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4 Reasons Why Le Galion Beach Should Be Your Caribbean Favorite

October 8, 2016American University of the Caribbean, AUC, Caribbean, Expats, Expats and TCKs, International Travel, Nature, Saint Martin/ Sint Maarten, Spouses Organization, Third Culture Kids, Uncategorizedadventures, American University of the Caribbean, AUC, beach, Caribbean, cultural, culture, Expat, family, International, Island, kids, medical school, nature, ocean, overseas, Saint Martin, Sint Maarten, sports, st martin, St. Maarten, st. martin, surfing, SXM, TCK, travel, vacationbreanamjohnson@gmail.com

It’s a mystery to me that Le Galion Bay Beach, Saint Martin isn’t more popular. It really has everything you could ask for in a beach, minus the gigantic hotels and resorts that have commercialized so many of Saint Martin’s other nice beaches. Come with me and my friends to learn why Le Galion Beach should be your favorite!

1. It’s family friendly. Yesterday, I took four boys of varying ages to Le Galion Beach. We met up with several of our friends (some intentional meetings, others a happy happenstance), and everyone was happy and had a great time. I wasn’t the least bit concerned to watch a four-year-old in the water– it’s so shallow for so far that you can’t possibly get in over your head very fast. There’s a lot of clean, white sand that is perfect for building sand castles, too.

2. There’s no better place for water sports on the entire island. “But, wait,” you island veterans cry, “What about Orient Bay?” Well, maybe, if you want to spend a bajillion dollars for rentals. Orient Bay, just down the road from Le Galion, has dozens of vendors, while Galion only has two. However, Galion’s are far cheaper. Tropical Wave offers a larger variety of rentals (including beach chairs and umbrellas for those whose favorite water sport is napping on the beach), but SXM Surf Club (AKA Windy Reef) has better options for surfers and also offers a boat ride to the waves. Both are good options, it just depends what you want to do.

There are a lot of good options at Le Galion, including a swimming pool right in the ocean and a dive platform. We usually opt for surfing. The waves break pretty far from shore, which is nice because that means the beach is always calm. The paddle out to the waves is about 20 minutes, but you can catch the boat from SXM Surf Club that leaves twice a day. It’s only $5 per person, and board rentals aren’t too much, either. I think you can rent a board for the afternoon for about $10. Correct me if I’m wrong. We always take our own boards.

St Martin Supsquatch Surfing at Le Galion Beach – $59.00
from: Viator

You can also rent a stand-up paddleboard from Tropical Wave. A few months ago at Orient, I paid about $20 for a half hour. That’s a little on the expensive side even for Orient, but contrast that with the $20 I paid to rent two paddleboards for an hour at Le Galion. The older kids and teens got their fill of paddling around the bay. Again, I wasn’t worried about them because the water is so shallow. Even if they were prone to panic in deep water, they would be fine at Le Galion.

St Martin Stand-Up Paddleboard Lesson – $49.99
from: Viator

Kite surfing and windsurfing are both available, too. I believe the windsurfing is available from SXM Surf Club. I can’t remember the name of the man who runs the kite surfing, but I do know his wife has a little art gallery on Old Street in Philipsburg. I doubt that is helpful to you, but if you’re desperate to try it, you can go grab a business card from the gallery and give him a call. It’s probably cheaper than the cost of doing it through Viator, but I’ll include a like here in case you would rather go to a website to book than wander through downtown.

St Martin Kitesurfing Lesson – $168.19
from: Viator

There’s also a thing called canoe surfing that you can do at Le Galion. I’m not sure if you can just show up and do it, or if you have to book ahead on Viator. Obviously, I haven’t done it yet, but it looks like fun!

St Martin Canoe Surfing at Le Galion Beach – $69.99
from: Viator

Like I said, I just rented a couple of paddle boards. I managed to entertain seven people with them. Paddleboarding is probably my favorite thing to do on the water. The kids like it, too! These two little ones thought it was a pirate ship.

