The "For the Beach Lover: Baie Orientale - Part I" Story

It was an ordinary day. Thinking about our next trip to one of our favorite beaches in the coming months. Orient Beach, which is located on Orient Bay in French St. Martin, is located at 18 degrees 5' 14" N latitude by 63 degrees 1' 11'' W longitude. Orient Bay, or in French "Baie Orientale", sweeps around a blue cove, facing east, as the name suggests. The two mile long, white powdered sand beach is protected from the Atlantic waves by a reef, and the bottom has a very gradual slope. Located along the edge of the bay is Orient Beach which is the most developed, the most popular, the busiest beach on the island, and probably the most famous beach in the entire Caribbean. The beach is reputed as much for its natural beauty and setting as it is for being the island's foremost swimsuit optional beach. A major attraction of the bay and the beach is of course the nude beach and the world's famous Club Orient, the island's only naturist resort at the southern end of the beach. Orient Beach is a truly majestic setting with the mountains rising up all around. Lined with tiki huts, colorful beach chairs and restaurants, the sands of Orient are always full of action. Many refer to Orient Bay as the "Saint Tropez of the Caribbean." The first part of my story will deal with the beach as it developed into what it is today. Orient Bay, having a relatively deep entrance of fifty feet, and a protected anchorage easily reached by sailing ships in the prevailing winds, was a natural port for the shipping of the salt which was being produced on the island at the start of the last century. The major destination for the cargo of salt was Guadaloupe and Martinique. The Orient Salt Pond was fairly close to the bay and the salt produced there was first transported to the southern end of Orient Beach by bull carts, then by trucks, after the invention of the gasoline engine. The 50 lb. bags of salt were loaded into flat bottom dinghies and rowed to sloops anchored in the harbor. When a ship arrived in Orient Bay, a blast on it's horn was a signal to the French Quarter that workers were required for loading. They would walk from their homes to the salt pond looking for work. Today you can still see physical evidence of salt production in the old salt pond. Eventually the resource became too uneconomical to produce and the sands of Orient Beach, located next door, proved to be a magnet for a new resource, "beach lovers". Today, charter yachts now replicate the movements of the working schooners and sloops. Tourism began on Orient Beach in the early 70s when guests staying at the Le Galleon Hotel, located on Baie de l'Embouchure, around the corner from Orient Beach, would wander over to the nearly deserted beach for a nude swim. Their only company would have probably been a few local conch fishermen. This all changed in the late 70s when a Dutchman, Reint Brink, flew over St. Martin in a light airplane looking for a location to start a naturist resort. Seems he hit gold when he flew over the nearly deserted southern end of Orient Beach. Not only did he find the perfect location for his resort, but his future customers were already there, nude on the beach. He named his resort Club Orient. Club Orient opened for business in 1977. For those who can remember "skinny dippin" in their youth, you now have a perfect reason to head to Orient Beach. Here you're invited to rid yourself of those tell-tale tan lines. You can swim and sunbathe unencumbered, but remember to wear plenty of sunscreen. And ...... let me tell you ..... it's a real experience! The next part of my story deals with Orient Beach as it appears today. Check in tomorrow. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy. PS - Top photo shows the deserted Orient Beach in the early 70s, second photo show the beach in June of '79, third photo is of the water sports shop in 2001, and the bottom photo is from the early 2000s showing the Mont Vernon Beach Resort in the background.