Saint Martin is an island split between French Guadeloupe and the Dutch Netherlands Antilles. It is one of the smallest land masses divided between two countries. The northern, French side of the island is known as Saint-Martin, and is 20 square miles. The southern, Dutch side of the island is known as Sint Maarten, and is 13 square miles. To avoid confusion between the three variations on the name, the two regions are commonly referred to as "the French side" and "the Dutch side".
Cities
Understand
The Dutch side is much more heavily developed. Many large resorts have been built and on many days a half-dozen or so cruise ships flood Phillipsburg with their passengers. Phillipsburg is one of the Caribbean's best shopping towns. If shopping's not your thing, you can sit out back on Phillipsburg's harbor beach and have a drink. Or play at one of the casinos just down the street. There are nine on this side. When it all gets too mellow, go rip it up with a 4x4 excursion around the island.
The French side is popularly known for Orient Beach and the adjacent nudist resort. However the towns of Marigot and Grand Case provide some of the best gourmet meals anywhere and plenty of interesting shops.
Beauty abounds on the island, with bluffs overlooking pretty harbors, sandy-cliffed beaches or just tranquil rocky coves where fish provide the beauty.
Talk
Dutch and French are the official languages on their respected sides of the island. English is widely spoken, especially in tourist areas.
Get in
By plane
By boat
Getting Around
Rental cars are available at Princess Juliana International Airport. There is a dedicated area for rental companies. Cars can be picked-up just outside the airport. It is common to negotiate daily rental rates. The roads are narrow and quite bad on the Dutch side but much better on the French side.
Taxi cabs are usually vans, which are geared towards servicing the cruise ship traffic. To go completely around the island will cost about $25 USD with a taxi.
Saint Martin has a bus system using small minivans. If you are not in a hurry you can get most anywhere on the island for just a few dollars.
See
Do
Beaches are a main attraction on the island of Saint Martin. It has 37 beaches total, with hotels holding property on most of them. Orient Bay, for example, has an underwater marine reserve where snorkeling and other water sports are available. All the beaches of Saint Martin are fine for swimming and sun bathing. This being a European island, topless sun bathing is frequently seen. Completely nude sun bathing is also accepted but for the most part is limited to a section of Orient Beach on the French side of the island and Cupecoy Beach on the Dutch side.
One particularly famous beach is Maho Bay beach. The beach is situated at the end of the airport's runway, meaning large aircraft fly just feet over your head. Some people hold on to (or attempt to) the fence on airport premises as aircraft depart, but this isn't recommended. People have been injured doing this.
A full complement of tours and excursions is available as well as watersports and parasailing.
Eat
There is a wide variety of eateries catering to tourists and locals, including some quite excellent restaurants. Large modern supermarkets are available.
Sunset Beach Bar is right near Maho Beach. Basic food is served, like hamburgers, hot dogs, french fries, etc. Be aware that you are paying for the view, not the food. As they advertise, topless girls drink for free. That being said, the view is perfect for viewing incoming aircraft, particularly between 2 to 4 pm.
Sleep
St. Martin's hotel rooms, almost without exception, rent for US$100+ per night and often much more, and generous taxes and service charges are then also applied. High season is from December through April. Accommodations are considerably less the rest of the year.
French Side
Orient Bay on the French Side has many beautiful hotels and spas on site, and the most popular beach on the island is just steps away.
All Orient Bay hotels are far from the main airport, so you will never hear or see an airplane. The ride is only about 15-20 minutes depending on traffic.
Dutch Side
Budget
Moderate
Splurge
Buy
Euros and dollars are commonly accepted in both sides of the island. Items are more often priced in Euros on the French side. Phillipsburg has huge number of shops in the harbor area, particularly jewelry stores. A wide range of quality is available. Marigot has a smaller number, but goods tend to be more artsy and unique.
Stay safe
Just beware in Phillipsburg there is very little parking and the tow zone areas are very poorly marked. If the spot is free and you think it shouldn't be then it is probably a tow area.
Pharmacies are denoted by a cross symbol, usually in neon.
If you're on Sunset beach, watch out for approaching planes. Get too close and a jet engine will blast a lot of air into your face.
Get out
Saint Martin (Dutch: Sint Maarten; French: Saint-Martin) is a tropical island in the northeast Caribbean, approximately 240 km (150 miles) east of Puerto Rico. The 87 km² island is divided roughly in half between France and the Netherlands; it is the smallest inhabited sea island divided between two nations.
Collectively, the two territories are known as "St.-Martin/St. Maarten". Sometimes SXM, the IATA identifier for Princess Juliana International Airport (the island's main airport), is used to refer to the island.
Neither of the two halves of Saint Martin have separate FIPS PUB 10-4 territory codes or ISO 3166-1 codes; they are coded as GP (Guadeloupe) and NA (Netherlands Antilles). Since the status of the French side changed to a overseas collectivity in 2007 and the status of the Dutch side is due to change to a country within the kingdom of the Netherlands in 2008, it is very well possible that both halves of Saint Martin will have a territory code of their own in the near future.
Geography
The main towns are Philipsburg (Dutch side) and Marigot (French side). The island has approximately a total resident population above 71,000, divided evenly between each half. Human density is 3 times that of the Netherlands. In addition there is an average of 1,000,000 tourist visitors per year.
