Travel with Indigo

Just a few miles across the water from Anguilla is the schizophrenic island of St. Martin⁄St. Maarten. About two thirds of the place, a départment of France, is crowded, traffic choked and badly in need of a paint job. It does, however, have a whole lot of fine restaurants. The other third is Dutch and also crowded with people and cars but with the added blight of glitzy casinos. The Dutch side’s principle attraction for us is that it has become a major refit yard for yachts cruising the islands, and with work to be done we stop there for 10 days of R&R from our hectic schedule.

In need of a checkup by a dermatologist, I have the crew arrange an appointment for me with a Dutch doctor. I show up 15 minutes early and knock on his office door as instructed by the health center receptionist. The doctor himself opens the door, invites me in, fills out on his computer an initial visit form with basic health history, then conducts a thorough exam, completes the form with the results, and charges me $80, which I pay to him in cash. Done and out the door in 30 minutes. No nurses, doctor’s receptionist, long waits in crowded holding pens filled with out-of-date bad magazines, extensive forms asking useless information, etc. And the price was right too.