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St Martin/Sint Marteen-Anyone ever been?

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We had our charter boat all set up for Marsh Harbor Bahamas next year and now it looks like it is out of the picture for awhile. While I do want to help them rebuild by spending my money there I just don't see that as realistic for 2020.
We are looking at going to St Martin next July instead. Anyone ever been there? What are the myst do's and dont's?
Open to other ideas as well in the Caribbean at this point.
Thanks in advance.
 

HallettBill

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BVI for boating is heaven. Been twice and can’t wait to go back.
 

Just Ducky

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Been to St. Marten twice and it was very nice.DId the pirate ship sunset cruise and all the other sight seeing stuff.Water was excellent for diving and had a good time but I will never go back again. AFter the devastating hurricane a few years ago the locals ran amuck and were rioting and robbing the poor tourists who were stuck there due to the airport being damaged.No way I'm spending my money there again after hearing about all that bullshit.Their economy depends on the tourism industry and when shit hit the fan they showed their true colors. Fuck that.
 

beaverretriever

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St Martin is great, but we still like Aruba better.

* Aruba has much better less crowded beaches although we spent most of our time on the Renaissance private island.

* Better weather with less rain any time of the year. It's basically 85 degrees 365 with sun.

* Safer. Good and bad. Meaning you see more local culture in St Martin, but it also isn't as safe.

* Aruba is super friendly. Martin was friendly but nothing like Aruba.

* The adults only Renaissance is probably the best value of any hotel we have ever stayed at anywhere. The private island with the flamingos is incredible.

* We thought food was great at both. We don't really go to high end restaurants when on vacation. We like more local beach bar places and such with sea food. We thought both were similar, but most people say Martin is better food wise.

I also felt Aruba was an amazing value. We were so surprised how inexpensive everything was. Probably the best value in terms of any place we have ever been tropical vacation wise.

Plus they are not in the hurricane belt and rarely get hit.


None of these photos have a filter. Yes, the water does really look like that.
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View attachment 800848
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This boat comes in to the hotel to pick you up an take you to the private island. If you stay at the hotel, it's free. To go to it as a guest it's like a 110.00 a day or something like that.
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Perlmudder

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Are you planning on chartering a boat, or just picking an island to stay on?
 

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BVI for boating is heaven. Been twice and can’t wait to go back.
Agreed. We chartered in the BVI last year. Went back to Belize this year and already had our charter set up and almost paid for it out of Marsh Harbor Bahamas until the hurricane hit.

Been to St. Marten twice and it was very nice.DId the pirate ship sunset cruise and all the other sight seeing stuff.Water was excellent for diving and had a good time but I will never go back again. AFter the devastating hurricane a few years ago the locals ran amuck and were rioting and robbing the poor tourists who were stuck there due to the airport being damaged.No way I'm spending my money there again after hearing about all that bullshit.Their economy depends on the tourism industry and when shit hit the fan they showed their true colors. Fuck that.
Good to know about the locals thru colors. French side I assume? :D The Dutch side would kind of surprise me but who knows what people are capable of under trying times. We wouldn't be there during hurricane season so that shouldn't be a problem but your comment might have us looking at St Barths, St Kitts, Anguilla, Turks and Caicos or one of the other islands.
We have family that have said St Lucia and The Grenadines are very cool too.


St Martin is great, but we still like Aruba better.

* Aruba has much better less crowded beaches although we spent most of our time on the Renaissance private island.

This boat comes in to the hotel to pick you up an take you to the private island. If you stay at the hotel, it's free. To go to it as a guest it's like a 110.00 a day or something like that.
View attachment 800864

We have already been to Aruba and liked it as well, at least on the Western side. The Eastern side was like a trash dump from all the shit and trash the ships dump overboard. It was unbelievable really. No thanks to that side anyways.
 

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Was just in St Martin in February. The Dutch side is almost completely rebuilt, and operating...the French side, not so much.

We stayed one night on the Dutch side, and the rest on a sailboat. We sailed to Anguilla, and St Barths...if was a great trip, but you can still see signs of the hurricane at times.
 

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Are you planning on chartering a boat, or just picking an island to stay on?
Our crew is looking at just staying on an Island next year and chartering back in the BVI again in 2021 or maybe the Bahamas depending on how fast they recover. If it was up to me, I could do the BVI a several times a year on a charter and have considered even buying a power cat there once we actually retire. If we could own a piece of land in Belize so that I could get my Belizean Boat Masters License we could just travel from Belize to different parts of the Caribbean for a few years and I would be in heaven. Have to wait and see what life brings between now and then.
 

beaverretriever

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We have already been to Aruba and liked it as well, at least on the Western side. The Eastern side was like a trash dump from all the shit and trash the ships dump overboard. It was unbelievable really. No thanks to that side anyways.

When we went they actually had a recent clean up and not a spec of trash in site. There has been issues, but mostly from stuff washing up and not actually being dumped.

Not sure how it is now since it has been a few years since we were there (2017)

Not just Aruba, but many small islands have lots of trash issues. Good article about Aruba and recycling.

https://www.caribbean-beat.com/issue-135/garbage-recycling#axzz60Nqx1nPf

Funny you like Belize as it's extremely dirty and known to be dirty. Definitely more third world than either St. Martin or Aruba.
 
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When we went they actually had a recent clean up and not a spec of trash in site. There has been issues, but mostly from stuff washing up and not actually being dumped.

Not sure how it is now since it has been a few years since we were there (2017)

Not just Aruba, but many small islands have lots of trash issues. Good article about Aruba and recycling.

https://www.caribbean-beat.com/issue-135/garbage-recycling#axzz60Nqx1nPf

Funny you like Belize as it's extremely dirty and known to be dirty. Definitely more third world than either St. Martin or Aruba.

Your right about Belize being a developing country for sure. Population is less than 400,000 for the whole country so there are alot of areas for improvement and growth potential but the exchange rate and tax advantages for QRP and Dual Citizens really make it alluring for me right now.
We haven't bought anything down there yet but we are really looking at it very closely.
 
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