St. Maarten / St. Martin Info In Detail:

St. Maarten / St. Martin Info In Detail:

• WHAT THE ISLAND IS LIKE:

SXM has that special flavor that sets it apart from its neighbors - its genuinely friendly people, its incredible world-class restaurants, its breathtaking beaches, and its amazing shopping. St. Maarten / St. Martin really is everything you could wish for in a great Caribbean destination.

They call it the "Friendly Island" and it certainly is that, but it could just as easily be called the Rainbow Island, the Butterfly Island, the Flower Island, or the Beach island, because it's loaded with all those things.

This writer spends a lot of time on St. Maarten and is updating this site continuously. What follows is his St. Maarten story.
  

CURRENT ST. MAARTEN WEATHER:
See the complete current weather forecast for St. Maarten here.

Picture in your mind an idyllic tropical island... caressed by gentle trade winds year round... blessed by crystal clear turquoise waters... covered in a lush blanket of rich, colorful vegetation. . . inhabited by people with whom you can build long-lasting friendships... with beaches so numerous you could spend each day on a different one for a month and never get bored or see them all. Take a look: click the arrow in this photo to see St. Maarten "Pictures of Paradise": (contains steel band music)

Now picture yourself on a warm tropical beach, with great snorkeling nearby... the scent of freshly grilled local fish, steaks, or Caribbean lobster wafting down the beach... and the cooling pleasure of a Carib, Red Stripe, ice-cold Heineken, or an unusual, delicious, but potent Ponche Kuba...

Add to all that the excitement of the island's two main cities, French Marigot and Dutch Philipsburg, or the sheer gastronomic indulgence of the village of Grand Case. In Marigot and Philipsburg, you can buy anything from T-shirts and simple souvenirs to world-class artwork, fine jewelry at low Caribbean prices, or designer pocketbooks for much less than you'd pay at home. (Our shopping pages tell you far more.)

Golf. Tennis. Every conceivable watersport. Horseback riding. Hang gliding. Skydiving. Ultralights. They're all here in St. Maarten/St. Martin, the half-Dutch, half French, thoroughly delightful island which sits between the Caribbean sea and the Atlantic Ocean.

In more than 30 years of visits here, I've never quite figured out what my favorite thing is about this island. Beaches? Maybe. The far western end of Cupecoy beach, with its sandstone cliffs and oceanfront caves, is one of the most strikingly beautiful you will ever see anywhere, including Tahiti. But Happy Bay, which I first hiked to years ago from the northern end of Friars Bay, is equally gorgeous. Learn more about both on our beaches page.

Shopping? Everything you want is right here, on either side of the island.

But I think it's really the restaurants that do it for me. The variety is endless and the quality, absolutely incredible. This little island has over four hundred restaurants. Or . . . is it the sunsets? Or the rainbows? Hmmm... this may just require a raft of return visits.... (Much more below.)

We update this site as frequently as possible while continuing to give high-quality service to our PR, marketing communications, and website creation clients here at home in the US. More is below...but please look:
  

• WHO WROTE THIS -- AND WHY

Jeff Berger's JMB Communications is a Massachusetts-based PR, marketing communications, and Website / Web content creation company working with technology, hospitality, financial, and other B2B and B2C clients worldwide. In 1995, Jeff wrote a story about St. Maarten as a JMB Communications writing sample and submitted it and the rest of the site to many search engines. As luck would have it, it has since evolved into by far the largest, most complete "SXM" (St. Maarten)-oriented site in the world, and has now been visited by more than one million island travelers. Learn more about us.

THIS SITE IS 100% FREE... but for access to truly low airfares and many other useful benefits, consider joining "JMB Website Supporters" (description below). You can also help keep this site live by downloading and buying one of our inexpensive island screensavers, or some of our SXM souvenir Euro-oval car stickers, St. Maarten souvenir t-shirts, tank tops, or sweatshirts.

WHAT'S NEW: This entire site is updated constantly.

