Posted
November 11, 2013
There
is a Caribbean island named Saint Martin that is far smaller than the smallest state in the U.S. – but which is divided between two
nations:
1 – the French “collectivity” of Saint-Martin, and
2 – one of
the countries of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Sint
Maarten.
I don't know about you, but that seems like a lot of
confusion for such a small island!
At
any rate, today is Martinmas, the feast day of Saint Martin of Tours,
for whom the island and both countries are named. So it stands to
reason that today is Sint Maarten's national day.
(Of
course, the reason that the island is named for St. Martin in the
first place is because Columbus and his crew discovered the island
on St. Martin's feast day, November 11, 1493. So maybe that's why St.
Maarten's national day is today! My head is spinning slightly just
thinking about it.
By
the way...
Speaking
of head spinning, one of the beaches of St. Maarten is YouTube-famous
because the jet planes have to come so low, so close to the ocean,
sand, tourists, and cars, in order to land! Check out jets landing
here and here.
That's
enough to make my head spin and my stomach lurch!
The
airport with that terrifyingly short landing strip is called Princess
Juliana International Airport. And close to the airport is a large
lagoon that is split roughly in half between the French and Dutch
nations. Luckily, there are two islands in the lagoon, one on the
French side and the other on the Dutch side. I do like things to be
fair!
A
lagoon is a shallow body of water separated from a larger (and
deeper) body of water by a barrier reef or by barrier islands. In the
case of the Simpson Bay Lagoon of St. Martin/Maarten, there is a long
loop of land around the lagoon, with two channels connecting the
lagoon waters to the Caribbean. Again, all is fair – there is one
channel on the French side and the other on the Dutch side.
Also
on this date:
Armistice
Day and
Plan
Ahead:
Check out my Pinterest boards for:
And
here are my Pinterest boards for:
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