An amazing vista of the Star Flyer, a four masted schooner barque met me on arrival into St Marrten.

St Maarten / St Martin is 37 square miles – 60% French & 40% Dutch owned. The smallest landmass to be divided by two nations. Luckily we docked on the Dutch side in the capital, Philipsburg, as the French were on strike and it wasn’t possible to visit that side of the island.

One visitor who didn’t enjoy his time on the island was Peter Stuyvesant. He arrived with 800 Dutch soldiers to try & recover the island from the Spanish. Sadly he lost his leg in the process after being hit by a Spanish cannonball. Peter is commemorated by a statue on the island. He later became the New Amsterdam which later became New York.

In September 2017 the island was hit by category 5 hurricane called Irma, the strongest Atlantic hurricane ever recorded. She caused significant damage, the scars can still be seen today with damaged buildings and boats.

The world famous beach Maho Beach where the aircraft pass (literally!) above your head on take off & landing. This can be a dangerous pastime if you check out footage on YouTube.

Nice views & beaches but I didn’t glean there was too much else to do during my tour of the Dutch side.

Next stop, 2 days at sea & round circle to Fort Lauderdale…