I kind of like St. Martin. The French side only though. Don't care much for the Dutch side (St. Maarten), it is too close to the cruise ships, too crowded. On the French side, there is a row of restaurants in the Grand Case area that my wife and I like to go to, great food. I think the beaches on the French side are nice enough. Grand Case beach area is OK. You can go to Anse Marcel beach/cove area for a day trip which is a good spot. If you like a less crowded spot, you can go to Friar's Bay and hike over a large hill and down to Happy Bay which is pretty sparsely populated. Good scenery at the top of the hill and a bunch of iguanas in your path. You can also ride the small ferry to Pinel Island for another day trip, they have a small beach, some snorkeling, lots of iguanas, a couple small restaurants, but there are a few hiking trails also on the island that give you some nice views on the East side of the open ocean. Orient Beach I wasn't as impressed with, it takes the brunt of prevailing East winds so it choppier and has more grass and sediment. I guess it would be OK on another wind. Also has a nudist section which isn't very scenic at all as the typical patron is an older Boomer ha ha (and that is coming from a Boomer).
We like to get a rental car and explore a different area/beach every day. Good French bakeries to have a morning stop.
Maho Beach is something you need to do once just to people watch if nothing else. Stay on the periphery when planes take off, or you'll get sandblasted. Even better, we did jet skis one time and idled just offshore when planes land and that was pretty cool.
Of course as said Anguilla to the north is nice if you make it there.
