Things a first time visitor to ST Maarten/ST Martin may want to know.
Travel Tips
For those arriving on island for a stay longer than a cruiser that may make your visit easier;
(By the way there is nothing wrong with those who choose to cruise, is a great way to get a taste of the islands and know where you may wish to go back to.)
When preparing to travel;
Pack half the clothes you think you will need and twice the money!!!!
Seriously you can easily go to SXM for a week with just a carry on suitcase per person
Pick up a free map at the airport. They are pretty rudimentary but will more than do the trick to get around the island.
Rent a car, this may be a topic that many will not agree with but the island is easy to get around on and taxi’s will add up quickly. Price of rentals are pretty cheap compared to a week of taxi rides.
The traffic flow is like that of the US or Canada…they don’t drive on the left!!
If a driver gives you a toot of the horn he isn’t angry with you, rather greeting you or saying go ahead and merge in front of me.
If you are in a hotel or timeshare, don’t sweat the view. If you have ocean view enjoy it to the fullest but most visitors to the island spend a lot of their daytime either in town shopping or lying on a beach. You wont spend enough time in your room to let the lack of a postcard like view ruin your vacation
Shopping:
When shopping in Philipsburg or Marigot. Dress appropriately, this means no swimwear and bring comfortable shoes you will do lots of walking.
If you are looking for jewelry or electronics price what you want to buy at home and on the internet. You can find some incredible jewelry bargains but you can be taken just as easily.
The jewelry stores do bargain with you so the first price isn’t the last
Liquor (other than rum and tequila) is very cheap in SXM.
Dinner out.
This island is world famous for the quality of food.
Be kind to the folks running the restaurant and dress appropriately. Again at a decent place, no bathing suit or flipflops (shower shoes). Casual dress is appropriate anywhere an example for men would be a polo shirt and cargo shorts with nice sandals or dock shoes, an example for women would be shorts and a nice top, a sun dress or skirt and top…women can get away with flipflops if they are fancy
Tipping is a touchy subject. On the French side tipping in many cases is included in the bill and if you get good service a small extra gratuity is appreciated. On the Dutch side unless noted on the bill most time is left to your descression.
Beaches
There are some fantastic beaches on island. Get out and visit different ones, if you don’t like the way one looks or is too crowded simply move on to another beach
Sunscreen,
We have found that each morning after out shower, before we get dressed we help each other cover the entirety of our bodies with sunscreen and then let it fully dry before putting on our suit. This allows for two things…1. help from your partner so you don’t miss a spot and end up with a big red burnt spot somewhere you couldn’t reach or forgot and 2. if you do decide to display a bit more skin at one of the clothing optional beaches mentioned below, you have the first coverage already.
We use continuous spray sunscreen to reapply while on the beach, this type of spray
helps so we don't rub sand or dried salt into our pores, just spray and go!
French beaches,
Are..European style and you will see topless women, no you don't have to go topless
but ladies fell free to do so if you wish. If partial or total nudity offends you or makes
you uncomfortable,simply don't visit the French side beaches, stick to the Dutch side
though you may see some topless women there too though they are few and far between.
Dutch side beaches are more conservative, there is some topless ladies but for the most part it is frowned upon…so if a lady wishes to remove her top to sun herself it would be in most cases best to visit a French beach.
Cupecoy beach is on the Dutch side but is a beach where complete nudity has been
accepted.
This beach is an exception on the Dutch side don’t push it at other Dutch beaches you
could end up embarrassed or ticketed.
Nudity is only acceptable on two beaches, Orient (at Club O) and Cupecoy.
You may however see some at Baie Rouge, Plum Baie and Happy Baie, these beaches
are sometimes regulated by the Gendarmes, if you are asked to cover up it would be in
your best interest to do so but there are people that will push this envelope.
If an all over tan is your thing, stick to Orient or Cupecoy and you wont have issues.
You should however be warned that there are men that in some places hide in the
bushes and stare at people while pleasuring themselves.
To this point they are pretty much harmless pervs but it can be a bit un-nerving.
Sight Seeing;
There are some fun places to go to capture great pictures and some great activities to do.
We try to do something new or different on each visit.
There are old forts on both sides of the island. The one on the hill above Marigot has a spectacular view of the city and port below. I mention sight seeing because we do as I said above try to see one new cultural thing each visit but it becomes increasingly more difficult as lying in the sun and enjoying the beach take up more and more of our time on each visit.
Crime;
You are on vacation, remember to keep your wits about you, don’t just check out and leave common sense at home. Not unlike any other place in the world, ST Maarten does have crime…Try not to purposely put yourself in harm’s way. If something doesn’t feel right, guess what it probably isn’t. Most tourists find the island pretty safe and don’t run into any issues. With the advent of chat pages and public forums crime has become a larger concern as everything is reported almost immediately
Some very basic safety pointers;
In your residence; Don’t leave windows and doors unlocked and if on a first or second floor even open when you are not there. If you bring a nice camera, laptop and of course a large chunk of money….use the safe if one is provided.
Car rental; Leave NOTHING in your rental car!!! Car break-ins are the most common form of crime against tourists. Currently the Dutch side license plates first digit for rental cars is an R so is easy target for those looking to shop from your car while you leave it parked. This is supposed to be changing with the issuance of new plates but I don’t know when the change in plates will occur. Currently rental companies with French plates don’t have that indicator on them. We have chosen to rent form those that have their business on the French side.
On the beach; Pay attention to your beach bag. If both of you are in the water away from your bag…that leaves easy pickings for a petty thief. If on a busy beach, make friends with those around you and ask them to watch your bag for you and return the favor. If on a secluded beach, you may want to have one person remain with your bag unless of course there is nothing in it. Many will get a small waterproof bag that they can carry car keys and money as well as a credit card with them. I always take a camera to the beach so we watch our bag closely.
Shopping; There is great shopping in Philipsburg and Marigot. There are also lots of people especially when lots of cruise ships are in. My tip here is no purse for the ladies and carry money in your front pocket instead of back.
You may face three issues.
a. The first is timeshare hawkers they are persistent with scratch off tickets or promises of money and or prizes if you take a short tour of the timeshare…2 hours will be 4 or more and a large part of your day shot. Unless you are interested in buying, don’t bother.
b. The second is the folks trying to sell you drugs, we have never been approached with any more than would you like to buy some pot. A simple no thanks and they leave you alone.
c.The third is self inflicted. Nearly every store, in Dutch Philipsburg, you spend any time in will offer you something to drink, beer, wine, rum ….. be careful, lots of folks have ended up with thousand dollar bottles of beer as they will fill you full to a point that you say awe what the heck and plunk down a credit card for a purchase that you know you probably shouldn’t have made. The second part of that is if you are staying on island, you will need to drive back to your villa, resort or hotel…drinking and driving don’t mix any better on island than they would have at home.
Please keep in mind that these are my opinions and only meant to assist those that may be new to the island and it's ways.
Most of all, Relax and enjoy…..