ST. MAARTEN / ST. MARTIN
This page is for extra credit and will be used, like all others,
to boast about my beautiful Caribbean Twin-Island; Sint Maarten /
Saint Martin. The first spelling is Dutch and the latter is French.
This beautiful 37 square mile island is governed by two different
governments. The Dutch side, 16 square miles, is part of the Netherlands
Antilles, which is a group of 5 islands, that are part of the Dutch
Kingdom. The French side, 21 square miles, are considered a "commune",
similar to county, of an island called Guadeloupe, which is hundreds of
miles away.
As far as the French republic is concerned, when you are on
French St. Martin, you are legally in France.
Many of us, from both sides of the island, look forward to the day when we
have one government, governing an independent island.
Our island depends for 95% on tourism.
Our tourism is grouped as:
- Cruise Tourism
-
Various Cruise ships call on our ports on a weekly basis during our "Tourist Season"
- Biker's Tourism
-
Many Harley Davidson Clubs visit and ride around our island and enjoy our scenic beauty and beaches
- Sports Tourism
-
Our sporting community and athletes can hold their own and have done so at many events
We have a group of Judokas, who have been taking gold, throughout the Caribbean, Latin
and North America. Some of them are heading to the 2008 Olympics.
- Gambling Tourism
-
There are many Junkets held throughout the year.
"Texas Hold'em" and various other poker games are played for big bucks.
- Faith Tourism
-
There are plans in the works to look into bringing religious groups together
for praise, worship and soul-saving conventions.
- Entertainment Tourism
-
We have various music festivals on the island and the mothers of them all
are our carnivals. We actually celebrate two carnivals; one on each side of the island.
- And various other tourism niches
-
Dive Tourism, Food Tourism, Marriage Tourism, Art Tourism, Carnival Tourism and more...
Some of the artists, who should be visited during an art trip:
The BIG and the small enjoy our carnivals.
We have 2 weeks of
packed action on Dutch St. Maarten.
The French carnival, while not as much attended as
the Dutch carnival, has been growing in the last few years.
A major attraction is our airport and it's proximity to a very much used
road and beach.
Planes coming in to land are literally about 60 feet above the road, as can be seen in this
picture.
Thrill-seekers, stand in the way of the
jet-blast as jets take off. This is dangerous and the authorities
take actions to prevent
it.
Our beaches are among the best in the Caribbean and indeed, the world.
Here are some pictures of our beaches.
There is no need for bottled H2O, since each side of the island has it's own water desalination
plant.
Water is piped to each house and billed per M3 (cubic meter).
I don't have a need to use the strike out tag, but I have to use it as one of the
15 tags I will be using. I will use the underline tag to underline the word WELCOME
when you come to visit us.
I know how to use the Italicized tag which is similar to the emphasis tag. I also use the
strong tag. I wonder what a weak tag would look like.
Now I am all tagged out.
Looking Forward to good grades and your visit to my island!!
My address is:
Clifton R. Wilson
Passionfruit Road #2
St. Peters
St. Maarten
Netherlands Antilles
Hpluv@hotmail.com
