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divebomb:
sharkdiver00:
I hate to be negative, but do have a minority opinion here about St. Maartin. A few years back my wife and I spent a week diving in Bonaire, then came back via a week on St. Maartin. Perhapts it was that juxtaposition of Bonaire with St. Maartin that colored our views, but nevertheless we thought the place was horrible and would never go back again. The traffic was horrendous, and we spent many hours stuck in traffic jams. There was obviously a big immigration problem with illegals from Haiti, and we were warned repeatedly about the crime problems on both sides of the island. On the French side, the restaurants were grossly overpriced. The Dutch side was interesting, but everything was very commercialized. It felt as if the whole island was being turned into one giant timeshare. The only high point came after we endured a two-hour pitch for a timeshare and won our prize of a boat trip to Saba. We did enjoy the diving on Saba and then touring around the island. In contrast, I don't recall a single thing about the diving off St. Maartin; it was quite unremarkable.sharkdiver00:I usually spend half the time in Saint Maarten and half in Saba. You can either fly (very short fy) to Saba, or take a boat accross and make it a fun thing on a catamaran. Saba has no beaches, but the diving is really, really nice (deep) pinnacles.
The best beaches are most definitely in the French side, but I really like the food on the Dutch side. By the way, there is no border between the two, only a friendly policeman that does not even bother to stop your car
divebomb:
