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Planes flying over the beach

dtbach

By dtbach,
in Royal Caribbean International

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Ned11

Ned11

Posted
Posted

For a first timer and who only wants to go to Maho Beach, is it better to go with Bernard's Tour or just go by taxi? Your thoughts would be much appreciated. :) It's the place I haven't sorted out yet.

 

 

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Ned11

Ned11

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It's very easy to go on your own.

 

Grab a cab at the pier and you can arrange for them to come and pick you up at the same place at a nominated time. Allow for traffic on your return. Did that last time and it worked a dream.

 

IMG_0352.jpg

 

Thanks for that. How long does it take to get back? My ship arrives in at 12pm and leaves at 9pm. What time would be best to leave?

 

Thanks again.

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NorbertsNiece "Live from...." Rare

NorbertsNiece

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Thanks for that. How long does it take to get back? My ship arrives in at 12pm and leaves at 9pm. What time would be best to leave?

 

Thanks again.

 

It may leave at 9pm but all aboard will be earlier. Are you planning to be back for dinner? I don't know how early it gets dark there but a few hours in that sun will probably be all you need!! See how long the drive there takes and get advice from the driver. Then add some.

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TravelerThom

TravelerThom

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... How long does it take to get back? My ship arrives in at 12pm and leaves at 9pm. What time would be best to leave?...
I assume from your posts that you are in Sint Maarten 22 April. Given that the US is now on Daylight Time, and EDT is the same as AST, it seems certain that ship and local time will match [but always check that]. It is 5 miles or less from the pier to Maho, but it usually takes from 30-45 minutes to get there, as the traffic almost always exceeds the road capacity [could be longer if the Cole Bay drawbridge is up]. If you hurry off the ship and snag a taxi you might make it by 1:20 when the A340 from Paris is due in [but it is often late]. The sun sets at 6:30, so you could even stay for sunset and still have almost two hours to get back to the ship, but that's longer than I'd be likely to stay.

 

enjoy

Thom

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shopping is fun

shopping is fun

Posted
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Bernard's = Fabulous. We chose the tour which did NOT include a long, dedicated beach time, but we did visit Orient Beach for about 20-30 minutes, as part of our amazing tour of the island. There were several other stops to see the sights, shop, etc. We also got our passports stamped by both French and Dutch authorities! Our tour guide, Mailman, was funny, informative and accommodating, as he allowed us to stay at Maho Beach longer than planned to wait for the big Air France plane. We did see planes of all sizes coming in every 3-4 minutes!

Our 12 and 15 y/o daughters took these videos of the low-flying planes from the beach area:

and
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3dog

3dog

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Generally the largest plane coming over Maho into SXM is Air France 3510, an A340 from Paris, scheduled at 1:20pm local time [ship time may vary] everyday.

 

Thom

 

The largest regular plane is KLM 745 - 747-400:

 

Landing

klm1.jpg

 

Departing a couple of hours later

klm2.jpg

klm3.jpg

 

Air France A340 from the other direction, also shows the Sunset Bar

af1.jpg

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Trickie Dickie

Trickie Dickie

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Hello All:

 

We sail out of Port Canaveral this Sunday (first cruise) 7 day Eastern Caribbean. I think it is St. Maarten where the planes fly over a beach. Will we be able to see this at that port of call? We are on FOS.

 

Thank you,

Darryl

 

I can't resist! This is one of my favourite places on the planet!! :D Here are some of my videos! Enjoy!

 

Me and a rather low flying A340

 

A340-300 Landing - Beautiful day last summer!

 

747 landing on a cloudy day

 

20 minutes of take offs and landings

 

Enjoy! :D

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Ned11

Ned11

Posted
Posted
I assume from your posts that you are in Sint Maarten 22 April. Given that the US is now on Daylight Time, and EDT is the same as AST, it seems certain that ship and local time will match [but always check that]. It is 5 miles or less from the pier to Maho, but it usually takes from 30-45 minutes to get there, as the traffic almost always exceeds the road capacity [could be longer if the Cole Bay drawbridge is up]. If you hurry off the ship and snag a taxi you might make it by 1:20 when the A340 from Paris is due in [but it is often late]. The sun sets at 6:30, so you could even stay for sunset and still have almost two hours to get back to the ship, but that's longer than I'd be likely to stay.

 

enjoy

Thom

 

Thanks for the info. :)

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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TravelerThom

TravelerThom

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The largest regular plane is KLM 745 - 747-400:
I agree that this plane is larger, but I haven't seen it at SXM for years. According to FlightAware.com KL 745 last landed at SXM 9 Dec 2003 (almost 10 years ago). KLM merged into Air France shortly after that date, and as far as I can tell the only scheduled KLM flights AMS-SXM are code shares on the AF A340. That is why I said the A340 was "Generally the largest plane". I can't prove that FlightAware is correct, but is your photo 2003 or earlier?

 

Thom

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Lloyd555

Lloyd555

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I can't resist! This is one of my favourite places on the planet!! :D Here are some of my videos! Enjoy!

 

Me and a rather low flying A340

 

A340-300 Landing - Beautiful day last summer!

 

747 landing on a cloudy day

 

20 minutes of take offs and landings

 

Enjoy! :D

 

Thanks! Sending these to my fellow travellers to show them what to expect.

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3dog

3dog

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I agree that this plane is larger, but I haven't seen it at SXM for years. According to FlightAware.com KL 745 last landed at SXM 9 Dec 2003 (almost 10 years ago). KLM merged into Air France shortly after that date, and as far as I can tell the only scheduled KLM flights AMS-SXM are code shares on the AF A340. That is why I said the A340 was "Generally the largest plane". I can't prove that FlightAware is correct, but is your photo 2003 or earlier?

 

Thom

 

Photo was last year (really close to almost exactly a year ago). And if you go to the KLM site you can book one of the 3 or 4 flights they run a week round trip from Amsterdam.

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Eng23

Eng23

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I posted a US Air flight landing at http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=33229542#post33229542

 

Part of the same photo stream there is a picture where I can make out my reflection in the belly of the plane while taking the picture. Unfortunately, it wasn't a great picture.

That's a great shot of a US Airways 757.

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TravelerThom

TravelerThom

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Photo was last year (really close to almost exactly a year ago). And if you go to the KLM site you can book one of the 3 or 4 flights they run a week round trip from Amsterdam.
Obviously I have not been there a day it was running - I now see it in the schedule some days - I stand corrected. Nice photo BTW.
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3dog

3dog

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Obviously I have not been there a day it was running - I now see it in the schedule some days - I stand corrected. Nice photo BTW.

 

There was, and may still be an Al Italia 777 charter that also flew into SXM. It was later in the day, and caught me by surprise, so all I have is a tail photo.

 

I took maybe 500 photos that day, and most are ordinary at best. But being able to take 3 frames a second allows for choosing the best of the photos. The one of the US Airways 757 I personally liked the best. The photo of it right above me was sort of cool, but not a good frame, and a pinch out of focus (after all, it is traveling about 140knots).

 

A note to people wishing to take photos of planes taking off:

 

  • Wear sunglasses: the jetwash kicks lots of small projectiles, and can severely damage eyes.
  • Don't use an expensive camera, or make sure there is an inexpensive filter: same problem as the previous, and the "sandblast" will damage camera lenses.
  • Stand on the beach, and not by the fence: if you get blown over, the sand is much more forgiving than the concrete barrier.
  • Better yet, get the photo from either side (the Sunset Bar and Grill side will have the best sunlight).

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