Sint Maarten/Saint Martin – The Friendly
Island
By Calum Johnston
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| France and the Netherlands
have shared this haven of sand, sea and sun peacefully for more than three
centuries. The Dutch call it Sint Maarten and on the French side the
signs say Saint Martin. Not that there is a particularly obvious separation.
You can drive, or walk, over a border untended and unmarked except for
a sign of welcome to one country or the other. St. Maarten/St. Martin is
the smallest island in the world to be shared by two sovereign powers and
it has been that way since 1648 when France and the Netherlands signed
a partition treaty. However, over the years people of many different nationalities
have made their home on the island and have influenced its development.
Many languages can be heard but English is almost universal. Nevertheless,
there is a distinctly different “feel” to each side of the island, which
makes for added interest. |
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The fun starts at the moment of
arrival when your ‘plane swoops down low over an ocean in which a myriad
of dazzling shades of blue and green promise pleasures to come. The ‘plane
drops lower and lower until it swoops across a beach, seemingly almost
within touching distance of the people gathered there for the thrill of
seeing a 747 a few feet above them. If you stay at the nearby Sonesta Maho
Beach Resort & Casino (www.mahobeach.com)
or Royal Islander (www.royalislander.com),
with its recently completed timeshare units for sale and voted one of the
best in the Caribbean, you can watch as the more daring in the crowd
gather at the fence that separates the beach from the landing strip to
try to hang on against the jet stream of the daily Air France Airbus taking
off for Paris.
The Maho Village (www.mahovillage.com)
is the entertainment center of St. Maarten/St. Martin, home of Casino Royale,
the largest casino on the island, a theater, many upscale boutiques, fashion
and perfume outlets, ten or twelve restaurants from Subway to haute cuisine,
from French through Italian, Indian, Chinese and Japanese, not forgetting
Häagen Dazs, all within a five minute walk of Sonesta Maho Beach Resort.
Also on the Maho strip are a couple of night clubs (www.qclubdisco.com)
and Sopranos piano bar is always worth a visit (www.sopranospianobar.com).
Most evenings the dancers from the theater thrill the gathered crowd with
a street show and, of course, the famous Cheri’s Café is right there,
with Sweet Chocolate providing an entertaining floor show (www.cheriscafe.com).
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Five minutes by car from Maho the
island’s newest and most sophisticated secure gated community, AquaMarina
(www.aquamarinasxm.com),
is under construction and due to be completed at the end of 2004. Over
eighty elegant and stylish apartments ranging from one to five bedroom
units, including penthouses with roof-top swimming pools, in two towers,
provide extraordinary panoramic views of the island and of nearby Anguilla.
A private marina caters for the boats of the owners. In the same carefully
landscaped development nineteen villas will offer privacy and exclusive,
elegant luxury. Ten of the waterfront villas feature private boat slips.
Italian tiles, marble counter tops and high quality American appliances
add to the luxury of every home in AquaMarina. Prices start at $175,000
for a one bedroom apartment. Fortunately, it is simple to buy real estate
in this extraordinary island, with its rich culture, great shopping and
the best cuisine in the Caribbean. There are no “Alien Land Holding Licenses”,
special permits or other bureaucratic papers required. You select the place
of your dreams, with or without the help of a real estate agent, although
Dieter at Sunshine Properties does a fine job of guiding you to exactly
what you want (www.Sunshine-Properties.com).
Then choose one of several notary firms, pay the agreed price
and your dream home is yours. |
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St. Maarten/St. Martin is a safe
island. No need to stay marooned on the grounds of your hotel. Rent a car
or a jeep from one of the many rental agencies or take a taxi or a local
bus. The latter will charge about $2 to take you from Maho to Philipsburg
where a walk along Front Street, Back Street and Old Street will reveal
a shopper’s paradise in a Caribbean setting. The Island has no import duties
and shopping is truly duty free. Dozens of stores, some like Aladdin’s
cave, offer a huge selection of jewelry from the inexpensive to the truly
exotic as well as watches of every make you ever heard of and some you
haven’t. At least one jeweler states in its advertising “buy our jewelry,
take it home, have it appraised and then pay us” (www.shivas-trident.com)
but see also (www.caribbeangems.com).
Electronic bargains abound and clothing stores offer the latest fashions
as well as last year’s styles at great discounts. Cameras, linen, leather
goods, art work, Delft from Holland, cigars from Cuba and more are all
on display. Because St. Martin has become the culinary capital of the Caribbean
there is an excellent selection of wines from most wine producing regions
of the world. Some experts contend that transporting wines on long sea
voyages matures the wine more quickly and aficionados may recognize a winery
but think that the wine is a vintage from three or four years earlier.
Spirits too are inexpensive. One store at Maho advertises one liter of
Absolut vodka for US$5.99. When in Philipsburg don’t miss the free tasting
at the world famous Guavaberry Emporium, the home of St. Maarten’s Folk
Liqueur (www.guavaberry.com)
and don’t miss opening this site for a touch of the Caribbean.
