Great Salt Pond

Parks & Nature · Philipsburg, Sint Maarten

The large salt pond directly behind Philipsburg, once the heart of the island's salt-harvesting economy and the reason the town exists where it does. Today its roughly 188 hectares are recognised as an Important Bird Area, hosting big seasonal gatherings of laughing gulls along with herons, stilts and other waterbirds. The ring road around it offers easy birdwatching within minutes of Front Street.