There’s no question that things in Sint Maarten have been incredibly challenging in the days, and now weeks, since Hurricane Irma hit the island. The only way to overcome the adversity of this situation is to come together as a community, and that’s exactly what the island is trying to do.
With the announcement coming from Sint Maarten that the airport will be opening on October 10 to commercial service, there’s been a number of corresponding announcements coming from airlines. Both American Airlines and Delta have incredible fares from the east coast (see some of them here). So if you’re looking to get down to SXM in October, the airlines are making it very affordable.
When the airport (Oct 10) and cruise port (Nov 11) both open, the government of Sint Maarten have announced new t-shirt designs they plan on wearing to welcome the first visitors to the island since Irma. We’re also very proud to announce that the government is embracing the SXM Strong slogan as one of their main messages in the design.
We’ve all seen just how important it is for the community of Sint Maarten, both on and off the island, to come together and support each other in this time of need. To me, the community is much more than just those who were born on, or currently live in Sint Maarten. The community around Sint Maarten is anyone who loves the island: tourists, previous residents, current residents, those who have family there, and even those who’ve never been but long to go.
Together we are all SXM Strong. And together we can help to rebuild SXM and continue to support the island well into the future.
The message from the government is to emphasis, “Yes, we’re open!”
Here’s an excerpt from the government’s press release, describing the t-shirts and the message printed on them. The full release is below.
The shirts depict an airplane for PJIA and a cruise ship for Port St. Maarten. Adorned in Sint Maarten colors, the commemorative logo also features Sint Maarten’s National bird the Brown Pelican, an outline of Sint Maarten in the background, the latitude and longitude coordinates of Sint Maarten and the hashtag #sxmstrong, made popular on social media in the aftermath of hurricanes Irma and Maria. The October 10 and November 11 dates also form part of the logo. Finally, Sint Maarten’s area code “721” is emboldened in the middle of a symbol of a hurricane.
Please help rebuild SXM and give today. Click here to visit the SXM Strong donate page. Thank you!
