Paradise.
Breathtaking. What an island
should be.
People on Saint Martin say “You can’t ride a bike on
Saint Martin. The hills are too
steep”. I respond “The hills are worth
it”. Don’t leave home without your
granny gears!
Saint Martin (I will use the French term only here)
is only about 37 square miles. The
border between the French side and the Dutch side cuts through the island
horizontally. You will see occasional
signs indicating that you have passed the border, but there are no border
agents to deal with. The Dutch got 16
sq. mi. and the French got 21 sq. mi.
From an economic point of view, it seems the Dutch got the better of the
deal because they got the major port.
But, for my money the French got the better scenery.
Saint Martin sits 144 miles east of Saint Thomas, 9
miles southeast of Anguilla, and 21 miles northeast of St. Barts. Both are easily visible from the coastal
roads of Saint Martin. St. Barts is
particularly impressive with it’s very mountainous landscape.
I have made two biking trips to Saint Martin. I must
say that the second was a more enjoyable than the first. Traveling counterclockwise from the Dutch
capital, Phillipsburg, you are more quickly into amazing countryside. Much of the road up the east coast past
Oyster Pond (bay) to Quartier D’Orleans is new and may be one of the best
cycling roads in the Caribbean. It is
almost impossible to do justice to the scenery. On your left side is a mountain range that looks surprisingly
like the Green Mountains of Vermont.
The mountains are steep and rocky but covered with green scrub pine and
desert-like grasses. The highest peak,
Pic Paradis, is 424 meters and is visible from much of the island. Cacti dot the foothills and goats seem to
run freely.
To your right will be the picturesque and tropical
(Atlantic) coast. Oyster Pond is filled
with expensive yatchs and is surrounded
by posh hotels. The view overlooking
Orient Beach is one of the best on the island.
The beach is lined with many outdoor restaurants so it makes for a good
lunch stop.
As you round the mountains on the north side of the
island, I could not help but think of the Cabot Trail in Nova Scotia. “Rugged” is the best word that describes
it. There is an interesting three mile
diversion to French Cul de Sac.
Although I have never ridden it, the secondary road looks rideable and
passes over some serious hills on the way to the bay of Anse Marcel. I hope to try this someday.
The ride down the Caribbean (western) coast is
nearly as spectacular as the other side, without the ritzy resorts. The ride to Marigot cuts inland a bit which
generally means you are going to climb.
As you approach Marigot, traffic builds and you just have to accept a
slow pace through town. I have never
been tempted to stop but there are certainly enough souvenir shops to feed any
appetite for that sort of thing.
It is in this area that I have twice encountered
other cyclists. As is common in the
Caribbean and south of the U. S. border, most of the cyclists can be seen
wearing full uniforms of their favorite teams.
Of course, the other possibility is that they are actually members of
the teams! They will eagerly ride with
you as they rarely ever see another cyclist.
Warning! These guys ride 15%
hills every day. When I was struggling
in my granny gear, it seemed that they had hardly downshifted at all! While I have survived these rides, my legs
certainly knew that they had been abused in a new way. Somewhere between Marigot and Phillipsburg
(I believe it is Cole Bay Hill) the gradient reaches 18%. The cars behind us slowed down considerably
and only as I reached the top did I realize that they were simply watching to
see if we could ride the hill !
Riding through Phillipsburg can be interesting if
traffic is light. I cannot imagine how
many jewelry shops there are on Front Street.
There are easily dozens catering to the cruise ship passengers. Someone told me that a few days before we
arrived, there were six ships in port simultaneously!
The round trip on the island is 25-30 miles
depending on side trips. You can expect
to feel like you did twice that amount.
You may be in your granny gear about once per mile. On the new road there are some exhilarating
descents but on the older roads you must descend with caution as you never know
when some deep potholes or sand may appear.
Most of the roads are wide enough so that you will feel comfortable
riding. However, particularly on the
return from Marigot (the French capital), you may feel squeezed a bit.
Generally speaking, riding on Caribbean islands is
not for the faint of heart or novice cyclist.
You should be comfortable in traffic and expect the unexpected. Drivers do not see cyclists very often so
their reactions may be unpredictable.
If you ride after one of the frequent showers on Saint Martin, you will
find short sections of road covered with a silt left from the runoff. This silt is so fine you will have to hose
down your bike a couple times to get it off.
It is a minor inconvenience when you consider the primo riding.
As far as off-the-bike activities, Saint Martin is
full of possibilities. Besides the
world class beaches and water sports, there is hiking, mountain biking, 12 meter sailing, galleries, and of course
some of the best restaurants in the Caribbean.
I prefer the restaurants on the French side, but you can get good meals
on either. As for night life,
Phillipsburg is a party town and claims to have a dozen casinos. As you walk around town, lively music floods
the streets from nearly every establishment.
One particularly loud joint had a sign out front, “Two Beers. One Buck”!
Have fun.
Enjoy. Bring a bike.