POST 6: Research on St. Martin and St. Maarten

The island of St Martin and St Maarten is very unique, therefor I had a hard time picking what I wanted to research about it. The final question I chose for my research is "What makes St. Martin/St. Maarten a popular vacation spot for tourist?". My answer to that question is that Culinary, Culture, and Nightlife are the main aspects for tourism attraction. While doing my research, I have looked at many different articles, blogs, and journals.

Reading through the blogs about food on the island, and about the nightlife on the island has been the most interesting to me. I found out that many tourists consider St Martin and Sint Maarten the culinary capital of the Caribbean. I also got to read through some yummy recipes and the main dishes served on the island. I am planning on trying to duplicate one of the recipes, and then hopefully bringing it in for my final presentation of the project.

One thing that has been very challenging throughout my research so far, has been finding creditable sources. Many of the websites I have looked through were either very biased or did not provide enough information to support my research. It is very disappointing to me when I read through a whole source and then end up not finding enough useful information.

 I plan on researching more about the culture in St. Martin and Sint Maarten. So far, I have looked more into my other two controlling ideas, cuisine and casinos. I wanted to research how some of the traditions and cultures impact tourism, and then include them into my paper. For example, I plan on reading more about Carnaval in St Martin and Sint Maarten, and then seeing if that event is something that attracts tourist.

I have already visited the French side of the island while on a cruise, but after doing more research on the island and the things that attract tourists, I want to plan another vacation there. 

This is a picture of a dish called Conch and Dumplings. It's a popular, hot and spicy dish in St. Maarten.