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| But it is time now to
head to Marigot, the capital of St. Martin, also twenty minutes from Maho,
but in the other direction. Start your day in Marigot with a traditional
pain au chocolat and café au lait. Wednesday and Saturday are market
mornings and it is worth a visit to the sea front market. Ladies enjoy
browsing among the exotic spices and tropical fruits and vegetables or
buying an inexpensive wrap to display on the beach while the men watch
the pelicans diving for the scraps thrown by the fishermen who are cleaning
a dazzling array of newly caught fish. Marigot has a European air and here
too there is great shopping at sophisticated European style brand name
stores. By the way, on the Dutch side the official currency is the Netherlands
Antilles Guilder and on the French side the Euro, but US Dollars are accepted
everywhere. |
Maho Beach Resort
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You are in the tropics and all shopping
and no play makes Jack a dull boy! So head to the beach. The only problem
is how to choose which of the 36 magnificent beaches will fit your mood
today. The most famous is Orient Beach, lined with bars and restaurants
and featuring parasailing, water-skiing and windsurfing as well as souvenir
boutiques. Clothing is optional, although in my opinion, in some cases,
an extra wrap would be a blessing for all concerned. If you are in the
mood to celebrate, wait for the full moon and make your way to Friar’s
Bay where there will be an all night party. Or take the kids to the long
sloping Le Gallion beach where the water is no more than knee deep for
a long way out. Try Guana for surfing or Grand Case for snorkeling. Wherever
you go you will find golden sand and seductive blue and green water.
The mention of Grand Case makes me
hungry. There are more than 300 restaurants throughout the island but the
little village of Grand Case (pronounced Kas) is a special favorite for
dinner. There are more than 20 gourmet restaurants, many situated on the
beach where you can dine with the waves lapping beneath you and the lights
of neighboring Anguilla twinkling in the distance. Le Tastevin and the
Fish Pot are two of several favorites. The Marina at Port La Royale in
Marigot is surrounded on three sides by a boardwalk on which are situated
restaurants catering to all tastes. Dine al fresco. The wonderful crepes
at Le Saint Germain make a great light lunch (www.saintgermainrestaurant.com).
At La Rosa Too, back at Maho, the grated conch makes an unusual and tasty
appetizer. Uncle Harry’s, near Maho, serves the best lobster and steak
on the island in an informal Caribbean setting and at …… and I could go
on and on. I am sure you will find your own favorites.
After that big dinner last night,
not to mention the after dinner drinks and sing along at Sopranos, it is
time for a relaxing massage and sauna at The Good Life Spa (www.thegoodlifespa.com),
followed by a visit to the Sint Maarten Museum or the zoo, not really
my favorite, or the Old House, built in the early 1700s and where the owner,
Pierre Beauperthuy, amazes groups of ten visitors at a time with countless
stories of his ancestors, and all for $5 a head! An early morning visit
to the butterfly farm is a must (www.thebutterflyfarm.com).
Golf, tennis, horseback riding, biking, hiking, snorkeling, scuba diving,
boating, fishing and bowling are all available, including one of the island’s
most popular attractions, the opportunity to experience the exhilaration
of America’s Cup 12 metre yacht racing. Every participant acts as a member
of the crew, carefully guided by the professional crew, and several yachts,
including the America’s Cup winner Stars & Stripes and challengers
Canada II and True North, among others, will create your own personal regatta
(www.12metrechallenge.com). Also popular with visitors are day trips
by high speed, wave-piercing catamaran ferries to British Anguilla to swim
with the dolphins or to French St. Barths, sighted by Columbus in 1493
and named for his brother. The island was once Swedish and the capital
is still called Gustavia after King Gustaf. Today St. Barths is a haven
for the jet set crowd. Or take a trip to Dutch Saba to hike in the rain
forest or a short ‘plane ride 38 miles south to Dutch St. Eustatius, usually
called Statia. Once a bustling port, Statia was a hub and a transshipment
point between Europe and North America, and was particularly important
to blockade runners. When the Andrew Doria sailed into Gallows Bay on November
16, 1776, the first ship to call flying the flag of the new United States,
Governor Johannes de Graaff fired a 13 gun salute and Statia became the
first foreign country to recognize the United States. Every now and then
a United States President sends another plaque as a thank you and you can
see them displayed on the ramparts alongside the old cannon still pointing
seaward.
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St. Maarten/St.Martin,
the Friendly Island. Well connected by air from the Eastern U.S.A., Puerto
Rico, Canada, Paris and Amsterdam; the home port for many of the largest
luxury mega yachts in the Caribbean and a “must call” port for many cruise
ships. Relaxing, interesting, entertaining, and different; most certainly
a place to visit and perhaps the place to fulfill your dream of escaping
to paradise. |
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