Somebody looked at a stretch of Great Bay sand, decided to call the place Big Bastaard’s, and then watched it become one of the busiest bars on the Philipsburg boardwalk anyway. The name is the joke and the joke has held. Doors open at eight in the morning and shut at five, which is cruise ship hours, and the whole operation runs on the day package: reserve ahead, turn up, and there is a lounger and an umbrella waiting. Pay extra and you get the front row, which is the row with nothing between you and the water. The owner walks the sand introducing himself. Ten minutes and seven dollars by water taxi from the cruise pier, which is more or less the entire business model.
There are more like it in the St. Martin and Sint Maarten guide.
