Club O devastated

So sad to see that our favorite nudist destination has been badly damaged from Irma. Club O has been our go to spot when we can budget it and now it will need alot of rebuilding to get it up and going again......not to mention the impact on Club O employees. I know a go fund me page has been setup (thank you Bare Necessities) to help with getting some funds to the 132 employees who have been left homeless. J&J

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RE:Club O devastated

We hadn't been since just before they tore down the old shops between Pedro's and the Kon Tiki in June 2015. We were thinking of booking a cruise that stops in St. Martin next September and possibly staying at Club O in 2019 rather than going on the BN cruise (just so we could choose our dates to work better for work). Now we are unsure when we will be able to go again.

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RE:Club O devastated

Yes, we ended up booking the cruise for next year while onboard. Hopefully Club O and the rest of Orient Beach will have recovered by then.

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RE:Club O devastated

We're on a vanilla Royal Caribbean cruise next month that will be one of the first ships to stop at St Martaan after the hurricanes. Already we know that not many excursions will be operating. I talked with a travel agent who said Club O buildings got pretty much washed out to sea, as happened in a mid-1990s hurricane. He said that they are renting chair and umbrellas, as has been usual, out of what's left of the restaurant. If we can get there, we'll give first-hand report soon.

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RE:Club O devastated

Advised this morning that our Royal Caribbean cruise schedule has been revised again. RCL thought they could bring ships in, starting December 1 but now want until, at least, December 17. No St Martin for us this trip.

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RE:Club O devastated

We're on a vanilla Royal Caribbean cruise next month that will be one of the first ships to stop at St Martaan after the hurricanes. Already we know that not many excursions will be operating. I talked with a travel agent who said Club O buildings got pretty much washed out to sea, as happened in a mid-1990s hurricane. He said that they are renting chair and umbrellas, as has been usual, out of what's left of the restaurant. If we can get there, we'll give first-hand report soon.

Too bad you won't be able to stop at SXM. There is a mini-Perch up and running as well. Chairs, food and drinks should be up and running by next September, but I will be interested to see if they look like they will have rooms up and running by the following spring. Based on that we will decide whether to go with Club O or just stay with another nude cruise in 2019.

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RE:Club O devastated

Thought you all might be interested in seeing this report on O.

This was posted on the Club O FB page a at least a few months ago.

Dear Shareholders,

It's ugly!

Steve and Bert just returned to GCBC from a visit to Club Orient.
Their findings include the following:

All wood units are gone. Presumably the slabs are left, but the buildings are gone.

Gatehouse is gone. In its place is a huge pile of debris that landed there from the winds.

Pedro concrete wall gone

Concrete buildings survived. Roofs gone or damaged.

Except for the waterfront chalets 46-52 They are gone. No sign of where they went.

The new beach goes from the water's edge back to where the studios used to be. It's about 200 feet.

Hurricane shutters on units left are gone as well as the contents of all the houses presumably sucked out by the wind no sign of where the furniture, cabinets, appliances, etc., went.

The units' contents have been stripped by the hurricane.

The villa is standing no further detail.

Papagayo is standing but may not be sound structurally. All the contents are gone.

The utility plant is covered with debris so Bert and Steve could not get a close look at the generators, switch panel, etc. It looks like there was about 5' of water in that area, which means salvaging the electric plant is in doubt.

The reception building is still standing. The front desk and other furnishings are gone.

The tennis courts are gone.

Steve and Bert drove through Orient Village where most of the buildings are standing but the contents of the first floors that they could see into are gone.

Looters beat Steve and Bert to the resort. They were clearing out the Boutique. We let them take the contents because presumably they need the stuff worse than we do!

I will continue to keep you updated as new information comes in.
Steve took about 100 pictures but has no way to transmit them until Internet service is restored.

According to Frdric Lecomte, our Paris attorney, the French media are reporting that 95% of the island is destroyed.

We have a huge job in front of us. We will need a lot of out-of-the-box thinking to reinvent Club Orient better than ever.

-----------
So sad for all those that have ever been and enjoyed a Yellow Umbrella

This post was edited
RE:Club O devastated

Thought you all might be interested in seeing this report on O.

This was posted on the Club O FB page a at least a few months ago.

Dear Shareholders,

It's ugly!

Steve and Bert just returned to GCBC from a visit to Club Orient.
Their findings include the following:

All wood units are gone. Presumably the slabs are left, but the buildings are gone.

Gatehouse is gone. In its place is a huge pile of debris that landed there from the winds.

Pedro concrete wall gone

Concrete buildings survived. Roofs gone or damaged.

Except for the waterfront chalets 46-52 They are gone. No sign of where they went.

The new beach goes from the water's edge back to where the studios used to be. It's about 200 feet.

Hurricane shutters on units left are gone as well as the contents of all the houses presumably sucked out by the wind no sign of where the furniture, cabinets, appliances, etc., went.

The units' contents have been stripped by the hurricane.

The villa is standing no further detail.

Papagayo is standing but may not be sound structurally. All the contents are gone.

The utility plant is covered with debris so Bert and Steve could not get a close look at the generators, switch panel, etc. It looks like there was about 5' of water in that area, which means salvaging the electric plant is in doubt.

The reception building is still standing. The front desk and other furnishings are gone.

The tennis courts are gone.

Steve and Bert drove through Orient Village where most of the buildings are standing but the contents of the first floors that they could see into are gone.

Looters beat Steve and Bert to the resort. They were clearing out the Boutique. We let them take the contents because presumably they need the stuff worse than we do!

I will continue to keep you updated as new information comes in.
Steve took about 100 pictures but has no way to transmit them until Internet service is restored.

According to Frdric Lecomte, our Paris attorney, the French media are reporting that 95% of the island is destroyed.

We have a huge job in front of us. We will need a lot of out-of-the-box thinking to reinvent Club Orient better than ever.

-----------
So sad for all those that have ever been and enjoyed a Yellow Umbrella

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RE:Club O devastated

There is a new video of someone walking the Club Orient grounds here. Our favorite mini suite was 156. We have it as our avatar. Its fate is show in the video, starting at 5:30.

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RE:Club O devastated

One of the cabin owners at Club Orient gave a talk during the cruise and showed a bunch of pictures. They have around 30-35 units they think they can refurbish and get operational by the end of the year. Then they have a phase 2 plan to get back to about 55 units (about half capacity) after that. The rest of the units need to be completely demolished and start over for phase 3. They even have a phase 4 to add new units closer to the salt pond to make Club Orient bigger than before. All of the new construction will have to be built to a new code that hasn't been decided on yet, so they can't even start replacing units even if they wanted to.

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RE:Club O devastated

We were at the presentation on board ship......... although we are hopeful, the amount of work and financial issues ahead seem very difficult. Time will tell.

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