1994, 1995 FRANCE (Saint Martin) - Pinel Island

1995 Pinel Island (1)

Posted on 28.10.2015, 21.08.2017
Pinel Island is located near the northeastern coast of Saint Martin, in Orient Bay, and, although it is subject to Atlantic Ocean waves on its Eastern side, the Western side is unusually protected where it faces the shallow bay. It is often called Saint Martin's best kept secret and has always been popular with locals. There are beautiful sandy beaches on the island and it is also worth to take some hiking shoes and hike to the two deserted beaches on the opposite side. The main beach is not clothes optional.

1995 Pinel Island (2)

1995-1

1995-2

The island is also considered one of the best snorkeling locations in Saint Martin and a paradise for kayakers and Standup Paddle board lovers. The entire area is part of the Marine Reserve. There are three restaurants on the island, the Le Karabuni, specialised in lobster, the Yellow Beach restaurant, who have a BBQ, and Up on the Key.

1935-1939, 2670, 3115 SAINT MARTIN - The map of the island and the flags of Saint Martin (France) and of Sint Maartin (Netherlands)

1935 The map of Saint Martin Island (1)

Posted on 04.10.2015, 30.07.2016, 29.07.2017
Located in the northeast Caribbean, between Anguilla and Saint Barthélemy, Saint Martin is the smallest inhabited sea island divided between two nations, respectively between France (60%) and the Kingdom of the Netherlands (40%). The southern Dutch part comprises Sint Maarten and is one of four constituent countries that form the Kingdom of the Netherlands, and the northern French part comprises the Collectivité de Saint-Martin and is an overseas collectivity of France.

1936 The map of Saint Martin Island (2)

The main cities are Philipsburg (Dutch side) and Marigot (French side). The Dutch side is more heavily populated, and the largest settlement on the entire island is Lower Prince's Quarter. The highest hilltop is the Pic Paradis (424m) in the center of a hill chain on the French side, but both sides are hilly with large mountain peaks. This forms a valley where many houses are located. There are no rivers on the island, but many dry guts. It has a tropical monsoon climate with a dry season from January to April and a rainy season from August to December.

1937 The map of Saint Martin Island (3)

Ancient relics date the island's first settlers, probably Ciboney Indians (a subgroup of Arawaks), back to 3,500 years ago. Their lives were turned upside-down with the descent of the Carib Indians, a warrior nation which killed the Arawak men and enslaved the women. In 1493 Christopher Columbus glimpsed the island and named it Isla de San Martín after Saint Martin of Tours because it was November 11, St. Martin Day, but Spain made the settlement of the island a low priority.

2670 The map of Saint Martin Island (4)

Instead, the French and Dutch coveted the island. While the French wanted to colonize the islands between Trinidad and Bermuda, the Dutch found San Martín a convenient halfway point between their colonies in New Amsterdam (present day New York) and Brazil. The Dutch, French and British founded settlements on the island. In 1633 Spanish forces captured Saint Martin from the Dutch, but in 1648 they deserted the island. Preferring to avoid an war, the French and Dutch signed in the same year the Treaty of Concordia, which divided the island in two, as it is now.

3115 The map of Saint Martin Island (5)

With the cultivation of cotton, tobacco, and sugar, mass numbers of slaves were imported to work on the plantations, until the slave population became larger than that of the land owners. After abolition of slavery in the first half of the 19th century, plantation culture declined and the island's economy suffered. In 1939, Saint Martin received a major boost when it was declared a duty-free port. The Dutch began focusing on tourism in the 1950s. The French needed another twenty years to start developing their tourism industry.

1938 Saint Martin - The border monument which celebrates
the peaceful coexistence of the French and Dutch on St. Martin (1)

Currently, tourism provides the backbone of the economy for both sides of the island. St. Martin's Dutch side is known for its festive nightlife, beaches, jewellery, drinks made with native rum-based guavaberry liquors, and casinos. The island's French side is known for its nude beaches, clothes, shopping (including outdoor markets), and French and Indian Caribbean cuisine. Because the island is located along the intertropical convergence zone, it is occasionally threatened by tropical storm activity in the late summer and early fall.