Ray and the Kings had a great time paddling around the bay. They took turns with the boards and a couple of snorkel masks that I brought along. Stashing a few snorkel masks is always a good idea in Saint Martin, especially with older kids and teens!

3. Cool Wildlife. When I asked Big King if he saw anything interesting while snorkeling, he replied, “girls.” Of course girls are more interesting than fish to a 14-year-year-old boy, but fortunately the kids saw some pretty cool animals, too. They even saw a sting ray! The bay is carpeted by both sand and sea grass, so there are plenty of underwater animals to observe. The birds and land animals are cool, too. Head down the beach away from all the people, and you’ll find an untamed stretch of sand and bush that is home to many species of birds, lizards, and anything else you can imagine.

4. The People. I’m not just saying this because I went to Le Galion with a bunch of people I like and ran into a bunch of other people I like. The social atmosphere of Le Galion Beach is pretty chill and friendly. It tends to be filled with local families rather than tourists or expats, so you get a whole different vibe that is pretty nice. The kids in our group made friends with kid from other groups, which was lots of fun for them. Also people generally have more clothes on here than they do at other beaches on the French side– always a plus.

So there you have it. That’s why Le Galion should be your favorite Saint Martin beach. If this article doesn’t convince you, surely a trip to the beach can! If you want to go with me, I’m always up for chilling at Le Galion. Just make sure we bring a few kids along to make it that much more fun.

Driving With Your Brights On, and Other Things That Confuse Me about Sint Maarten

September 11, 2016Caribbean, Expats, Expats and TCKs, International Travel, Saint Martin/ Sint Maartenadventures, American University of the Caribbean, Caribbean, cultural, culture, International, Island, overseas, Saint Martin, Sint Maarten, st martin, St. Maarten, SXM, travelbreanamjohnson@gmail.com

No two cultures are alike, and you will inevitably be perplexed by any new culture you visit. I’ve been on Sint Maarten for a year (that statement in and of itself deserves a post), and I still don’t really get a lot of the things that go on here.

Driving with your brights on. Headlights are cool, and they’re also perfectly sufficient for seeing where you’re going. I don’t understand why everybody uses their brights here– are they trying to blind the people in front of them? It gets hard to drive after dark without developing a migraine.
Not Swimming. I haven’t met a lot of people from here who like to swim in the ocean. Actually, a lot of them never learned to swim. I find it ironic that the most beautiful reef is within a few yards of the shore, and yet people don’t go in to look at it. I grew up in the desert, and everybody knew how to swim. We dig expensive swimming pools so we can swim in the summer, because we don’t have anywhere else to do it!
Lack of Garage Sales. In the States, we love us some garage sales. And in my old neighborhood, we’d wait all year for that one weekend that our neighborhood association would allow us to hold one. Here, nobody cares what you put out in your front yard, but people apparently don’t sell their stuff there. I think maybe the technology caught up to the island before the garage sale trend, because people list all their old stuff on Facebook classifieds groups.
Accidents. I saw an accident once where a motorcyclist was thrown over the hood of my car when it hit another car. Both of them just recovered and went on their way. I guess that’s pretty typical. Nobody wants to deal with accidents here.
Scary Motorcycling. Motorcyclists pretty much always drive on the center line. I’m really curious what happens when two bikers going opposite directions meet. How do they know if someone’s coming the other way?

If anyone has an explanation to these things, tell me in the comments!

One Year Down

September 5, 2016American University of the Caribbean, AUC, Caribbean, Expats, Expats and TCKs, International Travel, Saint Martin/ Sint Maarten, Spouses OrganizationAmerican University of the Caribbean, AUC, countries, culture, Dutch Side, Expat, Island, kids, Med school, medical school, moving, ocean, overseas, Saint Martin, Sint Maarten, st martin, St. Maarten, SXMbreanamjohnson@gmail.com

Well, we have lived on this island for a whole year now! Ben’s finished his first year of medical school and is now in the his second year, which makes him an “MS2.” With the new year comes new developments and new transitions in sight.

