ST MAARTEN / ST MARTIN
St Martin is a nice little island in the Caribbean, one of the things it is known for is Maho Beach or Airport Beach, the end of the runway is pretty much at the beach so you can just about get blown over as the planes take off and get a pretty close buzz as they land, it is pretty cool, that is what we wanted to do.
here is a video from our recent trip (Feb 2018) watching the planes land
visited in Sept 2018, Feb 2018, Oct 2018
Transportation. there are a few options for transportation
water taxi that runs to a couple stops by the downtown Philipsburg,
taxi, to downtown Philipsburg is about $3 each, there are shops and a beach within a few blocks of where they drop you,, to airport beach about $9 pp each way. (each port is a little different with catching taxis, this one the only option going out is a taxi stand just after the shops, prices are posted)
local bus is a good inexpensive option ($2 per person to Airport beach), best way is to take the taxi into town, the place they drop you is a couple blocks from where the busses end/start their route, you can ask directions for where the local bus is.
or if you are catching the bus to Airport (Maho) beach) make your way to “Back Street” (within a block or two of where taxis drop you) and look for a bus marked “Maho” or “Mullet Bay” or “M-bay” , wave at it and it will stop and pick you up, you will usually see one in 5 to 10 min.
Money, The two official currencies on St. Martin are the Euro on the French side and the Florin (Netherlands Antillean guilder or florin) on the Dutch side. US dollars are also accepted across the island.
we went to Maho or Airport Beach, we took a 5 min taxi ride into town (few dollars each) did a little shopping then took the local bus (mini van) to Maho beach about a 30 min ride, the way you catch that bus is get onto “Back Street” it is a one way street , look for a bus stop, you can pretty much catch a bus anywhere on that street though, watch for a minivan that says “Maho” or Mullet Bay or M-bay and look at the driver and put your hand in the air, he will stop unless he is full. there is no regular schedule but they come along regularly, its only a few dollars each way where a taxi ride would run you about $9 each way, when you get on the bus/minivan let the driver know you want to get off at Maho Beach/Airport Beach, they will let you off by the welcome to St Maarten sign by the airport, when you are ready to go just go back to that same area on the other side of the street and watch for a bus/minivan marked Philipsburg, it will take you back into town by where the taxis drop off, you can catch a taxi from there or walk around town and get a taxi back from anywhere in town, you will usually find taxi drivers asking if you are ready to go back.
Maho Beach, its a decent beach but can get a little crowded because it is a popular attraction, i usually try to stay away from popular beaches but this one was definitely worth it, having planes fly over as they are about to land was alot of fun.
there are bar/restaurants on both ends of the beach sunset bar on the south end of the beach we hung out by the one on the north end, we ended up paying $20 for 2 chairs with umbrellas and a soft drink, we figured we would be there a while so it was worth it.
if you want to try to figure out when the bigger planes are coming in St martins airport schedule is here, but they only show 2 days out, (here is another good place) also sunset bar will post flights on a chalkboard at their bar so you can look at that too. (KLM current schedule flies in Tue, Fri and Sun at aprox 1:40 with a departure about 1 hr later, some Wednesdays)
There was some decent snorkeling too, if you want to snorkel head towards the rocks near sunset bar, nothing real spectacular but nice. here is my snorkeling Video
the roundabout the bus will drop you at for Maho Beach
Maho Beach from the North end
snorkeling Maho Beach by Sunset Bar
downtown Philipsburg
Jet Blue A320