1938 Saint Martin - The border monument which celebrates
the peaceful coexistence of the French and Dutch on St. Martin (2)

The culture of Saint Martin is a blend of its African, French, British, and Dutch heritage. Although each side's culture is influenced by their respective administering countries, they share enough similar heritage and traditions that it can be difficult to tell where Saint-Martin ends and Sint Maarten begins. Nowadays, the number of Creoles has been surpassed by the number of immigrants, and the island's population is truly a melting pot of people from 70 or more different countries.

2780, 2784, 2798 FRANCE (Saint Martin) - Caribbean cuisine

2780 Accras de morue (cod fritters)

Posted on 27.09.2016, 30.09.2016, 04.10.2016
Caribbean cuisine is the simple result, without artifice, of an osmosis of all the peoples who made a stopover in this region, a fusion of African, Amerindian, European, East Indian, Arab and Chinese cuisine, which reflects the way of being and living of a people, but also its history. Accras de morue (cod fritters), also known as marinade of the West Indies, a denomination little used now to avoid confusion with the marinade of French cuisine, are of African origin. In the Ewe language, the word means vegetable fritters. In the form of small donuts, they are usually served as a mise en bouche, as appetizer, or as entrée

2784 Chaudeau

The chaudeau is a kind of eggnog in the Caribbean style, and is a specialty of Guadeloupe. It consist in a mixture of egg, milk, vanilla, lime, nutmeg... It is served at weddings, communions and baptisms. It comes with a cake: sweetbread or Mont Blanc. Traditionally, by belief (some think that it is a sign of misfires), must not, for instance, have other preparations on fire. The woman who prepares it, had not be prepared should not be during menstruation. It is served warm or even hot.

2798 Blanc-manger coco

Blanc-manger coco (literally "white dish”) is one of the lightest, creamiest and most delicious dessert that you will encounter in French Caribbean countries. The main ingredients are regular (dairy) milk as well as coconut milk, sweetened a bit, combined together with gelatine and then refrigerated to obtain a jelly-like cake or elegant individual verrines. No baking required. A light and fresh dessert for the hot summer days.

2767 FRANCE (Saint Martin) - A coconut tree

The coconut tree (Cocos nucifera) is a member of the family Arecaceae (palm family) and the only species of the genus Cocos. The term coconut can refer to the entire coconut palm, the seed, or the fruit. The term is derived from the 16th-century Portuguese and Spanish word coco meaning "head" or "skull", from the three indentations on the coconut shell that resemble facial features. It is a large palm, growing up to 30m tall, with pinnate leaves 4-6m long, and pinnae 60-90cm long. On fertile soil, it can yield up to 75 fruits per year, but more often yields less than 30.

2683 FRANCE (Saint Martin) - A traditional creole house

As in all the islands of West Indies, the simple shape of the traditional creole houses in Saint Martin is compensated by the bright colours and sometimes by chiseled wooden decorations. They were built with small wood shingles used to cover the walls and roofs. Their use became the favourite material due to its numerous advantages. Keeping the house cooler, the wood singles were made of many local woods such as mahogany red, tamarind and mountain soursop or gray pear-tree.

2465 FRANCE (Saint Martin) - Baie de l'Embouchure

Located on the northern French part of the island of Saint Martin, at south of Orient Beach, Baie de l'Embouchure, also known as Coconut Grove or Le Galion, is one of the calmest beaches on the island and is a great place to learn to windsurf. Can still be seen the remains of the Le Galion Hotel, which was once one of the, or the most exclusive hotels on the french side of the island. A plan to completely rebuild the hotel back in the 90's ran into local politics and the plan was abandoned.

2360, 2385 FRANCE (Saint Martin) - Grand Case

2360 Saint Martin - Grand Case (1)

Posted on 08.03.2016, 16.03.2016
Located on the north side of the island Saint Martin, on the Anguilla Channel, Grand Case is a small town, well known for its many restaurants and beach bars. It has more than two dozen eateries on its mile-long main street, and the town’s low-slung Creole architecture evokes the feel of France's other past and present New World possessions, such as New Orleans. People come from all over the island to these restaurants, famous for the delicious French Gourmet food.

2385 Saint Martin - Grand Case (2)

Grand Case Beach is a sweeping curve of a very pretty, one mile long, white sandy beach with quite calm waters. It is awesome for swimming and has some nice snorkeling spots towards either end of the beach, or around the reef at Créole Rock. Besides, the Bay of Grand Case has a wonderful view of neighboring Anguilla and Créole Rock, and is the perfect place for a sunset stroll.