The highest hilltop is the Pic Paradis (414 m) on center of a hill chain. There is no river on the island, but many dry guts. Hiking trails give access to the dry forest covering tops and slopes.
The average yearly air temperature is 27 °C (min 17 °C, max 35 °C) and sea surface temperature 26.4 °C. The total average yearly rainfall is 995 mm, with 22 days of thunder.
Common history
Short review
(Dutch zone subordinate to Sint Eustatius until 1672).
Details
In 1493, Christopher Columbus embarked on his second voyage to the New World. According to legend, Columbus sighted and perhaps anchored at the island of Saint Martin on November 11, 1493, the feast day of Saint Martin of Tours. In his honor, Columbus named the island San Martin. This name was translated to Sint Maarten (Dutch), Saint Martin (French and English).
When Columbus sailed these seas, St. Martin was populated, if populated at all, by Carib amerindians. The former Arawaks had been chased by the warlike Caribs coming from the North coast of South America a short time before the arrival of the Spaniards who followed in Columbus' wake. The English word cannibal is derived from an Arawak word which referred to the Caribs. The Arawaks were a relatively cultured, agricultural people who fashioned pottery and whose social organization was headed by hereditary chieftains who derived their power from personal deities called zemis. The Caribs, on the other hand, concentrated on warfare. They killed and, allegedly, ate the Arawak men, then "married" the Arawak women.
The Caribs' territory was not completely conquered until the mid-17th century when most of them perished in the struggle between the French, English, Dutch, Danes and Spanish for control of the West Indies. The Dutch first began to ply the island's ponds for salt in the 1620s. Despite the Dutch presence on the island, the Spaniards recaptured St. Martin in 1633 and, one year later, built a fort (now Ft. Amsterdam) and another artillery battery at Pointe Blanche to assert their claim and control access to Great bay salt pond. The Spaniards introduced the first African slaves to the area in the 16th century but the main influx of African slaves took place in the 18th century with the development of Sugarcane plantations by the French protestants and some Dutch jews. Slavery was abolished in the first half of the 19th century, whereupon on some of their territories the British imported Chinese and East Indians to take the place of slaves. Thus, St. Martin and the other islands are populated by a mixture of Amerindian, European, African, Indians and Asian peoples. West Indian cultures such as in St. Martin are, consequently, exceedingly rich and varied.
Border division
In one version, the explanation for the French walker's quicker pace is that he drank wine beforehand, while the Dutch walker drank beer. This is used to support the claim that wine has restorative effects and that it was the French drink of choice that enabled the French walker to move faster. In another version, the French walker is said to have gained his advantage over the Dutch walker solely by running and thus cheating.
Culture and tourism
Sint Maarten, the Dutch side, is known for its festive nightlife, beaches, and plentiful casinos, while Saint-Martin, the French side, is known more for its nude beaches, jewelry, clothes, shopping, exotic drinks made with native rum-based guavaberry liquors, and rich French and Indian Caribbean cuisine.
The island is served by many major airlines that bring in large jets, including Boeing 747s and Airbus A340s, carrying tourists from across the world on a daily basis. This fuels the island's largest revenue source, tourism. Princess Juliana International Airport — which opened a major new terminal in November, 2006 — is famous for its short landing strip —only 2,130 metres/7,000 ft, which is barely enough for heavy jets. Because of this, the planes approach the island flying extremely low, right over the beach. Photos of large jets flying at 10–20 m/30-60 ft over relaxing tourists at the beach are often dismissed as photoshopped, but are nevertheless showing actual landings. There is also an airport the French side of the island at Grand Case, called Grand Case Airport.
Sint Maarten/Saint-Martin is home to several world-class accommodations, including hotels, villas, and timeshares, many of which are privately available for rent or sale. Some properties have over 200 rooms, while others have fewer than twenty. Many are located directly on beaches and in upscale shopping districts. Villas pepper the coast, boasting private beaches. Some are private residences, while others are available to affluent renters.
Rental cars are the primary mode of transportation for visitors staying on island. The island is served by several well-known agencies. If any driving is expected off the major roads (such as to some of the more secluded beaches), a 4-wheel drive is recommended. Traffic on the island, however, has become a major problem; long traffic jams between Marigot, Philipsburg and the airport are common.
Because the island is located along the intertropical convergence zone, it is occasionally menaced by tropical storm activity in the late summer and early fall. It is important to monitor local weather information during this time.
The island is widely known for its hundreds of gourmet (and more moderately priced) restaurants on both sides of the island.
Neighbouring islands include Saint-Barthélemy (French), Anguilla (British), Saba (Dutch), Sint Eustatius "Statia" (Dutch), Saint Kitts and Nevis (Independent, formerly British). With the exception of Nevis, all of these islands are easily visible on a clear day from St. Maarten.
Shopping
Shopping on Sint Maarten and Saint Martin offers high quality duty-free goods in numerous boutiques. The island has a well-earned reputation as a "shopper's paradise". Popular goods include local crafts & arts, exotic foods, jewelry, liquor, tobacco, leather goods, as well as most designer goods. Because of Duty free Tax free abound the island has become more of a shopping and relaxing destination. Most often the designer goods are offered at significant discounts, often up to 40% lower than US retail prices.
See also
External links
Travel and tourism
Organizations
News and media
Sant Martin (illa)
