St.Martin freestyle

[Slipmeamickey]

We are going to strike out on our own on St. Martin. My wife and daughter want to shop. My son and I want to hit a nice calm beach with possible water sport activities. Is there a good beach in close proximity to a shopping area so the ladies can simply walk to the beach to join us later in the day? Thanks.

 

[pal2pluto]

My only experience is with Great Bay Beach.....and it may fit the bill. The shopping area buts up along it. It also has jet-ski rentals there. It's close to the ships...just take the water-taxi ($5pp for all day) to the beach. Restaurants are there along the beach also. I've heard people say good things about Olgie's Peorogis and the beach area in front of that. We ate at Everything's Cool and beached in front of that.

 

[Slipmeamickey]

Thanks kris. how was the water in great bay? I have never been to caribbean and want to experience that clear calm water that you see on tv and in magazines. Heard grand case beach was like that but it is in the far side of the island. last thought...we leave in two days so i am a little frenzied......last thought..where does the boat dock near...i assumed near philipsburg ..is that right? thanks for any help.

 

[Towncrier]

You are correct. The ship docks at the relatively new deep water dock at Philipsburg. You can walk to town (and to Great Bay Beach), but it's a lot more convenient to purchase an all day water taxi bracelet for $5. The water at Great Bay wasn't the clearest that we experienced on our cruise, but it certainly beat anything that we'd ever seen at any US beach.

If you want the ultimate Caribbean beach experience, you must visit either Magen's Bay on St. Thomas or Trunk Bay on St. John.

 

[Señor Ferrari]

The ship (the Captain doesn't like it when you call it a boat) docks at Great Bay in Philipsburg. Great Bay beach is large and convenient to both the ship (via the aforementioned water taxi) and the downtown shopping area. The only thing that I don't like it for is snorkeling. There's a lot of watercraft in the bay and it seems a bit cloudy. It's great to swim or rent a jet ski, though. Don't get me wrong, it's still a great blue color, but just seems as if there's a bit more sand kicked up in Great Bay than at other beaches.

Little Bay beach is just west of Great Bay, probably only a 5 min cab ride. That might be convenient for your plans, too.

If you want to snorkel, I'd recommend Dawn Beach. It's about a 10-15 minute cab ride from the cruise ship pier. There's a restaurant there with restrooms, and you can rent chairs umbrella, floats, etc. right there. The water will be warm wherever you go. We were last there in December and even though it was raining in the morning, we stayed in the water at Dawn Beach until we were too tired to swim any longer. We never got cold.

 

[wmsptmom]

Hi, we are also leaving in 2 days and can't wait. We are almost packed and ready. Is the new area that the boat docks, close to the area where it used to? Last time we went, we had to shuttle in to shore using small boats and I really liked the shopping area. Thanks.

 

[Dave_from_Marietta]

Click <a href="http://www.dcltribute.com/images/philipsburg.jpg">here</a> for a map/photo that shows how it's all laid out.

 

[52plan4]

And once again Dave comes through with the exact type of info I was looking for...Thanks AGAIN!