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A road sign of good times: Sint Maarten/Saint Martin
American Visions, Dec-Jan, 1996 by Henry Chase
As a journalist, I've crossed a lot of borders and seen a lot of border guard and customs officer styles -- from the bored East Bloc guys strolling through the train as it snaked its way from what was then West Germany into the what was then Czechoslovakia during the Cold War, to the proud Eritrean People's Liberation Front cadre who ushered folks across a border that was supposed to be controlled by the then-ruling Dergue in Addis Ababa, to the stoned, Kalashnikov-waving, 14-year-old Ugandan freedom fighters/killers/lost souls "guarding" the border into southern Sudan. But I have never had a safer, quicker, more enjoyable border crossing than that between St. Maarten and St. Martin -- the two ministates that share the small Antilles island ruled simultaneously, though separately, by the Netherlands and France. All there is at the border is a road sign. It's a good sign: I have come to the right place.
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More than a million people annually agree with me. Most are drawn to St. Martin by the duty-free shopping, the casinos and the beaches -- so let me introduce those (and briefly clear away the political and administrative under-brush, which for tourists is essentially illusory) before exploring the island's high art, night life, heritage and highly recommended adventures.
Strictly speaking, St. Maarten is a constituent element of the Netherlands Antilles (whose shared capital is Willemstad, Curagao's capital), itself a part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands; the official language is Dutch, and the currency is the Netherlands Antilles florin. St. Martin is a commune of Guadeloupe, which is itself an overseas department of France; the official language is French, and the currency is the French franc. In fact, on both parts of the island the metropolitan countries retain significant control over foreign policy and fiscal matters; the lingua franca, so to speak, is English (though you'll also hear Spanish and Papiament -- the Netherlands Antilles dialect -- on the Dutch side and Creole patois on the French side); and virtually everything is clearly priced in U.S. dollars. In short, language and money present no difficulties to Americans.
SHOPPING
& CASINOS
St. Martin is the only completely duty-free island in the Caribbean, with particularly good bargains on watches. jewelry and clothes. The shopping opportunities on the Dutch side (centered in Philipsburg, the Dutch capital, and the Maho Beach area) are marginally greater than in the French capital of Marigot; but Marigot is a far more attractive setting for a stroll and certainly offers better chances for a good lunch.
All of the island's 10 casinos are on the Dutch side. Most of them -- including the largest, Casino Royal at Maho Bay -- strive for a European ambiance, though they all employ both a zero and double zero on their roulette wheels (surely the most wretched of America's contributions to the world).
BEACHES
Orient Beach on the French side is the island's most famous -- a fame accounted for neither by its sand nor by its surf, but rather by its official status as a nude beach. Nudity (bear to the right when you hit the beach) is not required. In@ deed, only about 10 percent of Orient's sun lovers were sans clothes on the days I was there -- but I have experience being a minority, and besides, it's a far more enjoyable way to swim. Bear in mind that nudity is not forbidden at any of the island's beaches.
Overlooked by short, red-hued bluffs, Cupecoy Bay Beach is by far the prettiest on the island. This successive string of small beaches on the Dutch side is also the main gay beach (though typically for St. Martin, no beach, bar or club has an exclusive orientation) and is now a nude beach.
Body surfers will want to head for Guana Bay; those who want to share the waves with local families should try Dawn, Mullet and Coconut Grove beaches, especially on Sunday. All of these beaches open onto the Atlantic Ocean.
THE ARTS
The sun that bathes St. Martin has nurtured rather than withered the arts -- particularly painting, which flourishes riotously. Many of the island's painters acknowledge a debt to Romare Bearden, who had a home here and who married Nanette, a St. Martinite and the founder of the Contemporary Dance Theater in New York. Those familiar with Bearden's last two series of works, "Obeah" and "Carnival," have already been exposed to the island's character, which he strove to capture.
On Philipsburg's main street, Front Street, visitors will find the Nanette Bearden Fine Arts Gallery. Here, prints range in price from $20 to $80, with original works ranging from $100 to $3,500. The works of Ruby Bute, Max Phelipa and Diedra H. Kelley (a niece of the late Nanette Bearden) are featured in the gallery.
Ras Mosera (who, with Cynric Griffith and the older and more established Roland Richardson, represents the acme of the island's painters) also has a gallery in Philipsburg. Mosera, who works in oil, water and acrylic and whose work hangs in the Stedelijk Museum in the Netherlands, has been seriously painting for about 14 years. "I took up painting," he explains, "after becoming Rastafarian; it's a way for me to be self-reliant." Prices in his gallery range from $800 to $10,000.
