2/03

My husband and I were able to spend a few days in Saint Martin. We only went to the French beaches because I have heard mixed opinions on going top free on the Dutch side. We went to both Baie Rouge and Orient Beach. At Baie Rouge about 40-50% of women were topfree. Some preferred to put their tops back on when walking to the water and back. I prefer to take my top off when I find a good spot and keep it off until just before I get back in the taxi. I'm not concerned about someone looking at my breasts when I'm laying on my back, so I not going to let the fact that some men are looking at me while I cool off in the water ruin my day.

Orient Beach is great in the sense that you will probably be in the majority if you go topfree. The beach used to be much nicer before a hurricane several years ago. But its still one of the nicest places to enjoy a beach top free. You can walk to the bar and get a drink without worrying about putting on your top. On the other hand, there will be many people who will walk down the beach to see women's breasts. However, I have found that staring back works better than struggling to cover up.

One funny story. When we headed back to the area where the cab had arranged to meet us, we were running a bit late. As I said, I like to wait until the last minute to put my top back on. When we got to the taxi, we found our tablemates from our cruise were also waiting at the cab stand. I had to look through my bag for my top while our tablemates eyes practically bulged out of their heads. While my husband and I have laughed about it many times since, it did make for some a few awkward moments at dinner.

--Maria, Lynn, Massachusetts

7/00

The best topfree place I know is St. Martin; the French section surely overreaches any expectations. To get an idea of how things are there, imagine the uninhibited attitude of south France in a warm and humid tropical island. Tourists coming mainly from Europe and in less degree form Canada an USA. All the beaches and resorts are topfree; breast-covered women are rarely seen and even locals go topless.

-- Lorena, Buenos Aires, Argentina

1/00

My wife and I recently visited St. Martin. All of the beaches on this island were topfree. We spent very little time around the pools, but have no reason to doubt that topfree is accepted there as well. We were told on one beach, Dawn Beach, that complete nudity was not allowed. Almost all of the ladies were topless. The most used beach is Orient Beach and has a "nude resort" on one end. A small island (Pinel Isle) that you can take a short ferry ride (five minutes or so) was fun for us. The ferry boats drop off the tourists on one side of the island and they all migrate to one or two beach areas. It is such a small island that we walked around to the other side in 15-20 minutes and shed our swimsuits and snorkeled for the entire day (while sunning as well. We felt very comfortable topfree and in fact, nude on many occasions. This was our first experience with either, but certainly will not be our last.

--Sean, Tyler, TX