Gallery » USA & CARIBBEAN » St. Maarten 2018
We returned to the lovely island of St. Maarten this March. We first came to the island in May 2016 to celebrate our 35th wedding anniversary. When we once again decided to visit the island, we made a booking for March 2018 but it was arranged well before there was an inkling of Hurricane Irma in September 2017. As a result of the devastation to much of the seaside areas of the island, we shortened our trip to only three nights.
While we saw lots of damaged homes and boats near the St. Maarten airport, our accommodation was terrific. We booked an apartment at L’Esperance Hotel. It’s a lovely property which sits on high ground and suffered only minimal damage. There was none evident during our visit.
The property sits in a quiet residential area and was within an easy walk to the Carrefours at Grand Marche. It’s a huge grocery store with its roots back in France. In St. Maarten, everything is duty free so Carrefours had a huge wine area with wines from all over the world at very reasonable prices. Shopping there was great fun!
When we weren’t walking in the area or enjoying the apartment, we enjoyed sitting by the lovely pool surrounded with lots of different flowers – really beautiful. The weather was perfect! It was sunny every day with a low in the mornings in the mid-60’s and a high in the mid-70’s in the afternoons. Ed prepared our meals during our stay and we enjoyed delicious Italian wines with each one.
We enjoyed our shortened experience and highly recommend St. Maarten for those individuals looking for a relaxing environment with lots of friendly, helpful people.
