St. Martin/St. Maarten & Anguilla Travel Reference Map

We visited these islands in 2018 and this is the result an expansion of three separate political entities in the Caribbean. The first of the main islands is Anguilla, a popular cruise ship destination. This occupies all of side one, with inset maps of Dog Island, Prickley Pear Cays, and aptly-named Scrub Island. Anguilla enjoys several sandy beaches, only some of which have been developed for resort use, and those resorts that do exist tend to be modest operations. The west end Village area seems to have the most beaches, with resorts on Barnes Bay and Maunday s Bay, but the best beach is a bit further east, at Rendezvous Bay. Crocus Hill, in the centre of the island, contains most of the shopping facilities for the island, and Shoal Bay, on the northern coast has another lovely beach resort area. The other side of the map is devoted to what must be the most unusual aspect of the Caribbean a relatively small island shared by two European powers, France and Netherlands. The island is Saint Martin (it s French as well as its English name) or Sint Maarten (its Dutch name). The Dutch occupy the south half of the island, with the cruise ship terminal at Philipsburg, the capital. The town is located along a stretch of beach and is only three streets wide. On the other side of town is Great Salt Pond, so the town has no place in which to expand, so is very congested. Touristic attractions tend to spread out from the town along the south coast. If one rents a car, as we did, it is a very enjoyable trip to the north half (the French part) of the island. There is no border, so the only difference is language. Both halves of the island use the Euro as their currency. The northern half has two well-developed beach resort beaches at Orient Bay and at Baie de Grand Case The capital, Marigot, contains most of the shops The highest point of land on the island is Pic Paradis (424m) in the French portion. Inset maps of Philipsburg and Marigot are included.