St. Martin Trip

6 to 14 December 2021

Everyone deserves the chance to take a vacation where they can relax and unwind. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic only reinforced this truism and as the calendar year of 2021 came to a close we were able to take a weeklong trip to the island of Saint Martin in the Caribbean. This was the first time that I'd visited anywhere in the Caribbean and it was a wonderful opportunity for me to experience another part of the world with its own distinct history and culture. The Caribbean has been an international crossroads and meeting place between different peoples for centuries on end, and this is perhaps nowhere more apparent than on the island of Saint Martin. We picked Saint Martin for our trip due to its uniquely divided status, with half the island (Sint Maarten) owned by the Dutch and the other half (Saint Martin) owned by the French. There's no other island in the world this small that happens to be split between two different nations and the division dates all the way back to 1648! We were originally planning to take the short ferry over to Anguilla to experience a third (British) culture before COVID restrictions made that impractical. Instead, we ended up taking a different ferry in the opposite direction over to the island of Saint Barthelemy which is famous for being a playground for the ultra wealthy. Regardless of which island we happened to be on, this was a week filled with sunshine, beaches, and lots of good food.

As usual, the pages that follow contain some of the pictures and stories that we accumulated along our travel through the islands. We hope you enjoy seeing them!



Sint Maarten (Dutch Side)




Saint Martin (French Side)




Saint Barthelemy