Patricia Honeycutt Cantor is a native North Carolinian who currently resides in New York City. She and her husband first fell in love with St. Maarten/St. Martin more than 25 years ago while on vacation. After decades of annual visits, they bought a home in the French Lowlands five years ago and now divide their time between New York, Pike County, PA and the island. Cantor is a marketing/public relations consultant with clients in fashion, home furnishing, travel and financial services. She also loves to travel, cook, garden, interior design and write.

Puja Chugani grew up and studied in St. Maarten. She's also a graduate of Georgetown University in Washington, DC and has a Master's degree from Columbia University in New York. Chugani currently lives in New York City and works in entertainment public relations, but still manages to visit St. Maarten/St. Martin several times a year. Her background and knowledge of the island make her an ideal person to write for Experience St. Maarten/St. Martin.

Dana Cohen Sprott, a native New Yorker, spent six years working in Jamaica for the Jamaica Information Service before joining the publishing industry. She is married to St. Maarten international tennis pro Michael Sprott and they have two curly haired daughters, Samantha and Sabrina. Cohen-Sprott is the account executive for Experience St. Maarten/St. Martin and Latitudes, the inflight magazine for American Eagle.

Judy Fitzpatrick is the recipient of the 2006 United Nations Population Fund Silver Award for Excellent Reporting. Fitzpatrick began her journalism career as a producer in the News and Current Affairs Department at Guyana Television Broadcasting Company Limited (now National Communications Network). She later moved to print media, joing the team at Stabroek News while studying at the University of Guyana. Following her tertiary studies, she relocated to the Friendly Island and joined the editorial team at The Daily Herald in 2001.

Suriname-born Marvin Hokstam is an award-winning Caribbean journalist who calls St. Maarten home. He owns and operates Agile Ventures communications consultancy firm and freelances for The Daily Herald, the Associated Press, the Caribbean Media Corporation and several other media organizations.

Melanie Reffes is a Montreal-based travel writer and broadcaster. Her work has appeared in many publications such as The Globe and Mail, Nights Out St. Maarten, Travel Weekly, Canadian Traveller, Montreal Gazette and The Miami Herald. She is the recipient of the 2007 Caribbean Tourism Organization's Baxter Award for Top Caribbean Writer based in Canada. She specializes in the Caribbean and has journeyed to many of the islands, but St. Maarten/St. Martin remains her personal paradise.

Dr. Jean C. Hager-Rich and husband Dr. Marvin A. Rich retired from a distinguished international career in cancer research and have lived in St. Maarten/St. Martin since 1989 where they have operated restaurants and bars along with a wholesale and retail wine company and associated boutiques on St. Martin, Anguilla and St. Barths. Hager-Rich writes about her interests, including wine and gastronomic spirits, and is fondly recognized as the "Godmother of Weddings," providing a resourceful, personalized service to couples whose weddings are organized by www.stmaarten-beachweddings.com.

A freelance writer based in Port St. Lucie, Fla., Donald Rodrigue regularly writes about his travels throughout Latin America and the Caribbean for several award-winning travel publications.

Shawn Rohde has lived in St. Thomas for the past several years, but has spent a considerable amount of her time working and exploring in St. Maarten/St. Martin. She is the author of U.S. Virgin Islands Moving Guide, a book about moving to the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Guyana-born Alita Singh, a journalist with The Daily Herald, collected several awards during 2005/2006 in the areas of tourism and environment. Most notably, Singh was named environmentalist of the year in 2005, collected the SHTA Crystal Pineapple Award for Excellence in Tourism Reporting, and received the first ever honorable mention in the American Express/Caribbean Hotel Association tourism reporting award.

* Special thanks to Anne Marie Scot for her valuable assistance.