Will do…although I am heading over around 9am…so there will not be much going on at the airport

What hotel is it?

St. Martin

I have been lucky enough to have lived and worked here on St. Maarten since March 2004, and I have come to get a view of the island that is decidedly split in half. Much like the island itself.

First..flying to the island.

I have flown here from JFK, Miami and Paris. By FAR the best was Air France. Great service, good food and lots of games and movies to watch.
JFK was second, American Airlines 757. Only problem here is that on all my flights the fasten seatbelt signs were never turned off…and after 3hrsI got up to use the restrooms..and got yelled at by the stewardesses standing in a group at the back of the plane. And no…there was no turbulence…it was smooth as glass.
Last must be Miami…the waiting and lines in that airport is beyond description…stear clear if possible!!

There is a big difference between the French and the Dutch side of the island. The Dutch side is pouring all the money they can get (from Curacao, all the money goes from the Netherlands to Curacao for further distribution to the other parts of the antilles…strangely enough most of the money seems to stay in Curacao) into tourism. There is a constant building of new hotels and resorts…and there is hardly a green place left on this side of the island. The tourist areas are of course nice, but not very…I have seen much better other places. Go outside the tourist areas and there is filth everywhere. Old cars, trash etc lying about all over the place. And a local population that is increasingly, and understandably, getting fed up with getting little or no support from the government. The roads are falling apart, literally, and sitting in a traffic jam for about an hour to drive 1km is the norm at certain times of the day.
Crime is increasing rapidly, only the two years I have been here I have seen a leap in crime. I worked for the police, and had a good insight into stuff that didn’t reach the newspapers. That St. Maarten is “the Friendly Island” might have been true in the past, but is not correct today.

St. Maarten is a beautiful island, if you only look at the surface. Stay in the hotel and on the beach, and look out to sea, and its beautiful. Take a walk in Dutch Quarter, or Mullet Bay at night and a different story becomes evident. The best description I have heard of St. Maarten as it is today is “it is just a big bad neighbourhood”, and this from soneone born and raised in Queens, NY.

Sunset Beach (or Maho beach as it is actually named) seems to be the focal point of interest for the people on this website, quite understandably. It is a pretty little beach, actually one of the smallest on the island…when there is sand. As it is now about 75% of the beach is gone, and in some parts replaced by rocks.
The view of planes landing and taking off is in my opinion unparallelled in the world. Nothing like sitting at Sunset Beach Bar with a drink and watch a 744 or A340 pass over the beach, or watch the idiots get blown into the ocean by the same taking off. (Note that I said drink…although SSBB claims to have the best food on the island, which is FAR from true, there is a high level of nausea and loose bowel movements after eating there…be warned) If you like 757s this is the right place to be….or be blown into the ocean by one.
The road by the beach has been made narrower and into two seperate lanes so that cars can not park behind the aircraft. That is about it when it comes to controlling what goes on there.

If any questions come up, feel free to ask.
I will be flying off the island in two days, might be back in a month or so for a different job…but thats only if nothing else comes up.

Ken

Although I have personally started a few threads with photos I am NOT a photographer. I am a pilot, I have a ****ty digital camera that is tucked away in my flight suit pocket most of the day, and some days I find it with the lens cover half open after a days worth of flying. Is this the correct setup to take great photos? Of course not.
I started posting photos here because many of the forum members seems interested in St. Maarten, and I can get shots that not to many others here can get.

I guess what I am trying to say is that I post pictures because I know I am in a good location, and I have a ramp pass so my SXM pictures are not all of the “crossing the beach” variant. I am not trying to become a photographer, I can’t afford to buy new equipment, and would not have even if I had the money.
So what good does it do if the responses I get is “cr*p” photo..out of focus etc etc…chances are that I know…and that I don’t care. I am trying to share my interest for aviation, not photography. I am trying to maybe start a discussion (of the “didn’t know United flew down there” kind maybe), and help others who are thinking of coming down here.
Not every photo on this forum need to be studio quality with after the fact editing and cropping or whatnot. Isn’t it enough that they tell a story, show a situation etc??

Rant over…going back to work.

Ken

St. Maarten is pretty good.

Apart from the KLM 744 and the AF 340 we mostly have medium and smaller. Lots and lots of 757, some 737 and A320. Dash-8s, Twin Otters and Islanders are in and out all day long. Add to this the huge numbers of private planes from 172s to BBJs and you should have enough for a couple of days.

Maho beach is the best place to get them on landing, but there is a new place for the hardcore spotter as well. There you will find NO women, NO drinks, NO food and you might get chased off…but thats just fun..right?? On the departure end of the runway (09) they are building a run off area as part of the expansion of the airport. At the moment the sand is settling. and is higher than the fence..so if you go up there you will have a great view straight down the runway, almost as close as on the beach. Standing there on take offs should give some great photos.

You can also try to find a spot on the north side of maho beach. From some of the hotels there, or even from a rock along the coast, you can get a good view of them landing.

Give me a shout when you come down here.

Ken

How low can you go??

Nope..didn’t crash..

Here is one of the GREAT MAAM DC-3