Over the summer, I took a five-week backpack trip to New York, Canada, and Arizona. While I was gone, our lease expired and Ben moved us to a new place about a mile and a half away from our old apartment. I can’t even describe how wonderful this change has been! Not only do I have a washing machine in the apartment, but we traded a black mold infestation for incredible views. We have views of both sides of Saint Martin as well as Anguilla, and the Caribbean Sea, the Atlantic Ocean, Simpson Bay Lagoon, and Mullet Pond. I wake up every day, open the curtains and think, what did I do to deserve this?

There are also new hopes for the coming school year. Ben has been invited to participate in a research project on zika, which is important to our island, where zika is a concern. We are in the process of becoming foster parents on the island, and we have an empty bedroom waiting for whoever God chooses to place with us. My writing business has been picking up, too, and I am hoping to get enough credibility to submit articles to more print publications. Kito just hopes to have lots of lazy afternoons watching people from the balcony, and time with her puppy friends.

Labrador and bull dog — Kito and her new friend, Beau

We only have about eight months left on Sint Maarten, and to be honest, I hope it goes slow. It’s hard to think about leaving this place forever. I’m starting to really figure this island out. I’m just learning how an American can legally work, and it doesn’t seem so impossible anymore, if only we were here for longer. Which makes me realize that staying and supporting ourselves could be realistic. I’ve made so many good friends and built a wonderful life on this island. I’ve integrated myself enough that this place really feels like home.

This is how I felt when we left Arizona, though. We had such a great thing going there: the promise of careers, great community, and a sense of just starting to figure ourselves out. And then we picked up and left. I guess that comes with a transient lifestyle. You have to keep starting over and ripping yourself out just when you begin to settle in. I could be sad about it, or I could be thankful for the eight months I have left here. I guess that all I can do it enjoy it and let my roots grow deep anyway.

I have to keep blooming where I’m transplanted.

Who knows where we’ll be for Ben’s MS3 year? I bet it will be just as wonderful as Arizona or Sint Maarten. I bet we’ll make great friends there and become a part of the community we live in. We probably won’t have ocean views, but there will be other things to love. So I’m not going to worry too much about what happens next year. I’m going to enjoy the next eight months we are here and the three months of Arizona after that. This year is going to be a great year, and I’m going to get everything I can out of it.

Taco Macho

July 11, 2016AUC, Caribbean, International Travel, Saint Martin/ Sint Maarten, Spouses Organization, Uncategorizedfood, mexican, restaurants, Sint Maarten, st martin, SXM, tacobreanamjohnson@gmail.com

And another big block test over for Ben, and other date night for us! Gebe, the power company, is having struggles lately, so the power has been spotty. Think every day for two hours. Today it was six hours. When it went out 30 minutes before dinner and ruined my cooking plans, I suprised Ben and took him out to Taco Macho!

Taco Macho is located in Maho, past the airport beach. Parking in the Alegria complex, where the restaurant it located, costs $4, but you can park for free outside the gate on the airport side of the road.

I had heard a lot of good things about Taco Macho, expecislly about their $2.50 tacos! The place reminded me of home and places in Mexico that I love. Arizona has the best Mexican food in the U.S. (Sorry, Texas). It’s hard to find tacos on St. Martin, so I need my taxo fix sometimes.

So if you’re looking for a good Mexican place on this island, try Taco Macho. My suggestion is to stay away from the combos with their tablespoon-sized sides and go for the delicious tacos. Yum! We will be back.

Emancipation Day!

July 1, 2016American University of the Caribbean, Caribbean, International Travel, Saint Martin/ Sint MaartenAUC, Caribbean, Dutch Side, emancipation, Emancipation Day, French Side, International, Island, learning, maroons, Saint Martin, Sint Maarten, slavery, slaves, st martin, St. Maarten, SXMbreanamjohnson@gmail.com

Today is a huge national holiday on the island. It is Emancipation Day! On July 1, Sint Maarten celebrates the official end of slavery in the Dutch Caribbean.

