• St Lucian cuisine:
The island is widely known for its hundreds of gourmet (and more moderately priced) restaurants on both sides of the island.
• Shopping: Shopping on St Maarten and Saint Martin offers duty-free goods in numerous boutiques. Popular goods include local crafts & arts, exotic foods, jewelry, liquor, tobacco, leather goods, as well as most designer goods. Most often the designer goods are offered at significant discounts, often up to 40% lower than US retail prices.
As a consequence of the dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles, the Netherlands Antillean guilder will cease to be legal tender and be replaced by the Caribbean guilder in 2012. Almost every store on the island also accepts the United States dollar, although sometimes a more expensive exchange rate is used (even 1 to 1 is no exception).
• Places to Visit: Philipsburg, Marigot, Maho Beach, Front Street for shopping,
St Maarten Itinerary
Arrive Philipsburg
08:00 EDT
Depart Philipsburg
18:00 EDT
Click picture above for live webcam of the harbour at Philipsburg which refreshes its still image every 60 seconds
Geographical Alignment: 18°04′N 63°03′W
Time Band: 4 hours behind UK GMT (EDT - 1) and
5 hours behind UK BST (British Summer Time) (EDT)
St Maarten does not alter its clocks for daylight saving as it is so close to the equator
Because the island is located along the intertropical convergence zone, it is occasionally menaced by tropical storm activity in the late summer and early fall.
Saint Martin has a land area of 87 km2, 53 km2 of which is under the sovereignty of France,[1] and 34 km² under the sovereignty of the Netherlands.[2]
The main cities are Philipsburg (Dutch side) and Marigot (French side). While the city with the highest population, Marigot, lies on the French side, the Dutch side is more heavily populated.
The highest hilltop is the Pic Paradis (424 m) on center of a hill chain (French side). There are no rivers on the island, but many dry guts. Hiking trails give access to the dry forest covering tops and slopes.
Grenada
