Sint Maarten – Hikes, Ziplines, and Wildlife equal fun, fun, fun! While the hikes are not well marked, for the most part, and some involve walking through residential neighborhoods, they all offer extraordinary views.
Sint Maarten Hike – Devil’s Cupper Hike
The first hike we did is called Devil’s Cupper. This is where there is a natural pool and a lot of people come to swim. The directions were mixed, with some people coming from the south and some people coming from the north, reading Google Maps reviews. The link above is our walk on Alltrails. Before we posted it, there wasn’t anything on Alltrails. Coming from the south, the walk is easier but not as scenic and there are aggressive dogs in the area at the trailhead. Coming from the north is much prettier, but you end up scaling some cliffs over the ocean. We did this hike twice. On the second hike, we saw an unusual iguana (we think), catching fish from the rocky cliffs.
Saint Martin Hike – Happy Bay to Friar’s Bay
Our second hike took us again to the French side of the Island, but south of Anse Marcel, to Happy Bay. We walked from Happy Bay to Friar’s Bay and back again. This wasn’t really a strenuous hike, but we encountered cows on the trail, blocking our way. Rick had to shoo them off the trail so the French locals could get through.
Sint Maarten Hike – Oyster Pond
We went to the northeast part of the island for our third hike. The area is called Oyster Pond, but we sort of made our own “trail.” Along our route, we found both rural livestock farms and a bay where people kite surf (we so want to do this). This was also the place we saw the most destruction from Hurricane Irma that hit the island in 2017. We talked to several people who had property that sustained damage. Apparently, when Irma hit, the winds reach 250 mph. It ripped off roofs, shattered windows, and leveled some buildings. People told us that they had just started rebuilding when Covid hit. So all that they had started had to be put on hold. Consequently, when we arrived, they hadn’t gotten very far.
Saint Martin Hikes – Anse Marcel to Petite Cayes and beyond
For our fourth hike, we went to the French side, northwest of the island. We walked from the parking area at Anse Marsel at the trailhead over to Petite Cayes. This took us through jungle and elevation changes, eventually to the beach. Bring your hiking boots! You can either turn around once you get to Petite Cayes, or you can walk all the way to Grand Cayes, and back to the Anse Marsel parking lot via roadways through the towns. This three-part Alltrails hike took most of the day, and we logged about 6.5 miles
Sint Maarten Ziplining
Sint Maarten is home to the steepest zipline in the world. It’s called The Flying Dutchman, and looking at its path from the top is sure to give you the willies. But riding it is actually fun and not very scary at all. It has built in braking so you can’t go too fast. And the park has more ziplines, a tube ride and a very fascinating museum. It’s the best place to get some great pics of the views of the island since it’s the highest point on the island.
Sint Maarten Hikes – Post Zipping Hike near Grand Cayes
For this hike, we started at Grand Cayes and hiked around the peninsula to the right of the beach. This area was hit hard by Hurricane Irma. The mini island in the last image is called Pinel and hosts the Le Karibuni, restaurant, boutique hotel, and a yoga retreat.
Sint Maarten Hikes & Wildlife – Pic Paradis Hike
Okay, so there was one hike we did that involved walking on a nude beach, which I won’t go into. Some of the beaches on the French side are nudist beaches. We saw several people partaking of the experience while we were visiting beaches, but nothing we’d take pictures of! Meanwhile, here, I’m going to talk about Pic Paradis, which is an incredibly difficult place to find. I think there are trails all over the mountain that ultimately connect with each other, but trying to find the starting point was a challenge! We ended up driving partway up the hill and parking in a wide spot.
This hike provided amazing views, a lot of elevation, and some interesting wildlife. At one point we saw the back half of what appeared to be a gorilla running into the trees. I didn’t get a picture of that, plus it was extremely nerve-wracking because it wasn’t very far from where we were, so the pic wouldn’t have turned out anyway. But we did see a monkey hanging out in a tree not too far from a very suspicious zipline “operation.” I say it was suspicious only because on the way up, we drove by and there was a guy suiting up two people to zip on a line that appeared to have been strung that afternoon. There was nothing to indicate anything official about it. If they don’t make you sign a release form, or if they do and it looks flaky, run away!
Sint Maarten Hikes – Border Crossing
One of the last hikes we did is called the Border Crossing. It’s on the Dutch side. You have to park up in the shopping center on the French side, on the left coming from the Dutch side, in Marigot, and then hustle across the very busy Rue de Holland and walk back to the Dutch side to get to the wooden bridge which takes you to the stone “slave wall.” When you get there, cross it to get to the trails. This trail winds you around to some very pretty views. You end up at the roundabout at Rue de Hollande and Simpson Bay. We just walked back on the roadway from there to get to our car. We encountered a couple of cows on this hike too.
Sint Maarten Rhum Tasting – Toppers
Saint Martin Hikes – Finding Lovers’ Beach
Okay, yes, this one is a nude beach. It took us forever to find it! Thankfully, no one was there while we were there. We did disrobe, but I’ll spare you the images! Here’s the hike we did: we left the car at Friar’s Beach and walked from there. Hubby didn’t record this one, so I’m having to improvise the route. Here’s a pic of the route we walked in yellow highlight (we went well past Lover’s Beach, but turned around and came back).
While we were in Sint Maarten, we also went scuba diving. You can read all about that in this post about scuba diving during the Heineken Regatta.
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