• Weather year-round is summery. More breezes will be found in "winter" but even then, the temp is in the mid to upper 80s daytimes and in the mid-70s at night. Tradewinds come from the SE, so eastern-facing beaches are breezier. More info on beaches is below.
   

• HOW TO GET THERE -- BEST SOURCES OF LOW-COST AIRLINE TICKETS:  To see airfare information and to get phone numbers where you can buy dependably low airfares, click deals on air travel.
   
• IMPORTANT NOTE: We can save you hundreds of dollars on airfares and hundreds more on hotels / timeshare rentals and car rentals AND phone calls home through our low-cost premium St. Maarten membership organization, JMB Website Supporters. Our special JMB members-only "secret" site lists more than a dozen and a half sources of low airfares you can tap every day of every week, even in high season. It will pay you many times over to join. Details are here.
   
• Car Rentals: You can't do justice to your SXM vacation without a car! Check out this list of the best car rental companies -- includes phone numbers / fax numbers. Tropical/Tropicana is our favorite. They have many new air-conditioned Nissan Platinas, Toyota Corollas and Jeep-like vehicles AND "spacevans" for bigger groups. Great folks and EXCELLENT rates.  You can reserve a car right from your computer. Very quick. You have a confirmation in a few days. Need faster response? Just use the phone numbers we give you.
   
•  TAXI FARES for those who don't rent cars or who come on cruises -- visit the SXM Taxi Association site. Rates are posted. (Site is not always up.)
   
• Where to stay... our new separate section gives you tons of accommodations information along with complete access to low rates at excellent hotels, villas, timeshare resorts, and guest houses. For all our accommodations information, click here. This page now includes a link to a long list of timeshare condos for rent at very reasonable prices by timeshare owners! We've also added contact info for American University of the Caribbean medical students and others seeking long-term accommodations. You can also rent or buy timeshare condominiums from their owners. 
   
• Discount Hotel Reservations for dozens of great places all over the island are now available right here on our site Click here.
   
• Gorgeous Beaches Where they are, what they're like, plus pictures and lots of links. Yes, we "cover" SXM's  premiere clothing optional beach, Orient. There's a LOT of information here. Frequently updated. Note: page contains some innocent nudity. If you're offended, don't look and don't visit the clothing optional beaches. Updated continuously.
  
  Your camera can be on autopilot. This picture, shot from Cay Bay hill, will appear in an upcoming all-new JMB Communications St. Maarten screensaver. All photos are copyright ? JMB Communications, 2006. World rights reserved; reproduction strictly prohibited. Photography: Jeff Berger
   
• Our Favorite Restaurants Lots of them, all over the island, are covered in mouth-watering detail here. You're invited to print out our dining pages and take them with you on your trip. (Lots of people call them "Jeff's Bible.")  We're updating this as you read it in early 2004 from St. Maarten (where else?) We're adding new pictures, new links to restaurant websites, and even dining coupons. We have phone numbers for many restaurants including virtually ALL of the restaurants of Grand Case (and a great picture of Grand Case at night). This has always been a very popular part of our SXM site, we hope you like it! NOTE: The numbers shown for French side restaurants are correct, but see above (under "first things first") for dialing instructions from the US. Dialing to the French side recently changed.
   
• REAL ESTATE FOR SALE, homes and condos -- with lots of pictures.
   
• HURRICANE INFORMATION & CURRENT ST. MARTIN / ST. MAARTEN WEATHER: We just thoroughly updated our hurricane / weather page. It not only tells you about current SXM weather and gives you access to local forecasts, it also now has about the most complete Caribbean hurricane information you'll find on the Internet. There are four constantly updated components: a tropical weather forecast, an infrared weather map, two different color satellite images, and now a brand-new downloadable official NOAA hurricane tracking chart -- all free.
   
• About your Safety SXM has a low crime rate, but you should exercise certain cautions anyway. The message: here as anywhere else, use common sense.
   
