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Part of the Northern
Archipelago, the island of St Maarten/ St Martin
covers an area of 37 square miles (87 square kilometers). It lies 250
kilometers north from the Continental Guadeloupe. The French side of St Martin covers an area of 21 square miles while the
Dutch terrain is 16 square miles wide. The Atlantic Ocean lies to the isle's
East, to the West is the Caribbean Sea. The
island is located at 18N, 63W or 144 miles/300km Southeast of Puerto Rico, in
the Leeward Islands of the West Indies, i.e. in the middle of the Northern Caribbean islands. St Maarten/ St
Martin is the smallest inhabited sea island in the world.
Even though a tropical island, St Maarten/ St Martin has never boasted of lush green foliage. This is primarily because the land lacks major rivers and receives scanty rainfall. St Maarten is volcanic and has several mountains, the tallest being Pic Paradis (424m/ 1400 ft) right in the middle of a hill chain in French territory. The hill and the mountain slopes feature dry forest covering. The partition between the French and Dutch sides is imperceptible and does not boast any geographical peculiarity. The southern Dutch half comprises the Eilandgebied Sint Maarten (Island area of St. Martin) and is part of the Netherlands Antilles.
St Maarten's popularity stems from its extensive white beaches and azure waters along the coast. Geographically, the islet is divided into Grande-Terre and Terres-Basses (Lowlands) that are bridged by narrow land strips around the ‘Etang' - the salt-water pond in Simsonbay. Most of the Maartenian village settlements - Marigot, Grand Case, Philipsburg and Simsonbaai - are on the beaches, near the salt-water pans; the sole village in the interior being Colombier. Aside from the coastal belt, the rest of the island is largely uninhabited.
The average yearly air temperature is 27 °C (min 17 °C, max 35 °C) and sea surface temperature 26.4 °C. The total average yearly rainfall is 995 mm, with 99 days of thunder.
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