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The
best way to really appreciate the island is by exploring on foot.
You'll meet the local people, learn the customs and above all see the
scenery, flora and fauna that you will never see from the main road.
The deceptively small Dutch St. Maarten presents some interesting contrasts for the explorer. Wide beaches along the coast, full of sunbathers and watersurfers, seem a far cry from the quiet country roads and small towns of the hillsides. In the evening the hills of the interior become even more peaceful, while the glittering casinos and pulsing clubs of the coast just begin to come alive.
Heading north from Philipsburg, visitors soon arrive at the Madam Estate area, site of the island's zoo. Governed by the St. Maarten Zoological and Botanical Garden, it features animals, birds and plants native to the Caribbean Basin and South America, including St. Kitts monkeys.
Northeast of the zoo
are Dawn Beach and Oyster Pond, the first best known as a favored snorkeling
and windsurfing beach. According to legend, Oyster Pond is the point where
a Frenchman and Dutchman stood back to back and starting walking around
the island in either direction, determining the present-day boundaries
between Dutch and French St. Maarten. Oyster Bay remains divided between
two governments, but the border is extremely informal--swimmers can cross
back and forth between French 
and
Dutch territory without even noticing!
For a view
and a taste of history, visitors can climb Mount Concordia, which rises
along the border in the center of the island. In 1648, the treaty that
divided the island was signed here, and Mount Concordia continues to serve
as a proud symbol of St. Maarten's 350-year history of peaceful co-existence
between the two cultures.