• HELP FOR TRAVELERS WITH DISABILITIES: Laura and Marty Van Veen recently returned from a SXM honeymoon. Marty has chronic progressive Multiple Sclerosis. In this story, Laura offers tips for people with disabilities on how to prepare for travel to SXM -- and how to deal with common challenges. We congratulate Marty and Laura and thank them for sharing their insights and experiences!
   
• Want to WORK IN ST MAARTEN? It's not easy to qualify. Some people work under the table but, because of the world situation, police and immigration officials on both sides of the island are cracking down on, and deporting, illegals. Work requirements are here. 

  JOIN JMB WEBSITE SUPPORTERS AND SAVE! Discount Airfare Year-Round! Deep Discounts on Car Rentals  Cheap Phone Calls Home Low-Cost Hotel and Timeshare & Lots of Freebies CLICK HERE

• THINK YOU KNOW SXM? Then try our SXM Crossword Puzzle! Note: In MS Internet Explorer, click VIEW - TEXT SIZE - LARGEST before printing so you can best see the numbers in this puzzle. The puzzle is 350K so it takes a moment to appear for dialup users.
   
• Shopping: The island offers outstanding bargains -- particularly on high-quality jewelry. For the best places to get souvenirs, jewelry, cover-ups for the beach, fine wines, gourmet foods, perfumes, couture, and much more, see our shopping pages. One of the Jewelry stores is now offering a FREE SWATCH WATCH with any purchase over $250 (and the store just so happens to be the best place on the island to get quality jewelry at bargain prices.) See the coupon on our shopping pages. 
   
• NEW Touring St. Maarten/St. Martin - Lagoon Cruises - Sunset Cruises - Cigarette Boat Charters -- Trips to Neighboring Islands - Deep Sea Fishing -- SCUBA/Snorkeling Where to go, what to see, what to do info in all these categories is now combined on our updated touring page. Click here. If you want a guided tour, start at the Wathey Pier in the center of Philipsburg and hire a jitney. Don't forget the Zoo / St. Maarten Park -- see our zoo page.
   
• Scuba Diving: Go here and scroll halfway down the page.
   
• More about TOURING... We recently introduced BUTTERFLIES, BEASTS, and BENEATH, a screensaver with lots of pictures from THE BUTTERFLY FARM, exotic tropical animals from the St. Maarten Zoo, and lots of incredible SCUBA photography shot off SXM by Ric Hetzel of Ric's Place. More than 40 pictures total. For more information or to download our BUTTERFLIES, BEASTS, and BENEATH screensaver, go to our download page.
   
• St. Maarten Shopping / Dining Destination Websites: A number of restaurants and shops in SXM have great websites where you'll learn a lot about the businesses. Here are a few: 

Tropical-Tropicana Car Rental, La Gondola Restaurant, Le Montmartre Restaurant,  Blooming Baskets by Lisa which offers eye-popping flowered raffia handbags, Peg Leg Pub & Steakhouse,  Spiga in Grand Case, Ric's Place American Cafe (Tex-Mex) & Sports Bar, Taloula Mango's Caribbean Cafe, and Daniel's By The Sea . See more here.

• Entertainment is to be found both in the Maho district and on the Marigot waterfront, and on Orient Beach at Boo-Boo Jam's and elsewhere. Ask your hotel activities person. See the St. Maarten Entertainment Calendar. If it appears small, click to enlarge.
   
• Ever wonder what wildlife is here? Here's a page about St. Maarten / St. Martin wildlife. Click here.
   
• Hair & Massage: Go where Queen Beatrix goes, Hairlusions / Marie Antoinette's salon on Airport Road near Laguna Restaurant. Great work -- and massages are available too.
   
