Two Nations

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Geo: 18.0093, -63.0479

Trivia quiz: Where is the only place France and Netherlands share a land border?

The island of Sint Maarten/Saint Martin has been shared by the Dutch and French since a treaty in the mid 1600s. The French (northern) side has about 60% of the land area and about the same pop (40,000) as the Dutch side.

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Photos

Docking
A fellow passenger told me that usually six or seven cruise ships are here in season (now).

Helmet dive
Rob and I went on seperate shore excursions. I did the helmet dive - a 30min walk around a 50m track at a depth of 20ft or so. The helmet weighs 35kg and just sits on the shoulders. It was quite an experience and the scuba-diving guides sprayed fish food onto our helmets so we had a very close-up look and touch of hundreds of fish, up to 30cm long. It felt a little like being nibbled all over by the feet-cleaning fish in tanks.

Indigo Bay
Rob went on an island tour with a shopping stop. The hinterland infrastructure looked very dilapidated.

Front St
This is the main shopping street in Phillipsburg. The alcohol prices were very cheap but we don't have room in our luggage to buy now.