Dutch Saint Marteen is not for adventurers! That said, My husband and I ended up there for a few days waiting to disembark on Windjammer's "Polynesia" and decided to try find the rustic and old world. The task was not easily accomplished and I'm sure grows worse with each passing developer.

You are not allowed to leave the airport without giving an address for where you will be staying. We found a less than desirable hole in the wall off Front Street in Phillipsberg: Lucy's Guesthouse. Obviously we did not know that is was quite so seedy when we headed in its direction, but it was comparatively cheep, $55USD per night, and available. Lucy's is it's own story, but I don't recommend it!!!!! Of this I cannot be emphatic enough.

Being the adventurous sorts and finding Caribbean cities and resort strips not to our liking we consulted our naturalist guide book (The Outdoor Traveler's Guide to the Caribbean by Kay Showker) for our nearest adventure. Our capital resources were also on the slim side, which almost makes St. Marteen unbearable, so it was required that adventure be within walking distance. It is important to point out that although we were only a block off front street and the public beach on Great Bay is only a block or two off that, swimming or snorkeling was not an option. Every cruise ship known to man, every yacht within miles, every freighter, cargo ship and barge dock at the mouth or inside of Great Bay. All leave their oily residue to float to the beach. There is a netted swimming area that will keep the boats away from your body but the oily ooze seeps its way through the nets leaving bathers covered. I'll pass!!!

The Outdoor Traveler mentioned Fort Amsterdam. Following the book's directions it should only be a couple of miles away and certainly an easy walk so we headed out. Walking south on Front Street you follow the strip of luxury beachfront condos, villas and hotels. We realized that the only time we would ever return was to leave again. Cement and stucco encrusted buildings wrapp around their man-made jungles avec free-form pool and swim-up bars. It wasn't until we got to what we assumed was the end of the strip and began heading up a hill that we spied our first brown pelican and a chameleon.

Near the top of the hill we headed up a paved road, the guide book had referred to it as gravel, and out to the end of a hilly point that separates Great Bay from Little Bay. Here is where Fort Amsterdam was supposed to lie. Here is where the BelAir Beach and Casino Resort was being built! We climbed our way through the construction rubble occasionally climbing some of the larger piles to keep the sea in our sights. At the tip of this hilly finger we came butt up against an ominous 8' wire fence.

Not reading Dutch and not looking for a "Keep Out" sign in English, we proceeded through a somewhat small opening, climbed a last weed covered hill, picked our way through a tangle of pink and orange Bougainvillea and literally ran into the stone walls of Fort Amsterdam.

Built sometime in the seventeenth century by the Dutch settlers to guard against pirates, she now lay in over-grown ruin. The ground was littered with sand covered cannon balls. Rusted cannons still lay with heads poking out of the crumbling battlements. The cannons on the east side of the fort look out over Great Bay and the cliffs of Point Blanch. Looking down the barrel of one of the cannons I sited up a massive cruise ship making its way to the harbor. This vantage point certainly explained why the fort was a fearsome defender against the pirates of old as well as other eager-to-acquire-new-territory European countries.

Perched on the remains of the highest point were two men poised heads-together under a brightly colored umbrella. Surveyors! They had been hired by the Resort's investors to see how far onto the point they could possibly place structures before the sea or a minor tropical storm would claim them. Thus, the ultimate demise of Fort Amsterdam. Despite the signs warning off visitors the men actual expressed their pleasure at seeing us capture what were surely to be the last days of life for Fort Amsterdam on film. In rich Caribbean accents they told us of the pirates, of how the caves in the stone cliffs of Point Blanch were used to hide treasure. Even of how a Dutchman and a Frenchman split the island in two.

The Spaniards were the first to "discover" the island (in 1493) and held control until 1648 when they abandoned their claim to Holland. The French agreed to share it with them. In order to divide the island it was agreed that a Frenchman would walk one way and a Dutchman would walk the opposite. A line would be drawn directly through the center of the island from where they met. Apparently the Frenchman walked faster, or maybe had an easier walk, because the French side is somewhat larger; 21 square miles as opposed to 16 square miles.

I got carried away with Kodak and the various vantage points from the fort. It distressed me to know that the ever-invading palm up for the almighty tourist dollar was so blind to a rich and fascinating history. Surely the attraction of Fort Amsterdam would draw as many tourists as an ocean view room? Apparently not! We thanked the surveyors for "good story" and departed the way we had come.

What has become of Fort Amsterdam? I've not been back to Philipsburg to see first hand but I strongly suspect that the last remnants are in my photo album and slide carousel.