Sint Maarten and the sights of Maho beach

Friday morning saw us catching the ferry that goes from Gustavia St Barths to St (Sint) Maarten. A pleasant 45 minute ride with some wave action and  we were again at...Immigration!!. All very quick and then a cab ride to our hotel. We were getting a little concerned as it was about a 30 min ride and of course no meter!. Anyway it turned out to be very reasonable.
We had booked the hotel from Saba at the recommendation of Donna the Taxi. We had looked at the Maho Beach hotel and it was expensive but the "Royal Turtle Inn" was way more reasonable and located on Simpson Bay and not far from Maho Beach.
What is the attraction on Maho Beach, topless European women and guys in Speedos? Not really! Once again it is ...airplanes.

The airport at St Maarten is short by international jet standards at around 7000 ft and the easterly approach (normally used) is over the ocean, then over Maho Beach (about 50 ft (15m) wide and a road (maybe 30 ft (9m) and then the threshold of the runway. There is a bar off to the side and watching the planes land is a popular past time for locals and visitors. The bar even has a sign that details the expected arrival times for the major carriers. So you can sit at a nice beach bar with a cold beer and watch airplanes all day. What is not to like about that!!

I think we arrived around 12.30 and had walked from our hotel, maybe a mile or so. Just enough to work up a decent thirst!


There are lots of comings and goings of the small aircraft like the ones we flew to Saba and St Barths, and some regional carriers. There are large signs that warn people about jet blast, particularly from departing aircraft and we saw several people who were apparently invincible who stood (at least for a while) behind departing aircraft. Not too clever.

LIAT Dash 8 landing. I would say he had this just right.

 

Us with Maho Beach in the background

US Airways A319. A tad low but OK. Note the sign warning of the jet blast

Air France A340 departing non stop for Paris

 

The aircraft is VERY close to the road and takes all of the runway as it is relatively short

American 757 from Miami "on slope"

  Earlier I had seen a DHL Cessna Caravan make what looked like a deliberately low approach to give the crowd a thrill, but he did not come close to the 727 freighter that landed soon after the American 757. Fortunately I got a shot and Candida got one a second or so later

I think his wheels are maybe 10 ft over the heads of the people and he cleared the fence by about 5ft!!

And he was down. Spectacular!! Not smart but spectacular

We wandered back to the hotel before dark and after an attempt to get dinner at a local restaurant we gave up and came back to the bar and restaurant at the hotel. The food was excellent and not too expensive, so we had a nice evening even if we were awakend early by the inevitable roosters!!
Our room was adequate and the place was very small, maybe 8 rooms, but the dinner and breakfast the next morning was excellent and we had a good view of Simpson's Bay