It was expected. But it’s still a harsh blow. My friends at Travel Pulse Canada say Air Canada has announced that it’s cancelling its service to St. Martin/Sint Maarten for the remainder of the 2017/18 winter season. The island, a hugely popular winter destination for Canadians, was severely damaged by Hurricane Irma. Many resorts are still closed following the hurricane, including the lovely Westin Dawn Beach Resort on the east side of the island. It’s not a big issue for Canadians, who have tons of great options in parts of the Caribbean that weren’t hit by Hurricane Irma or by Read more
St. Martin
I wrote some posts earlier this week about what’s happening with Hurricanes Irma and Maria and how travel is being affected. But I didn’t have time to do a full-on, exhaustive story. The New York Times, however, did just a story that I found online today; a fine wrap-up that shows just what folks can expect and where you can take your holidays in the next little while. As I wrote earlier, it looks like St. Martin’s tourism sector has been devastated. Sunwing has cancelled all flights through April, while Air Canada has said it won’t be flying down this Read more
This a crushing blow for the island of St. Maarten/St. Martin, one of the favourite Caribbean retreats for Canadians every winter. Sunwing, a popular supplier of flights from Canada to the Dutch/French island, says they’re pulling out of all flights through the end of next April because of major damage caused by Hurricane Irma. The island’s airport was badly hurt by the storm, and many hotels also were badly damaged. That’s hard enough on folks who live there, but losing thousands of Canadian visitors will mean an even bigger loss for an island where folks rely on tourism to feed Read more
Volunteer tourism has become a big thing in the world. And now Hurricane Irma has given the average person a chance to take part. You don’t have to go and build a house in St. Martin or Barbuda or Cuba, although that would be awesome. No, all you really need to do to help folks in Irma-stricken parts of the Caribbean (and Florida, by the looks of it) is do what many of us have done for years; visit. I wrote that a week or so ago. And now we’ve had more damage from Hurricane Maria, which has devasted the Read more
ST. MAARTEN/ST. MARTIN – Fine, flavoured rum. Sweet-smelling local soaps. And a dreamy beach resort with one of the best massages I’ve ever had. I had the good luck to spend roughly 24 hours in St. Maarten (and an hour or so on the French side, St. Martin) following my Caribbean cruise with Sea Dream Yacht Club. And found a lot to like. We started our day (my wife was with me, which is always great) in Marigot on the French side, where we strolled through the waterfront markets and bought some trinkets to take . home. It feels a Read more
