The island of Saint Martin is divided roughly in half between France and the Netherlands. The northern side of the island is French and is known as Saint Martin, while the southern side of the island is Dutch and is known as Sint Maarten. This division dates back to 1648 when France and the Netherlands drew out plans to split the island and then signed a partition treaty to establish the boundaries.
But legend has it that a Frenchman and a Dutchman were placed back-to-back and told to walk around the island in opposite directions. Where they met on the other side of the island was where the division was to be drawn. Apparently, the Dutchman stopped to have a couple of drinks along the way, which allowed the Frenchman to walk a greater distance and claim more territory. Regardless of how the island was divided, it is a bonus for travelers to be able to visit two distinct foreign counties all in one place.
On our second day in St. Martin, we decided to move to the Dutch side of the island because our anchorage was extremely rolly and we weren’t getting any protection from the northeasterly winds. So we moved from Marigot Bay on the north side to Simpson Bay on the south (locations are shown on the map).
Once anchored in Simpson Bay, the first order of business was to take the Screecher in for repair. We lifted the sail bag and carried the heavy load from the bow of the boat to the stern, down the stairs, and then into the dinghy. Kory dropped it off at Tropical Sail Loft for repairs and headed back to the boat with the good news that it would be fixed in a week.
Then we met Ken and Lynn at the Sint Maarten Yacht Club for lunch, followed by a trip to Market Garden to get a few groceries for our upcoming Easter brunch. We also enjoyed latte’s, cappuccinos, and pastries, trying to mimic the locals.
Our friends on catamaran “Mona Kai” had never met our friends on monohull “Bistari”, so we all decided to arrange an evening out at a fancy Italian restaurant, Amorè. Everyone bonded instantly and had a great time! The food was also incredible! We discovered that St. Martin has many world-class restaurants, and that the Dutch and the French take food seriously!
We enjoyed other special outings with our friends while on the Dutch side, like sampling French pastries (the French must have this mastered), driving through Philipsburg near the cruise ship port, visiting a few duty-free shops, and admiring the mountains, resorts, beaches, and secluded coves along the southern shore.
near the cruise ship port
We enjoyed a wonderful Easter brunch on our boat with our friends. I made cheesy eggs, roasted potatoes, sausage, and coffee cake. Ken and Lynn brought blueberry pancakes and bacon, and Craig and Bobbi brought a wonderful fruit, cheese, and cracker platter. The food was great, but the fellowship was even greater!
It was tricky to bake in our propane oven using only a small oven thermometer to regulate the temperature, but it worked and it tasted great!
The day after Easter, the anchorage became very rolly as two to three-foot swells were wrapping around the southwestern side of the island and rolling into the anchorage. After enduring this for a couple of days, and getting soaked in our dinghy by the swells every time we tried to go into town, we decided it was time to pick up anchor and move to a calmer place.
There are bridges on the north and south sides of St. Martin, one at Marigot Bay on the French side, and one at Simpson Bay on the Dutch side. These bridges allow boaters to go into Great Pond, also known as The Lagoon, where it is much more protected from the wind and the swells, and closer to all the amenities. We were eager for a good night’s sleep without the continual rolling, so we made plans to head into The Lagoon. This process should have been simple, but it turned out to be a six-hour ordeal. Welcome to boat life!
The rule of thumb with customs in St. Martin is that wherever your boat is anchored, that’s where you need to clear customs. Since we were anchored on the French side of The Lagoon, we needed to be cleared with customs on the French side, which we had already done. But even though we were anchored on the French side, we were still permitted to freely visit the Dutch side without having to clear customs on that side as well. There is no border patrol between the two countries, even though both sides are independently governed. We have found that entering and exiting different countries along our journey hasn’t been difficult, but there is a lot of research that needs to be done in advance in order to understand the processes and bureaucracy.
Since we hadn’t stocked up on groceries in weeks, it was time. We went to several stores during our three-week stay in St. Martin, but my favorite turned out to be Carrefour. It is a French grocery chain that operates more than 14,000 stores in more than 40 countries, and it’s the seventh largest retailer in the world by revenue.
The Carrefour store in Cole Bay (on the Dutch side) caters to mega yachts and is a chef’s dream. The selection of international foods was outstanding, and everything I couldn’t find at other stores in The Bahamas, Puerto Rico, or USVI’s, I found at Carrefour. And not only that, but I found ingredients that I’ve never seen before, including new spices, sauces, salts, grains, cheeses, relishes, and roots, and the prices were very reasonable too! I love to cook and experiment with new dishes, so this was an exciting adventure! Kory pushed the cart and patiently waited while I had my shopping excursion!
We enjoyed our time in Sint Maarten, and got a good taste of the Netherlands. There was still a lot more to see and do, but it was time to check out the French side. Allez-y! So let’s go!