Ironically, this is not the date of the true end of slavery. Slavery on the island ended in sometime in 1848, while the date we celebrate is July 1, 1863. Why is this? It’s actually a pretty interesting story.

In 1863, the French government abolished slavery. This meant that the northern half of Saint Martin gave freedom to their slaves, but the slaves on the southern Dutch side were still in bondage. Naturally, this caused the Dutch slaves to run across the border for freedom. Because this caused a massive disruption in the Dutch side’s productions, the Dutch slaveholders all agreed to release their slaves and pay them wages. Fifteen years later, the Dutch government officially decreed emancipation for all slaves in the Dutch Caribbean, which is what we celebrate today.

There is a lot of fascinating history about slaves on Sint Maarten that is, unfortunately, not widely known or taught in history books. I only know bits and snatches about brave people making a break for freedom, maroons living in caves and eluding detection for years, and secret conversations in the very salt pond I drive past every day. If you have a chance, it’s worth looking up. I’d love to write historical fiction on some of these people someday, or read somebody else’s. If you any good sources, please let me know in the comments.

8 Things I Took for Granted Before I Left the U.S.

June 25, 2016AUC, Expats, Expats and TCKs, International Travel, Uncategorizedadventures, American University of the Caribbean, arizona, AUC, Caribbean, countries, cultural, culture, Expat, International, Island, learning, Med school, medical school, moving, Saint Martin, Sint Maarten, st martin, St. Maarten, SXM, travelbreanamjohnson@gmail.com

Before I left the United States, there were a lot of things I took for granted. I guess everyone thinks their own life is pretty typical until they get a taste of something else.

1. Traffic lights. We have a single traffic light in the entire country of Sint Maarten. It spends half its life blinking yellow. Here, we have few intersections and a lot of round-a-bouts. It’s actually a much better system, and a lot fewer accidents occur because of it.

2. Refrigerated milk. You can get refrigerated milk here, but not every grocery store carries it. I always buy ultra heat-treated (UHT) milk. It’s cheaper, safer, and easier, especially since we get so many power outages. Also, I can stick several cases on the fridge and use them as I need them.

3. Electricity. Speaking of power outages, we get them a lot. Our single power plant can only handle so much at once. So we go without water and/or power on a regular basis.

4. Air conditioning. I grew up in Phoenix, Arizona where air conditioning is literally vital for life. Here, we like to use it now and then but we could certainly live without it. Our apartment complex took almost two months to fix our unit last summer when it died. We were OK; we have a nice trade winds breeze that we welcomed through open doors and windows.

5. Multiple traffic lanes. Unlike Phoenix’s six-lane highways, Sint Maarten has a basic two-lane road going all the way around the island. Passing anyone is an adventure.

6. Self-defense weapons. I used to carry mace everywhere I went. That’s just what you do in Phoenix if you’re walking around alone. I can’t carry anything here– not mace, not a pocket knife, not even a chair. Well, realistically I can carry a chair, but not legally. If you could whack someone in the head with it, you can’t legally carry it down the street. People will make weapons with anything, though– the supermarket next door once got held up by a guy with a stick.

7. Private beaches. There are no private beaches here! Every strip of sand on this island is public property. I took my dog to one of the less beautiful beaches this afternoon. There were a dozen locals there and me. And it’s a Saturday. If that beach was in the States, it would have been PACKED because so many good beaches are privately owned and the rest are perpetually filled. Here, you can enjoy the most incredible strips of paradise no matter your paycheck. I love that about Sint Maarten.

8. Sales tax. Yes, there is no sales tax here! Hooray for no math! Oh, and for not paying extra for stuff.

No matter where you go, there will always be something better and worse about it than the last place you lived. I guess the moral to the story is that wherever you are, enjoy the good things about that place instead of focusing on the bad things. There’s so much to appreciate in life!

Breana's Blog

A writer's adventures around the world