Leaving Philipsburg, St Maarten

The Island is divided in two, with the Dutch half, including Philipsburg, in the  south and the French half which lies to the north.  

Local folklore has it that the dividing line was decided between the French and the Dutch parts of the island in 1648, by taking a French and a Dutch walker and standing them back to back at a point on the coast of the island.  They were then made to walk in opposite directions following the coast.  When they met at a point approximately on the other side of the island, the dividing line was drawn between the two points.

However, the island is not quite equally shared, with the French side being slightly larger.  The French claim that this was because the French walker was fuelled by wine f rom his homeland.  The Dutch claim that this is because the French walker was secretly running.