Rats!!! I daresay that most know of them, but few talk of them. If you haven't seen them, you haven't been looking - which is just as well, I suppose. I understand that every Caribbean island has them, and St. Martin is no exception.
My most memorable experience was of walking back to GCBC one night in the fall of 2013 (or was it 2014?), following an absolutely wonderful dining experience at one of the premier Grand Case restaurants. As we walked along the dark stretch (about three blocks) between Spiga corner and GCBC, right about at Le Esplanade's driveway, I glanced up for some reason and there was a big brown and white rat keeping pace with us as it trotted along the telephone wire about 15 feet overhead. Mrs. Alaskan freaked out, but I thought it was really cool. Our "Fellow Traveler" jumped off the wire when he/she reached an intervening branch from a fruit tree. When we got to the resort entrance a minute or so later, I told the securiy guard what we had seen, thinking it was a really unique experience. He just laughed, saying the guards watch them using the wires as party highways almost every night.
Does anyone else have an experience to relate? I've got more, but you've got the idea ... By the way, as far as I'm concerned, they are all legitimate residents of our ecosystem, and as far as I know, none of them are named Cecil.