St Maarten Island Reviewby InAllHonesty
FeedTheVillage.com - St Maarten Island Review
St Maarten is a small island located in the Caribbean, which is divided into a Dutch section and a French section. I had the opportunity to live on the island of St. Maarten for two months. I have been all over the Caribbean and been to many different islands for a week vacation, but never for two months. After two months I got to see the good, the bad, and everything in between about the island and its culture. Here are a few of my observations: The beaches are absolutely amazing, even more so on the French side. The French side has the picture perfect turquoise baby blue water and soft white sand that was among the nicest beaches I had ever been to. My advice is to bring your own umbrella and chairs for shade or else you will get stuck paying a hefty fee to rent the equipment from the locals on site. The water was always a warm, clean, and never any sign of sharks or other potentially hazardous marine life. The Dutch beaches are nice, but tend to be a bit rockier and have larger surf. The food on St. Maarten is great, but expensive. My biggest complaint was the island lobsters have no claws! I am not a marine biologist, but I do know my favorite meat of a lobster is the tail and the claws. There are endless restaurants on the island that cater to tourists from all around the world. My advice would be to eat out once or twice and if possible prepare food on your own from the local grocery stores. Restaurants are especially pricey on the French side and all pay is in Euros. The island was extremely safe during the day, but at night it had it share of “sketchy” characters. One night we woke up to a group of armed gunmen on the roof of our condos who were in the middle of some sort of illegal smuggle. They did not harm us, but its never pleasant to see a stranger on your house loaded with a fully automatic machine gun. The police force is almost non-existent on the island. I might have seen one or two cops the whole time I was down there. The big thing to look out for at night is a drunk drivers. Drinking and driving is almost encouraged on the island. It is NOT uncommon if you go in to a local store, grab a beer, and have the cashier open it for you to drink in the car. Overall, I would say St. Maarten was a nice place. For the price, you could do much better going to a place like Mexico or Dominican Republic. If money is not an issue, St. Maarten is for you.
|
