In June I did the walk every morning and never had any problems walking nude. I started at Club O and was always back to there property by 7:30 each morning. There were usually 7-10 from Club O at that time of day walking nude.

see you Saturday morning

We stay at Club O every year in Jan/Feb for 10 days to 2 weeks depending on our schedules. During "high season" Orient Beach can be quite crowded but morning walks are no problem. We've returned to Club O as late as 9:00 am. without any issues. We do miss the mid day nude walks, of days past or dining nude at several of the beach bars. We do still walk past the rocks mid day for lunch or just to walk but just with the "bare minimum" of cover. aka Bare-As-You-Dare!! Anyone else doing this? We've also thought of late afternoon (after 5:00) walks in the nude after the cruisers have returned to the ship. Let us know if you will be on Orient beach the last week of January 2016 and perhaps we can walk or dine together...BAYD style!

I miss those day too. I only got to go to Orient Beach once before things changed. I was there a couple of years ago and walked nude in the mornings until 8:30 or so. Later in the day, I would wear a small thong if I went down that way, usually walking nude until the far end of Pedros.
For the next trip, I have a much smaller thong and will probably try an evening nude walk.

I believe nude strolls after 0900 are frowned upon.

I would recommend you not "press to test"...

In the evening (after 1700 or so), the beach can be pretty much deserted. I've seen an employee at Andy and Cheryl's cleaning up the place nude and once in a while someone walking nude right before sunset. That's the time of day that some of us are wondering about. During the day, some clothing is certainly required, but can be pretty minimal.

This from Club Orient's Facebook Page posted last night... it gave us some new perspective (the bolded part anyway) of what the morning beach walks could cost everyone down the road...
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ANNOUNCING THE NEXT INSTALLMENT OF "ASK CLUB ORIENT"
For the latest edition of Ask Club Orient, we have decided to focus on a topic that often gets a lot of attention at our resort: The Beach!
At Club Orient, we are very fortunate to be situated directly on Orient Beach, a spectacular stretch of tropical paradise that is consistently rated as one of the best beaches the world, nude or otherwise. Due to its unique nature, however, we get a wide variety of questions and comments about our beach, and some of the most frequent ones include:
-- Why can't you make the Club Orient section of Orient Beach for nudists only?
-- Why can't you stop outsiders, i.e., cruise ship people, from walking the beach, staring and/or taking photos?
-- What can Club Orient security do about this?
-- Is it OK to walk past Pedro's nude if you do it before 8:00 a.m.?
-- Why doesn't the government just make nudity legal on all of Orient Beach? The whole island?
-- I heard that nudity is OK on Nettle Baie, Baie Rouge etc. I saw nude people there and I went nude and no one bothered me, so it must be true, right?

To begin with, public nudity is unfortunately illegal everywhere, including on the Dutch and French sides of St. Martin. Yes, that includes ALL of Orient Beach. Surprised? We thought you might be. So how does Club Orient get away with it? Because for about 30 years, Club Orient has had an agreement with the Collectivite, which says it will "tolerate" the clothing optional beach in front of Club Orient resort. Nowhere else on the island has that agreement! Having said that, all of Orient Beach is a public beach and other than the clothing optional provision, we are required by law to allow public access to the beach by anyone ÔÇô clothed or not. There are no private beaches in France, just as there arenÔÇÖt in the U.S. or Canada, so we cannot prevent outsiders from walking onto our beach.

We have had many conversations with various government officials about the possibility of designating our section of Orient Beach as a nudist-only beach. However, they maintain that, by giving us clothing optional status on the best section of the best beach on St. Martin, they have more than accommodated the visiting naturists. That's a tough point to argue. Think about it. How many legal nude beaches are there in the whole Caribbean? Outside of Jamaica, very, very few. We think the government of St. Martin should be applauded for their quite positive position in this matter, and we should be happy that we're allowed to continue this freedom.

So, what about walking down past Pedro's nude? Yes, you could probably get away with it many times without a problem. But, that's like saying, "I know the speed limit is 65 mph, but I've never gotten a ticket doing 75, especially after 10:00am." Is that what you'd tell the judge? We didn't think so, yet we hear this rationale often. Club Orient will never attempt to tell you what to wear (or not wear) anywhere you go. ThatÔÇÖs your business, of course. However, we can tell what the law is on St. Martin.

Unfortunately, some guests are upset when they are told what the law is on the island. They point out (correctly) that many businesses welcome them and tell them not to worry. The problem is that there are now thousands of people living in and around Orient Village who not only haven't discovered the joys of naturism, but actually are disturbed by it. They, like citizens everywhere else in the world, call their government officials, demanding they take action about the situation. Would all of your neighbors at home be okay with you and your guests in your front yard naked on a Sunday afternoon? The same thing happens here. We regularly get visits from the Gendarmes, telling us that our guests are breaking the law and to please ask them to obey the laws of the country, in which they are a guest. We apologize and tell them that we have posted information in the room books and have explained that it is prohibited. If we want to continue to enjoy our freedom to be nude on Orient Beach, we suggest not pushing the limits of the law, lest we have them taken away.