2382 FRANCE (Saint Martin) - Île Tintamarre

Île Tintamarre is a small island with an area of approximately 0.8 square kilometres, located at about 3km from the Northernest coast of the island of Saint Martin, now uninhabited. In the 18th century, after the French had retrieved it from the English, who had held it for some 40 years, it had approximately 150 inhabitants. It was owned by a succession of persons from Saint Christopher, who resisted French efforts to take possession of the island.

2149-2151 FRANCE (Saint Martin) - Orient Bay

2149 Saint Martin - Orient Bay (1)

Known as the "Saint Tropez of the Caribbean", Orient Bay (French: Baie Orientale) is a coastal community and beach on the French side of the island of Saint Martin, on the east coast. Until 1985 the area was undeveloped. Damage caused by Hurricane Luis in 1995 was quickly repaired, and since then the beach has become the most popular on the island.

2150 Saint Martin - Orient Bay (2)

 

The two mile long, white powdered sand beach is protected from the Atlantic waves by a reef, and the bottom has a very gradual slope. There's a constant hum of activity on Orient, from the parasailing and windsurfing, to the eating and drinking, to the live music and people gazing. There is also great snorkeling off nearby Caye Verte (Green Key), one of the small beautiful islands dotting the coast, such as Tintamarre and Pinel Island do.

2151 Saint Martin - Saint Barthélemy seen from Orient Bay to sunrise

What the beach isn't good for, however, is mere swimming, because the strong undertow and raucous waves. A section of the beach at the south end is used by naturists. From the beach can be seen not only the islands of Green Key, Little Key and Pinel, located nearby, but also Île Tintamarre, placed slightly offshore, and even Saint Barthélemy, which lies about 35km southeast of Saint Martin.

2119, 2120 SAINT MARTIN - Young women on the beach

The influence of the French to the north (Saint Martin) and Dutch in the south (Sint Maarten) gives this island a more European feel. As in other Carribean islands, the traditional dress of women in Saint Martin is Madras, which takes its name from the Madras cloth, a lightweight cotton fabric with typically patterned texture and plaid design.

In nowadays, women wear Madras only during cultural dances etc (especially in the French side), because they have shifted to wearing modern dresses. However, Madras cloth remained fairly commonly, as also the head scarf, which can be tied in a ceremonial fashion or can be worn to show the availability of the woman in courtship. Increasingly more is preferred the wide brimmed hat, because it shades also the face.

1982 FRANCE (Saint Martin) - Traveller's tree

Ravenala madagascariensis, commonly known as traveller's tree or traveller's palm, is a species of plant from Madagascar. Actually it isn't a true palm (family Arecaceae) but a member of the bird-of-paradise family, Strelitziaceae. It has been given the name "traveller's palm" because the sheaths of the stems hold rainwater, which supposedly could be used as an emergency drinking supply for needy travellers. However, the water inside the plant is murky, black and smelly and should not be consumed without purification.

1919-1922 FRANCE (Saint Martin) - Market Day in Marigot

1919 Saint Martin - Market Day in Marigot (1)

Marigot, the capital of Saint Martin, with its gingerbread houses and sidewalk bistros, is charming in any day of the week, but if you really want to catch the spirit of the place, you must visit it on Wednesday or on Saturday, when are market days. Marigot market is best described as a melting pot of colours, smells and lively hustle and bustle.

1920 Saint Martin - Market Day in Marigot (2)

Opposite the traditional restaurants, a stone statue, erected by Martin Lynn and donated by an American, commemorates black female market sellers. In 2006, as part of a series of events for black history week, a fresco, again commemorating female market sellers, was painted by an artist from Saint Martin on a wall opposite the market.

1921 Saint Martin - Fruits at Marigot Market

One portion of the market is dominated by permanent vendor stalls, housed under a mass of open Creole huts along the water front. Here can be found fruit and vegetables, spices, local meats and fresh fish caught that day. Here, visitors can sample the full range of flavoured rums, subtle blends of rum, fruits and spices, Shrub (orange peel crushed into rum), or Mauby (a tree bark-based beverage grown).

1922 Saint Martin - Spices at Marigot Market

Temporary tent-style stalls forms another section of the market. These are the type that spring forth like mushrooms on major market days (Wednesday and Saturday) to join their permanent cousins, to grow the market to more than double its original size. Here people browsed through clothing, jewelry, and various crafts.