A road sign of good times: Sint Maarten/Saint Martin

Also in Philipsburg is the Greenwith Gallery, which features the works of Stanislaus Defize (limited prints, $50; original works, $900 to $1,500) and Antone Chapon original works, $500 to $750; posters and prints, far less).

On the French side of the island, the principal venue for works of art is the Minguet Art Gallery on Rambaud Hill, just outside Marigot. (There is another Minguet gallery in Marigot proper.)

LIMING

For the last few months, the hot club on the island has been Coconuts, whose popularity is a function of having the hot band, Control. (This Coconuts is found atop the Casino Royal at Maho Bay and is not to be confused with another club of the same name, which is located close to Simpson Bay Bridge.) For the older set, Cheri's, right next door, is popular. Another hot spot lately has been the News Music Cafe, near Simpson Bay. Music at the News is house, punk and rock, and the crowd is young.

All of these clubs are where one goes to (or on a) "lime," or to hang. (The island's slang is quickly picked up, though until one does, surprises are in store; "Teachers will never get Students, attention unless they bring a little smack [enthusiasm] into the classroom" occasioned some wonderment on my part when heard on a radio program featuring high-school students.) For an "adult entertainment" lime, the Last Stop Bar (on Ilidge Road outside Philipsburg) is the main draw and it frequently stays open till 4 a.m., gaining new energy after 2 a.m., when many of the casino workers are released.

Which leads me to the island's bordello bars, of which there are five, all on the Dutch side. Since only one is on a main road, you needn't worry that you'll wander into the more public part of a bordello by mistake.

For a Friday lime, check out the Sualouiga Festival, a weekly music, crafts and food gig that runs from 4 p.m. till 11 p.m. in Philipsburg (don't bother coming before 9 p.m.). Look especially for cassette tapes of local carnival kaiso bands, whose music you won't find in any stores off the island. (Kaiso -- the island's calypso -- is rapidly losing ground to the faster-paced jamband music, so if you're a collector, move now.)

Another Friday night opportunity is at Lynette's Restaurant, where Bobo (several times carnival King of Kaiso) has now gone upscale as Beaubeau -- to the good-hearted amusement of locals.

HERITAGE

For an island that markets itself as "two nations, three cultures, one island," St. Martin's African heritage is, as vet, not well represented at either of the island's two principal museums.

On the Dutch side, the museum in Philipsburg features artifacts from the old Dutch forts, old maps, household utensils, some Amerindian artifacts and interpretation, and material on the salt ponds that made the island an attractive economic opportunity for European colonizers. There is little interpretation of the island's black experience. There is even little explanation of how the European division of the island affected the end of slavery. (French slavery ended in 1848. The Dutch did not officially end slavery until 1863 -- at issue was not slavery itself, but compensation for slave owners -- but since their slaves ran north into the French side, slavery was effectively ended across the island from 1848). Finally, there is little on the 20th-century transformation of the island. Photographs of salt pond workers and farmers and wharf scenes with black laborers represent the uninterpreted 20th-century experience of Afro-St. Maartenites.