I’m trying to visit all 37 Saint Martin beaches, and I’m starting to close in on my goal. At last count, I had been to 32 of them. I decided that this was the weekend to tackle the easiest remaining beach. I’ve been told a couple of different names for this beach, and since Anse Aux Acajoux is really hard for my apparently French averse tongue to pronounce, we’re going to stick with Nettle Bay Lagoon Side.
Now, there are a few ways to get to this little piece of Paradise. You can enter here:
Or here:
Or here:
None of these places had good parking, so we ended up parking at Nettle Bay Ocean Side, in the parking lot for Le Sand and Dreams Beach Bar.
You can park to the right, and then take the path to the left. That’s what we did. This is the path to take if you’re up for an adventure. Saint Martin is full of grown-over paths than nobody really uses anymore, so we assumed this was the way you had to go to get to the beach. About halfway in, I was wondering if this was really a secret beach, or if all the other people are just too smart to go bushwhacking through an overgrown footpath with hundreds of spiders in a place where killers have been known to leave their victims. As it turns out, the beach is neither secret nor only accessible through Spider Forest. So unless you want to catalog all the arachnid species on Saint Martin, I’d advise using a more civilized route.
In the end, the walk through the bushes was more than worth it. So much for a hidden beach! The entire strip was beautifully cared for and lined with the most charming of beach houses! Here, the palms wave gently in the breeze and boats bob up and down in the gently rippling water.
I’m curious why this side of the lagoon is so nice, while the other side (where we live) has muddy shores and tons of jellyfish. It would be cool to have a dinghy to explore the whole lagoon and see what it looks like as a whole.
We found several shops along the edge of the beach. There was everything from jet ski rentals to dive excursions! Who knew all this was hiding back here? Not us! There were also a few little beach bars, which were tempting. A glass of fruit juice would have been nice after walking so far on this hot day.
I’m not sure how long the Nettle Bay Beach Lagoon Side is (Ben guessed 3/4 of a mile), but I really wanted to walk all the way to the end. Ben and R were kind enough to humor me. There was a lot to see, so even though we were hot, we weren’t bored. One house has an antique canon in the backyard!
We eventually came to the end, went through a gate, and found ourselves on a residential street in Sandy Ground. It was another longish walk back, but we took a break in the middle at Parisienne, a bakery and pastry shop I’ve driven past often but never stopped in.
R got a sugar brioche and Ben and I split a chocolate twist. It was a good refreshment for a mid-afternoon walk. The woman working at the bakery was really nice, too.
Before long, we ended up back at Nettle Bay Ocean Side. That’s another beach for another post! If you want to learn how to find other lesser known Saint Martin beaches, check out these posts:
