Just a quick post about my 11-25 August trip that may be of use to other first time visitors. I know I had some anxiety about driving, visiting more liberal beaches with my 17 to 30 year old daughters, hurricanes, and credit cards/exchange rate prior to the trip. My opinion only, and is based on my limited initial impression. Your mileage will vary. I’ve traveled extensively in the US and Canada but have rarely ventured elsewhere.
We stayed at the Belair one week and the Royal Palm the other. The natives and tourists were extremely friendly and helpful. Some visitors said they ran into a few French side non-natives that were snobbish.
The Dutch side seems like just another US state. Just about everyone speaks English, except the tourists, and surprisingly many grew up in the US. US dollars are used for currency everywhere (and preferred), therefore there are no currency conversion fees on credit cards. American express was discouraged only because of the AME network error recovery problems/crashes. Discover was readily accepted everywhere. Dutch side stores post most prices in Dutch dollars which can be sticker shock, but the US dollars equivalent is usually in small print. Prices are 10-20% higher than typical New England markets, but some items (tomatoes, steak) can be very high. A lot of small stores don’t price mark, so just ask.
The French side seems to prefer to use Euros, and the conversion fees can add up. If you think spending over $100 US for the average no drink restaurant dinner for two is costly, eating out on the French side has become very costly. I hear there are plenty of roadside BBQ shacks that serve good food.
We took a meal, mostly lunches, at the Divi (expensive BBQ), Gingerbread (Belair BBQ), Peg Leg (Chicken and Steak), Lees (Grilled Ribs, Chicken, Shrimp), Toppers (Mango Chicken, Beef Brisket), The Warf (Seafood), Roys (Anguilla BBQ/Grill), Chesterfields (Lobster), and Jimbos (Fajita). Skipjacks was busy but we didn’t go in there. Lunches at Lees and Toppers were excellent, Peg Legs Mango Chicken was very good, we did not have a bad meal anywhere.
Consensus of the passengers on our plane was that Lees was very good and reasonably priced and that the French side has gotten expensive. Others mentioned Toppers, and the Warf.. Cheris had a good mature audience show at 8 and if you wait till after 9 you may be treated by the Brazilian dancers that often do a small show after their casino routine.
We had 7 family members traveling on three different return flights, both mid week and weekend and none of the luggage made it to connecting flights.
It was off season and Dean being in the area may have affected things but there were plenty of parking everywhere except in Philipsburg and sometimes the Simpson beach restaurant area. Never a problem getting a table and we were often the only table patrons during lunch. Long and Dawn Beaches were pretty much deserted while the busiest Orient and Frys may have had at most 33% of the chairs in use. Effect of Dean was some rain one day and high surf (cloudy water) for a couple days following, the natives seemed unconcerned. Some south facing beaches had plenty of sand moved from one spot to another.
Most clubs don’t seem to open till 10PM and don’t really get hopping to 11 or 12 then run till dawn. Casinos seem to pay out better than the average but weren’t that great. Many of the poker players lack skill and lost their cash quickly to the few that play well.
Some roads are narrow and bumpy, but not that much different than many of the back roads in the Rockies or narrow city alleys. Speed bumps seem to keep speeds down. A good road map is $15, but the free ones are good enough. The island is small and easy to navigate after a day or two of conditioning. I drive routinely in Boston and NYC and I think St Maarten driving is less stressful and similar to any congested area except that most St Maarten drivers share the road. Once you get the convention down, its not a problem, no one tried to run me over or intimidate me. Motor bikes and ATVs typically split lanes, however. Honks are a thank you or friendly greeting. We had no problem getting the rental caravan around the island.
Visited several beaches with the family, little Bay, Big Bay, Simpson, Mullet, Long, Red, Frys, Happy, Dawn, visited Cupecoy and Orient sans family. Long beach was family favorite, good sand, plenty of beach, few visitors. I think we had it all to ourselves for one 3 hour stretch. Dutch side beaches were conservative with rare topless (Mullet), all French side beached had some topless (1-10% perhaps). Orient had many families with young children, more topless (5-15%) than other beaches and some nudity (typically male) on each end of the "public" area. Did not see a ploice presence. Anguilla was even more conservative. Cupecoy was mostly natural (male) when we visited on a Saturday afternoon. Happy beach was secluded except when visited by snorkeling boats.
Snorkeling the reefs around Anguilla ‘s Prickly Pear was just like you see in a good documentary, awesome. The Lombada is a great boat trip, but it is a party boat with plenty of rum punch flowing.
The Frommer's Portable St. Maarten/St. Martin, Anguilla & St. Barts guide and Hunters Adventure Guide to St. Martin & St. Barts were very useful and the latest editions pretty accurate.
The small Zoo (St Maarten Park), was OK, plenty of birds but the highlight was a monkey that threw rocks at the men as they walked by and smiled at the women.
Shopping at Rima (Philipsburg) for souvenirs was OK, $10 for a nice island shirt for example. Some visitors got decent certified diamonds deals on front street. Visitors say the mall in Marrigot was nicely air-conditioned but pricey.
Best grocery was at the Food Center (near the Burger King between Simson Bay and Marigot). CostULess was a Sams/Cosco type store, but without a membership requirement, so its great for bulk purchase.
We took our AT&T cell phones and had no problem anywhere with service. Their advice is to shut them off if not in use as you can get charged three times for calls that go to voice mail. Text messages are 50 cents each, calls are $1.70 to $2.00 per minute depending on plan.
This forum is great, the advice here certainly enhanced our enjoyment of St Maarten, hope to return.
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