• Buying wine or champagne? Or dining in your condo or hotel room? Get some great wine to go with your dinner! Wonderful wine, fabulous champagne...  Make your occasion very special with the advice of the Sommelier at Vinissimo, The Wine and Spirits Boutique in Marigot, Saint Martin, across the corner from Change Point at Marina Port La Royale. Bring a printout of this page and you get free delivery (sorry, on the island only) and free wine tasting (ditto) and even 10% off your order. Best place on the island to get wine. Also....here's some news about buying more than a couple of bottles, from the owners of Vinissimo: We do case-discounts, if you're buying a case for souvenirs or lunches at the beach. We're a duty-free Island, but you will pay duty coming into USA on any bottles exceeding your two-bottle quota. The duty is usually a bargain, 10% of the wholesale cost (save your receipt) which is likely to be way below cost in the USA. One way to max your value on duty-free is to buy and declare under your duty free allowance two quarts of more expensive products like Cognac, Armagnac (our Vinissimo specialties include single-estate, vintage Armagnacs), or Champagne -- which can be half what you pay in the States. Then pay the 10% duty on your $5-$10/bottle wines. That's our suggestion and it also works for perfume which is a great buy here and there's a limit on total # oz. you can take back without duties. Vinissimo tel., 00590-590-87-70-78. 

• Motorcycle Rentals are available but if you're not experienced, don't do it. Occasional unexpected potholes are not fun on bikes. Neither are widely scattered tropical showers (no overpasses here to wait under.) You can rent a Harley on the Union Road in Cole Bay; local # is 011-599-554-2779. We've never rented one so they don't know us, but you can tell them anyway. :)

• Are You Into Sports? Go to Ric's Place on the lagoon side of Airport Road in Simpson Bay, near the drawbridge -- a great Tex-Mex restaurant and the island's first and only REAL sports bar. Lots of big-screen TVs. Visit www.ricsplace-sxm.com. Also check out The Best Place to Get Sports Memorabilia on the Web, which is my son's popular site on e-bay. When you go to Ric's, say HI to Ric and Kathy for us! (They're open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.) 
   
• CONVINCED OF JUST HOW USEFUL THIS SITE IS? Then download and buy our screensaver to thank us!
   
• ARE YOU A FREQUENT SXM VISITOR? Want to "give something back" to the island?  If you love St. Maarten and want to do something to help its people, please consider a contribution to SAFE HAVEN.  SAFE HAVEN is a nonprofit organization founded in 1999. SAFE HAVEN's mission is to provide safety, counseling, educational and supportive services to women and their children who are in a battering, abusive, or violent relationship.  It is the only facility of its kind on the island and the work they are doing to raise domestic violence awareness is tremendous.  In addition to educational and counseling services, SAFE HAVEN is a residential facility open to victims of domestic abuse 24 hours a day, seven days a week.  The funding from the government of Sint Maarten is very small, so private donations are needed and greatly appreciated.  If you would like to contribute to the important work of this organization, contributions may be made directly into the account of the SAFE HAVEN FOUNDATION at the Bank of Nova Scotia or can be mailed directly to SAFE HAVEN at P.O. Box 166, Sint Maarten, Netherlands Antilles. Thanks in advance for your thoughtfulness!
   
• Ocean Sunsets can be seen from lots of places. Our favorite solitary location: the end of the jetty at Pelican Resort, off Pelican Beach. Lots of people love the Sunset Beach Bar just outside Caravanserai Resort near the airport, or from the seawall at Maho Beach next to the bar. Exotic location: try Pic Paradis. Early in February we saw the "blue-green flash" instantly after sunset from Maho Beach. Sunset Beach Bar can be . . . different. The crowd here isn't particularly inhibited. :) Don't forget our St. Maarten screensavers...they offer beautiful on-screen memories of SXM sunsets and more. Details on downloading are on our download page...
   
• Casinos are plentiful on the Dutch side. The poshest is the Princess Casino at Port de Plaisance, and Dolphin Casino in the theater complex near Burger King in Simpson Bay is the newest (moved from its old location at Caravanserai). Casino Royale in Maho is also very nice.
   
• Do you sometimes forget things when packing? If you've ever traveled and realized you forgot something only when you badly needed it....click here to access our Packing List. Feel free to print it out & use it on your next trip.
   
