Cruise Day #2 - Sint Maarten (Dutch Side) or Saint Martin (French Side) June 21, 2015

The morning found us docking in Phiipsburg in Sint Maarten that is the Dutch side of an island owned by two countries.

HISTORY OF THE ISLAND

The history of this island begins in a region of the Amazon jungle known as the Orinco river basin.  The island's first inhabitants were the Arawaks who island hopped to this area more than a thousand years ago. Because of the rich natural salt deposits on the island, it was first named "Sualouiga" meaning "Land of Salt." These peaceful Arawaks were a warrior tribe known as the Caribs who pushed the Arawaks off the island and took it for themselves.

In 1493, Christopher Columbus first sighted the island on November 11which was St. Martins Day. He named the place Isla de San Martin after Saint Martin of Tours. Columbus never landed there and Spain made settlement of the island a low priority. However, the French and Dutch wanted that island because it was roughly midway between their other colonies. The Dutch placed a settlement there in 1631 and built fort Amsterdam to protect from invaders. Now Spain got interested in the island because St. Maartin was rich in salt. The Spanish forces captured St. Maarten from the Dutch in 1633 and they built what is now Old Spanish Fort at Pointe Blanche. The Dutch tried several times to win back the island but were unsuccessful. In the meantime, the war between the Dutch and Spain (The Eighty Years War) ended and the Spanish no longer needed a base in the Caribbean. Also, economically, the island barely made a profit so they abandoned the island in 1648.

With the island again free, the French and Dutch salivated at the opportunity to re-establish colonies. Coming from different directions, it became apparent that neither side would win and the decided to sign a treaty (Treaty of Concordia) in 1648 that divided the island in two. There were continues border disputes over many years that changed the border many times. Finally, the French came out ahead with 20 square miles of territory compared to the Dutch 13 square miles.

The Dutch imported a lot of slaves to raise cotton, tobacco and sugar to the point where the slaves outnumbered the landowners. Slave rebellions occurred and finally slavery was abolished on both sides of the island. With slavery gone, the crops depending on their labor suffered and the economy declined until Si. Martin was declared a duty-free port in 1939. The Dutch focused on tourism in the 1950's with the French following 20 years later. The Princess Juliana International Airport was built in 1943 (see later in the blog post) and became the busiest airport in the eastern Caribbean.

EXPLORING THE ISLAND

When we got off the ship, you exit at a spot where you can either take a water taxi for $7 US/pp for unlimited trips, or you can take a long walk around the Great Bay into town. A the weather was already pretty hot and humid, we opted for a water taxi that takes you downtown where you face a gauntlet of people hawking beach chairs and umbrellas.

Ron and Nancy had an agenda to find the Lazy Lizard Beach Bar & Grill and a special rum merchant that turned out to be closed on Sunday. However, there were plenty of places to purchase special flavored rums and Ron purchased several small bottles for later consumption. During our first pass through the town we could not find the Lazy Lizard but were successful later in the day.

Interesting Balcony

After purchasing rum, we again walked the gauntlet of beach chair people and found the Lazy Lizard Bar & Grill where we had a cool drink and Nancy tried some hot, spicy chicken wings.

The menu at the Lazy Lizard.

Menu:

Here is a link to what you might see here: St. Maarten Airport

Nancy wanted to get in the water when the rest of us were content to sip on alcoholic beverages.

A study in contrasts at the airport beach:

Now a bit about how to get to the airport. We were quoted fares by local taxi drives at $8/pp = $32 US. We declined this and walked a couple of blocks away from the downtown (Front Street) to Back Street where you can catch a bus for $2 US/pp. This was easy to do and the driver took us to the airport stop without difficulty. It also gives you a bit of a tour of the Dutch side of the island, away from the tourist traps.

The Bus Stop on Back Street

Courthouse - Philipsburg, St. Maarten

After our return from the airport, we took the water taxi back to the ship. Now Ron purchased several bottles of rum and there was concern that it would be garnished by security and returned after the cruise. However as I mentioned before, security was not very skilled and the rum easily passed through x-ray screening without a question.  Before dinner, we sampled some of this rum that was indeed quite flavorful.

The suggested dress for the evening was formal so Earline and I played along and dressed up. Ron and Nancy declined to don such pretentious garb and thus we parted ways for the evening. Earline and I did end up getting our picture taken with the Captain who was only 38 years old. Quite a responsibility for one so young to pilot a ship with over 3000 passengers!

There was no production show on this evening because the computer system broke and they had to cancel. We later learned that it would be scheduled for our final day at sea after specialists in Germany were contacted to advise how to repair the main computer.