I bought into my timeshare at Sapphire Beach Club in October 1994, I arrived back on the St. Maarten October 1995 after 'The three most notable storms during the season were hurricanes Luis, Marilyn, and Opal. ' Orient Beach was destroyed and many of the huts were gone and vegetation was gone and looked similar to Irma destruction but many other places on the island started to grow and develop but on 'island time' slow and steady. I believe that it took about 2-3 years to see actual changes all over the island. By October 1999, I recall being there for Hurricane Jose Category 2.
Having been a time share owner for 23 years and having only miss about 3 trips and being involved in 4-5 hurricanes on the island from Category 2,3,4 and several tropical storms and tropical waves. Time of repairs seem to take longer for repairs with higher Category strengths from several months to 2-5 years to rebuild. The French side was fixed quickly compared to Dutch side. But over the years, both sides seem too help each other with repairs. But in all those years, never has the air port sustained the destruction of this recent hurricane Irma nor the loss of the shipping ports too. Usually with in days or weeks the Island started to rebuild and infrastructure was fixable. My second home at Sapphire Beach Club was of 5% that is still standing and working.