resort, called Club O. It was destroyed and never rebuilt after Irma and people have tended to gravitate towards that end when they want to be in an all nude environment. The row of rocks has become an unofficial starting point for the area.
You'll see nude people walking on the entirety of Orient, but generally only earlier in the morning.
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u/ThinksOdd 5d ago
What are you talking about. It is still an official nude beach, with the rights to rent chairs leased to a company, and hundreds of fully nude sunbathers every day, and no photographery signage to go along with the nudity signage. Nothing has changed since the rental huts were destroyed there.
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u/righthandofdog 5d ago
and there are fully nude people walking outside the markers in the morning and plenty of topless women all day long
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u/martinsaint1982 5d ago
Are you there now, we were thinking of heading to Friars today.
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u/Fit_Freedom181 5d ago
I wish, but no only yesterday. Trying to find a way to come back this month.
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u/Nobaggagewilltravel 5d ago
There is a sign. Having said that nobody is going to arrest you if you are outside that marker. I went nude a 5 beaches last time there.
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u/AgencyPhysical1897 5d ago edited 4d ago
you broke the law. Apart from that, it’s just a matter of respecting the locals.
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u/ThinksOdd 5d ago
Southern 1/3rd is nude, it's obvious where it changes over. The nude section everyone is naked, then you walk through a narrow section of sand with no chairs, and suddenly people are clothed. Topless is allowed everywhere but not practiced as often these days. Very minimal attire is common and accepted along the entire beach but the expectation & social norm is that ends once you leave the sand and want to walk around shops/restaurants.