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st maarten


bucoguy

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Still working on repair - some parts of the island worse off than others - but they are ready and welcoming to tourists! 

I was there in mid-February, and took a 3rd party tour that I'd highly recommend all around the island. It gave a good sense of what the people of St. Maarten went through, and reiterated that the people of St. Maarten WANT tourism to come back. 

It's a gorgeous place, and I wouldn't let the remaining damage deter me (or would I discourage anyone) to visit. 

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They are starting to come back and rebuild now. Many places are open with temporary solutions such as shipping container bars or stores that are under a tent at the beach. We also went on a 3rd party tour (ATVing and I would highly recommend it, we had a great time with great guides you can see it in my Freedom of the Seas Live blog from a couple weeks ago.) and we saw most of the island and one side was definitely worse than the other. I did notice many resorts having some people in them now even though you could tell they weren't back to 100%. There are some older buildings that wouldn't be under the newer codes that have been destroyed beyond repair (we had the same here in Grand Cayman and 1 building still sits half demolished.) but it does seem like those do plan to be rebuilt from the construction we saw. I think living wise they are now at a point where they have figured things out, insurance is probably coming in now and it seems like the construction industry is thriving as everywhere was busy and no one was sitting around (in the construction areas), we had similar experience here in 2004 (Hurricane Ivan). 

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On 3/21/2018 at 7:23 PM, bucoguy said:

How is st maarten today , since the hurricane?

My family was on the Oasis mid-March and that was one of the ports they visited.  This is BY FAR my favorite port of all time.  I love it.  I love Maho Beach too (beach where the airplanes land right over your head).  Even though there were reports that Maho Beach was completely washed away/eroded from the Hurricane, they went. 

The Sunset Beach Bar was up and running and they loved it.  Maho Beach wasn't completely obliterated and it's coming back.  Although, it will take a LONG time for it to be the huge beach it once was.  My family said there was a "piece" of the beach left that allowed enough room for maybe 20 beach chairs and umbrellas and an area for people to stand to be directly under the planes as they land.  

Other beaches are still great as pictured by other posts here.  I mean, just LOOK at that water!  It's heavenly.  I love it and can't wait to visit my favorite island again next summer. 

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 3/21/2018 at 8:23 PM, bucoguy said:

How is st maarten today , since the hurricane?

I was just in St. Maarten last week and blogged about my experience there, with lots of photos. I was on a boat the whole day going around the island and different snorkeling / beach spots. There are still quite a few damaged homes / hotels / buildings that you can still see from this vantage, but you can also see where recovery is going on. For sure, the folks there were as friendly as could be and they are beyond happy that the cruise ships have come back.

 

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

We had a blast on a taxi tour of St Maarten on 2/28.  As others have noted, the damage on the north/French side was more severe.  Although Maho Beach was up and running on the south side, our taxi driver was reluctant to take us to Orient Beach on the north side until we asked a couple times to see it.  Much more devastation in this area and repairs needed.  But many lolos--beach bars/grills--were still going strong in other areas (e.g., Grand Case) and we had a great lunch in the French section.

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We were there this past April 5th. The beaches and water were great in spite of the devastation. At the port the vendor shops did not have any power, so they set up little vendor booths in the covered walkways in front of their shops. I was AMAZED at the number of cruisers that were haggling over the price of stuff they were trying to buy. I became so pissed off at this one lady who was trying to buy a $20 necklace for $10 and kept arguing with the vendor, who came down to $18. I butted in and told the vendor I'll take it for $20 and gave her $30. Hey, she could use the money and it didn't break my bank. Needless to say the cheap skate lady had some words for me, but I just smiled and joined my group. :27_sunglasses:

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  • 1 month later...
On 6/5/2018 at 6:16 PM, Corndog said:

Thanks for the answers to this. We are visiting here the end of June and looking to do the Tree top zip line excursion.  Anyone done that?  TIA

Are you referring to the Loterie farms zip line?  We were there last week and several from our group went to Loterie. 

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