If I had plans for a trip to either side of the island right now I would seriously be rethinking those plans regardless of which side I was booked into. For most SXM repeat visitors, a major part of the pleasure in vacationing here is the freedom to wander the island in it’s entirety, or at least it is to me, and for sure, I would NOT feel comfortable exercising that freedom right now. Or trying to.......

I sympathize with the plight of the St. Martiners who have suffered many injustices through the machinations of both their local politicians and France itself and truthfully, this would apply to both sides of the island. I fully respect their right to protest peacefully but personally speaking, I just can’t condone any of the violent actions that have taken place over the past few days. If it were me, jic the present conditions of violent actions continue to occur, I would, at the very least, rebook to the Dutch side of the island and hope things rapidly calm down.

And then there’s the money aspect. There’s no way I could justify spending the kind of money a SXM island vacation costs and having to look over my shoulder for much of the trip while at the same time being deprived of the freedom to enjoy all the island comfortably, knowing full well I could spend a lot less in other locations being landlocked in any of a number of AI resorts.