April 2019
A peaceful coexistence of two separate nationalities and cultures displayed on this island of St. Martin/Maarten was comforting. This island has been divided 60/40 between the French Republic and the Kingdom of the Netherlands since 1648, and roughly one half of the population of 78,000 live in each side.
Our cruise ship docked at the terminal in Philipsburg(population: 1,327) in the Dutch side. We joined a tour offered by the cruise ship since we had some ship credit to spend, and the tour bus drove us to Marigot(population: 5,700), the capital of the French side 11 Km northwest of the port after driving around the island. There is a public bus(mini vans) system that connects the two cities for $2, and one can flag the bus down any where around the island.
There is no border between the two sides, and people move about freely. However, a phone call from one side to the other is an international call. The power sockets look different, and the official languages are English and Dutch in one side and French in the other. French side uses Euro, and the Dutch side has its own currency. U.S. dollars are accepted widely everywhere, though.
Marigot had the feel of a small European town with restaurants, bakeries and shops by the boat docks. We had 45 minutes to wonder around, and that was long enough to see what’s there to see.
We stopped at a bakery called Carousal which had a free merry-go-round ride in the back. It seemed to be a popular tour bus stop, and a long line was formed around the gelato station. We were thirsty by this time, and we had to have it.
We got off the tour bus at the local shopping street when we returned to Philipsburg. It is basically a one street town, and jewelry shops and gift shops lined this street called Front Street.
There was a nice beach lying parallel to Front Street, and we enjoyed this area much better than the shopping street. There were some bars and restaurants right on the beach where people were hanging out.
We were thinking of taking the boat shuttle back to the cruise dock, but nobody was around to tell us when this boat was running. After a few minutes of searching, we gave up and walked into a restaurant nearby. We had some chicken wings and beer to cool down before heading back to the cruise terminal. The walk was about 15 minutes and easier than we expected.
Two places people often mentioned to check out on this island were: Club Orient Beach where clothing is optional, and Maho Beach, which is situated at the end of the airport’s runway, so landing large aircraft fly just feet over the beach. We did not go to either of them.
Small Wide World 