Travel :: The Beaches of St. Maarten

The great thing about our vacation to St. Maarten was that since we rented two cars we were able to explore the island to our heart's content.  The island is quite small meaning that nearly ever beach can be reached within a 45 minute drive.  Two beaches we explored were Baie Rouge and Great Bay Beach.  

The first was less than five minutes away from our villa and ended up being a lovely surprise.  We pulled into the parking lot which was dirty and covered in spray paint, and wondered if we were at the wrong place.  However after a short walk we came across the lovely little beach which was one of my favorite of the trip.  It was home to two hole in the wall beach bars which offered 2-for-1 frozen cocktails at happy hour {a deal we definitely took advantage of}.  The water was calm, clear, and warm and the beach chairs were only $5 to rent {which felt like the steal of the century after our $80 chair rentals in the French Rivera}.

The second was on the opposite end of the island, and to be honest we ended up there by mistake.  We were attempting to visit Orient Bay, one of the most famous beaches on the island, however after driving and driving only to be told that we were still "very, very far away" we decided to visit the next beach we came across...which ended up being Great Bay Beach.  This beach is in the town of Phillipsburg where cruise ships docked, and while it wasn't the most scenic beach in the world it still offered soft white sand, clear water, and waves that were perfect to play in.  Plus we met the cutest little crab which we named Neil :)