Regarding cameras on the beach, it was a much easier problem to control years ago than it is now, due to the proliferation of cell phone cameras. We often have six or seven cruise ships in port and literally thousands of people visiting each day, which makes this problem very challenging.

I should first clear up a common misconception that taking photos anywhere you want is a "right." Yes, Orient Beach is a public beach but it is illegal in France to take anyoneÔÇÖs picture anywhere, without permission, clothed or unclothed. So, if anyone who is a photo bug and non-nudist is reading this, please don't attempt to give me a definition of what the law is in your country about taking photos of people in public. The French government does not care what the law is in your county.

Our security team works hard to enforce the ban on photography and they do an excellent job. However, they cannot be everywhere at once. They try to stay visible, especially on busy cruise ship days, but they have to perform multiple tasks at Club Orient. We have 8.5 hectares to watch over and occasionally other problems arise which need urgent attention. It is a very challenging job and we're very proud of the work they do on a daily basis, under sometimes trying conditions.

All of our guards are required to undergo a great deal of varied types of training by the government, before being certified. The government subjects them to surprise drills and can fine the resort or even pull a guard's certification if an emergency procedure is not handled properly. In addition, most of our guards are tri-lingual and can do everything from perform CPR to help a lost child find their parents on a crowded beach, to remove a drunken visitor, without resorting to force... all the while smiling and telling you to have a nice day!

Lastly, some visitors ask why they can't just put their own chair wherever they like, since it's a public beach? The answer is Club Orient, like every other beach business on Orient Beach and many other beaches as well, has concessionary rights to the beach. This is how we and other businesses are protected from just anyone showing up and starting to rent chairs or sell souvenirs or drinks. Those of you who have been on public beaches in Mexico with the steady stream of vendors, know what we are talking about ÔÇô and we donÔÇÖt think you want that type of atmosphere here.

So in summary, in order to keep Club Orient and Orient Beach one of the most sought-after naturist destinations in the world, we have to live with a few inconveniences ÔÇô but trust us, we are doing our very best to protect your rights to be nude and natural here, and to continue to provide you with the best naturist experience anywhere!

Thanks for posting. Lots of good info ! I don't do the Facebook thing, so I never saw it.

Interesting. Prior to the collective gaining some independence from France about 10 years ago, the common assumption was the French law said the entire beach was clothing optional because that was its traditional usage. It seems that Club orient has had an agreement with the collective for much longer, so it wasn't clear cut even back when you could walk the entire beach nude at noon.
It's also interesting to note that Club O is saying that some businesses on the beach still welcome nudists. I thought that ended when the collective flexed their muscle. Any idea which businesses we should support for their stand?

Very good summation. Thank you for posting.

Mainahs - thanks for reposting. It's very well written and I agree completely. As written above we have a really good deal on Orient Beach and in order to protect that we should endeavour to respect the wishes of our neighbours, as they have respected ours. Failure to do so could result in a negative outcome for everyone and that'd be a shame.

Great Info! I hope people start realizing how serious it is and start following the rules so we can keep enjoying our piece of CO paradise for many years to come. That being said, If the Collective has such a problem with the nude walkers, why wouldn't they just set up a "sting" LOL and hand out hefty fines. Word of mouth passes quickly around there and the walks would stop. I personally don't see a problem..... I mean seriously, full nudity offends them, but nothing but a g string doesn't? Whatever......

Or, they could even put up a sign that looks like it applies to the whole beach. The current one looks like it refers only to Pedro's!
There seems to be a desire to keep things low key and poorly defined, so the can appease the locals by saying they have banned nudity but not scare off the tourists by enforcing it. If they keep it loosely defined, they don't have to bother defining what constitutes clothing either. The reason nude is a problem but a Wicked Weasel see through g-string that covers about two square inches is fine is that the string gives the illusion of clothing so they can look the other way.

Disagree about the sign. It's at the border of the Club Orient/Pedro's clothing optional beach area and says no nudity beyond this point or something along those lines, which doesn't seem vague or poorly defined to us. As for probing the enforcement limits by donning a string, thread, hanging chad, postage stamp or items of equal surface area on the northern side of Orient Beach just seems immature and needlesly provactive.

Maybe they've changed the wording on the sign. The one I saw a few years ago just said "Nudity Prohibited" in English and French. I've seen quite a few people wearing strings at all times of day, it seems to be perfectly accepted swimwear. The see through ones are likely over the line.