Part III - St. Maarten (St. Martin)#
By Rainer Kroisamer: Report from a journey through the Caribbean Seas starting at Puerto Rico,visiting St.Thomas, Sint Maarten, Antigua, St. Lucia and Barbados.The island of Sint Maarten or Saint Martin is only around 60 square kilometers in size. Yet it is the smallest land mass in the world to be shared by two different nations. It is owned by both France and the Netherlands, thanks to a treaty signed over 350 years ago. With the Concordia Agreement (1648), the Dutch and the French agreed that residents of either side of the island can be commercially active on the other side without any border difficulties. This contract of peaceful coexistence turns out to be the oldest active, undisputed treaty on our planet. Since October 10th 2010, Sint Maarten is a sovereign country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Before that, Sint Maarten belonged to the Netherlands Antilles, until they split up. The friendly partition of Sint Maarten / Saint Martin remains to this day and the two separate nations coexist in contrast but harmony.
Maho Beach#
Maho Beach, or also called just `Airport Beach`, situated on the west coast of the island of St. Maarten is definitely THE highlight of the whole island - at least in terms of (free) entertainment. Visitors come here to experience the incomparable view, force, noise and adrenalin when huge passenger aircrafts descent towards Princess Juliana Airport, just meters above one`s head, to finally touch ground on the runway.YouTube Clips from St. Marteen#
- 10 Best things to do (5:00)
- Downtown Philipsburg (6:46)
- Enjoy and shop St. Martin (3:05)
Philipsburg#
Philipsburg is the capital and main town of Sint Maarten, situated at Great Bay on the southern part of the island. Because of the countless duty-free goods in numerous boutiques and duty-free tax-free policies, St. Maarten / St. Martin 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.
A bit sadly though we leave the fantastic and wonderful Island of Sint Maarten (Saint Martin) to continue our journey to Antigua, where we make port in the capital of St. John`s. Travel distance is 100 nautical miles (= 185 kilometers).
Back to St. Thomas
Back to Overview