The wife and I had been looking forward to increasing the frequency of our trips to SXM once we finally became empty nesters in August of 2017! Great timing

We've been back 3 times since Irma, but now stay on the Dutch side instead of the French. The lack of progress at the airport is mildly disappointing, but at least it functions for its intended purpose, so no complaints there. The rebuilding effort and results on the Dutch side are noticeable. Its coming back, and is still a great place to visit, and in the last few trips we've been to beaches and restaurants we never visited before. We'll be back again.

That said, the lack of progress on the French side is ridiculous, depressing, infuriating, bewildering, ... you name it. Just an observation, but it seems like with a few notable exceptions there is a general lack of will to improve the situation, and no one really seems to care. That's on both the government and the people of St Martin, native and metropolitan. Everyone seems to want to point fingers and demand action from someone else. Everything is someone else's problem. There are exceptions, but they only prove the rule.