• The Daily Herald is St. Maarten's newspaper. Click here to see them online.
• For many more SXM links, visit our links page.
• OUR 2007 VIDEO (Shot February 2007 in St. Maarten/St. Martin): see it on Google, here.

• Lots more: What can you expect to find out from this website? Besides everything listed above and in the "QuickLINKS" list below, our site will show you such diverse things as:

   --phoning to make a reservation for a taxi in St. Martin (French Side) or St. Maarten (Dutch Side) or booking a taxi in St. Martin (yes, they are different)

  --doing a rental in St. Martin / St. Martin (car, villa, motorcycle, etc.)

  --buying real estate on the island of Saint Martin

  --finding a list of villas for rent in St. Martin and St. Maarten

  --finding vacation packages and even wine tours (Caribbean wine tours coming soon)

  --where you can rent a convertible in Saint Martin

  --Philipsburg St. Maarten diamond prices (they are cheap if you go where we suggest)

  --Philipsburg benefits: great beach, amazing shopping, fine restaurants, fun people watching, easy access to taxis to book St. Martin and St. Maarten island tours, lively beachfront entertainment

  --cruise excursions in St. Maarten (sometimes erroneously referred to as "St. Maartens")

  --Creole Rock, SXM (ask at your hotel -- excursions available)

  --Caribbean maps you can print out and take with you

  --a map of all the Caribbean Sea islands / countries of the Caribbean

  --where you can rent a Jeep-like vehicle in St. Martin

  --renting an economy car in Saint Martin / St. Maarten (most rentals are economical)

  --timeshares for sale / timeshares for rent St. Maarten / St. Martin (see the vertical navigation bar on the top of this page)

  --condos for sale / rent in St. Maarten / St. Martin (lots of new ones, covered in St. Maarten Weekly News -- see top of page to subscribe)

  --pet-friendly Caribbean resorts (coming soon)

  --new condos in St. Maarten (our St. Maarten Weekly News covers them frequently)

  --rentals for Caribbean vacations (timeshare condos, villas, non-timeshare condos, even beach chairs)

  --St. Maarten transportation (bus services and taxis; again see our newsletter, to which you can subscribe at the top of this page)

  --Caribbean cruise package vacations (often in our free newsletter)

  --All hotels from Sonesta Great Bay Beach and Casino St. Maarten (south side, Philipsburg) to the new Radisson St. Martin Resort in Anse Marcel (north) to the Westin St. Maarten on the east side at Dawn Beach to the Sonesta Maho Beach Resort and Wyndham Sapphire Beach Resort on the west coast

  --businesses for sale in St. Maarten (frequently in our St. Maarten newsletter)

  --secluded Caribbean resorts (like Summit Resort, our favorite)

  --Buccaneer Beach Bar SXM (just sold --did you buy it?)

  --SXM sailing America's Cup (ask your concierge)

  --St. Maarten weather and hurricane information including radar loops and live satellite images, forecasts, and observations

  --cheap travel (through JMB Website Supporters); low airfares and very low-cost stays at top hotels and timeshares ($449 per room, per week); "cheap" prices at quality hotels (not cheap hotels, just cheap prices)

  --What is the location of Saint Martin FWI and St. Maarten NA: northeastern Caribbean ("Saint Martin" is not in the Antilles and "Sint Maarten" is not in the French West Indies)

  --honeymoon at all-inclusive or non-all-inclusive resorts in the Caribbean

  --Caribbean resorts and vacations

  --Orient Beach SXM vacation snaps are in our free videos (scroll up for our free St. Maarten video)

  --SXM election news

  --Little Bay diving (ask at Divi Little Bay beach resort)

  -- Sint Maarten / Saint Martin is your vacation island!

  *At this writing some round trip fares from U. S. cities to St. Maarten are under $300 including all taxes and fees, and many more are $301-$399 including all taxes and fees.