Our ship anchored near the port and we tendered into St. Barts. It’s a very luxurious French island with lots of high end shops and very expensive restaurants and property, but it’s also very beautiful. We went for a long walk around the town and even stumbled onto Shell Beach by accident (which contained a few topless females, but is not a clothing optional beach).
Compared to many other Caribbean islands, I found St. Barts very clean and “European”. It would be very helpful if you spoke French, but the locals all speak English, and perhaps it’s a great place to return to to study French! I notice some Silversea cruises actually stay in St. Barts for two days which would be great as there’s never enough time to explore the locations at which the ship’s dock.
I wouldn’t go naked on Shell Beach if I were you, you’d cause a bit of a stir. It is topless (optional) however.
Salines is the nudest beach.
We weren’t considering going naked on Shell Beach, but there were certainly a few topless women on the beach. Perhaps “topless” isn’t considered “nude”.