"" Writer's Wanderings: St. Maarten's Sunset Beach - Duck!!

Friday, January 11, 2013

St. Maarten's Sunset Beach - Duck!!

When your husband of more than forty-four years says he wants to go to the beach and in all those years you've learned he doesn't like sitting on the beach, you know something is up. Boy was something up. And those somethings were landing right over our heads!

Our ship docked in Phillipsburg, St. Maarten, on December 30. After a nice breakfast on the back deck, we donned our bathing suits, packed our sunblock, hats, books, and water and headed off to the port area. The port area is very nice in St. Maarten. Harbor Point Village houses some shops and small bars for those who don't want to venture too far. The more adventuresome passengers can take a water ferry into Phillipsburg, a short 10-15 minute ride for a minimal price, and enjoy the shops, the restaurants and the beach area there.

Just outside the Harbor Point Village, we found a taxi to take us to Sunset Beach near Maho Village. The beach is not extremely big but it is beautiful and unique in its location--the end of the airport runway. It has been featured on the Travel Channel where Bob saw it and immediately stuck it on his bucket list. The planes fly right over beach goers as they land coming low enough to make it feel as though you could reach out and touch them.

Our morning was spent watching mostly small prop planes and private jets fly in. There were only a couple of larger planes. Unfortunately our ship was leaving early and we needed to get back before the truly large jets flew in. Still, it was an adventure.



Several men stood to watch an American Airlines jet take off. They positioned themselves just opposite the area marked with danger because of the jet blast from planes taking off. As the plane swung around at the end of the runway, they were suddenly pelted with sand. As soon as it was over one said, "Well, that was a once-in-a-lifetime experience!"


For us it won't be. Bob is determined to return when we can stay long enough to watch the really big jets land. Guess I'd better stock up on sunblock.

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