About St Martin

St Martin is an interesting, unique island as it is shared by two nationalities, using 4 languages, 3 currencies, 2 electric systems (110 and 220V), 2 governments etc. It is barely 7 miles in each direction, 37 square miles, with a population of about 75,000. There is a charming story, completely unsupported, that the French and the Dutch were so civilized that, rather than fight over the island, they had a French man armed with a bottle of wine walk in one direction and a Dutchman equipped with a flask of gin take the other. Where they met became the boundary and the French ended up with a bit more because the gin was stronger than the wine!

The “Treaty of Concordia” signed in March 1648 allows the free movement of people and goods across the borders. However, if you are on a boat you are officially meant to check out of one “country” and then into the other “country” if you decide to sail around to an anchorage on the other side of the island. In prior years not too much notice has been taken of this, but in the last couple of years they have become stricter on this, in particular the Dutch, who have started charging much high check-in and anchorage fees.

The fluxuating US$ / Euro exchange rate continues to cause mismatching in pricing within the island. The French side operates in Euro, the Dutch side on US Dollars (or the Dutch Naf which are linked at a constant rate). So how does a supermarket etc, that has stores on both sides, set their prices with the ever changing exchange rate!!?

St Martin is one of the most touristy islands, in particular with regards to the American market. (Due to lack of direct flights, there are few visitors from the UK, who tend to frequent islands serviced by BA and Virgin such as Antigua, St Lucia and Grenada). There are casinos, many condos and hotels, nice sandy beaches and is a duty free (well now 3%) shopping centre. St Martin is a favourite place for boaters to hang out for a while due to availability and pricing of boat parts, provisions and services. Some seem to never leave though …..