Goodbye to St Kitts & Nevis (two islands, one country). Hello (Bonjour) to St Martin & Sint Maarten (one island, two countries). I am covering both sides, but staying in France 
That said, I have been spending some time in Sint Maarten and I learned something important. They call it “the Dutch side” but apparently it’s not really Dutch anymore: as of 2010, Sint Maarten is independent! Around that time, the Netherlands offered its overseas territories a choice to stay as a part of the Netherlands or to go it alone. Sint Maarten (as well as Aruba and CuraƧao) chose independence. Apparently, Sint Maarten is still heavily subsidized by the Netherlands, but it is a self-governing sovereign nation.
Another reason why it’s not really the Dutch side: Sint Maarten prides itself on being extremely multicultural, with more than 100 different nationalities represented in their little country, with no clear majority ethnicity. English is the dominant language of communication, and the US dollar is the predominant currency (although they also have the Antillean guilder, which is fixed to the dollar).
This is very different than St Martin, which really is the French side. Everybody speaks French there, they use the Euro and it’s actually part of France.
So there’s your lesson on Caribbean geopolitics for the day. Welcome to Sint Maarten / St Martin – one island, two countries!
