The "A Salty Spit of Land" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Pinel Day!  Pinel Island is a small French island in Orient Bay which has no electricity, plumbing, etc. except that which two beach bars have placed on the island.  The only access to Pinel is by way of ferry or watercraft.  The beaches at Pinel are fabulous, but do change in size and direction from year to year.  The island gift shop, Paradisio, has a large array of beach items, shirts, souvenirs and beautiful pareos.  They also have quite a few bird feeding stations spread throughout the shop which are filled with sugar and are home and feeding stations for the many Sugar Birds that inhabit the island.  Pinel is often called St. Martin's best kept secret, but from the looks of the ferry crowd today it is no longer a secret.  After you pay your $7 fee, try to find a spot on the boat, and make the 15 minute trip to the island, you have to find beach chairs and an umbrella.  Carol and I have been making the trip to Pinel for over 10 years now and every year make our pilgrimage to the top of the large hill behind the main beach to take a photo of the beach to show the differences from one year to the next.  Some times we also bring our lunch with us and hike to the opposite side of the island to have our lunch and take a dip in the ocean on that side.  I have included a few photos taken from the exact same spot on Pinel.  You will easily be able to see how the island changes from one year to the next.  Some years I have omitted, since there is either little or no change from the year before.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

Ferry  captain for as long as we have been going to Pinel

Approaching Pinel by ferry

Arriving on Pinel

2004

2005

2006

2007

2009

2013