Rumble: St.Martin

The first island we stayed on was St.Martin, half Dutch and half French territory. The Dutch part was more Americanized, with casinos, duty free shopping and posh hotels, with the US Dollar as the main currency.
We stayed in a hotel, on the French side, by the Baie Orientale beach. And the beach is what the girls enjoyed the most. We left Paris at 10 am and by 3 pm, we were already laying in the sun.
Much to our surprise, while the flowers and trees were blooming, the grass was brown. "It had hardly rained the last month", the gardener said.
The hotel was well taken care off, with friendly staff, unlike most of the rest of the island, certainly the Dutch side. Once you go off the beaten track, you could see a lot of poverty, loads of dirt and scrap everywhere. A pity they did not take care of the island. It reminded us a bit of Oahu in Hawaii, once you get out of Waikiki... And people were not particularly warm or friendly neither, no matter how hard we tried. Probably "tourist fatigue".

Some pictures from Marigot, the capital on the French side: