St. Maarten is two islands in one — the Dutch side and the French side share the same small landmass and almost nothing else. The Dutch side has the cruise port, the casinos, and the famous Maho Beach where planes from Princess Juliana Airport clear the beach fence by what feels like nothing. The French side has the restaurants.

We visited in November 2019, two years after Hurricane Irma. The island was still rebuilding. We had a comprehensively bad day. We are still planning to go back.

The honest version of St. Maarten — what we saw, what we missed, and what we would do differently — is in the post below.