Carnival Breeze docked in Phillipsburg, St Martin
Airplane Beach
Maho Beach, Sint Maarten
For a very unique experience, try a visit to Maho Beach near Philipsburg when visiting the Dutch side of Saint Martin – an island of dual nationalities known officially as Sint Maarten on the Dutch side and Saint Martin on the French side. A beautiful sandy beach sits just across the street from Princess Juliana International Airport. Planes of all sizes from small Cessnas to the largest jets fly just over the beach on their way to landing on the runway, which lies perpendicular to the beach. Tourists flock to Maho Beach in hopes of catching close-up photos or videos of the underside of things like 747’s as they fly right overhead.
Underside of a jet flying overhead at Maho Beach
Catching the underside of large airplanes on film is not as easy as it sounds. They fly over so quickly and there’s a crowd of people jockeying for space so it’s just as likely to catch the person who stepped in front of your carefully aligned camera just as the plane flies over as it is to get footage of the plane. Or they just cause you to lose your focus on the plane and then it’s gone. There’s lots of YouTube videos of these planes though, so some people do manage to obtain excellent footage. I was not so lucky. I got footage, even undersides now and then, but it’s not exactly excellent.
When we stopped in Saint Martin on our Carnival Breeze transatlantic cruise, we found that it’s very easy to catch a shuttle near the shopping area by the cruise ship dock. They have shuttles to a variety of places including Maho Beach. The per person price goes down as the size of the group goes up, so it’s best to group together with other passengers that want to go there as well. Shuttles come to the beach often so getting back to the dock is quite easy. They often fill with random groups of people that just happened to want to leave at the same time you did, so returning with the people you came with isn’t necessary.
Bar at Maho Beach that provides everything needed for a pleasant day
schedule for large jets landing and taking off
A bar at the beach posts a sign with all the day’s take-offs and landings of large jets. They also rent beach chairs with umbrellas, very nice to have on a shadeless beach in the sun. Of course cold drinks and refreshments are available there too as well as restrooms. The bar certainly helps make a day at Maho Beach more comfortable.
Waiting for the next plane on Maho Beach
People sun themselves, swim or splash about in the water, and do all the normal beachy things until time draws near for a plane to arrive. When that faint light of a jet approaching appears on the distant horizon it seems as if a herding dog suddenly came through and gathered everyone up like cattle.
Jet landing at Princess Juliana Airport across the street from Maho Beach
They all line up in front of the runway, cameras up hoping to get that shot of the underbelly of a plane. The larger the planes are, they are the lower they come in. The biggest ones almost feel as if you could just about reach up and touch them.
The big jets fly very low over Maho Beach
Later in the afternoon, we heard, the large jets take off. Our ship left too early to stay and watch the phenomenon of people who risk life and limb to cling to the fence between the two signs warning them not to and wait for departing jets to blast them across the road.
The danger sign does not prevent people from trying to get blown away when jets take off
Even on the beach people can get knocked down or blown into the water if standing in the danger zone near the runway’s end when a big jet takes off.
The St Maarten water taxi sports advertising for a jewelry store found in nearly all cruise ship ports
After a day at the beach the shuttle will let those who wish off in town and take the rest back to the cruise ship dock. From town a water taxi makes a quick journey back to the ship for a small fee.
Saint Martin has many other things to do besides visiting Maho Beach. We stopped there on a previous cruise and had a great time on a sail and snorkel excursion to Tintamarre Island.
Cruise Stories 
Thanks for sharing. A friend and I were just talking about Moho Beach last night.. Insane! I’d rather just watch the video…
We actually had quite a lot of fun trying to get good shots of the planes.
If I had a to-do list this beach would be on it 😀
It’s definitely a unique beach.
I’ve been thinking about where I’d like to go, and this place looks very appealing! 😀
Beautiful pic of the beach with the super-low plane, too!
Thanks. I’ve just been to Saint Martin a couple times as cruise ship stops, but would like to go there for a longer stay sometime too, so I think it would be a good choice for you. The island has lots of history, the French and Dutch sides, and lots of things to do.
I actually took a step and googled the cost of a vacation there. Not bad! But I’d have to get to Toronto first. Still, I might plan a trip for next year. 🙂 You inspire me!
I’m sure you’d have a great time – and get to see palm trees too! You inspire me too. I keep looking at at your blog about google+ and thinking I really ought to join that sometime.
You should. Do you like Facebook? It’s a better version! 😉
Plus, you can connect and interact with others easily. Just get a gmail account and set up your profile. I’m sure you can cut and paste information from your other profiles… It’s not hard. If I can do it, anyone can. LOL
As for the palm trees, yeah, I’d love that so much. 🙂 NIce that you remembered. I’m touched.
I’m starting my savings plan today! 😉
If you fly into St Martin you’ll get to see Maho Beach from above. About facebook – I used to like it, but since they went public they seem to think people will pay for things that the whole point of them is that they were free, and they don’t always let things you post as a page show up on other pages, so it’s not that great any more. I’ve heard that google+ ups your rankings in google searches so that would definitely be an advantage.
Isn’t the sound of planes landing and taking off deafening? But I did get a kick out of your video. I think you did a great job. The people that are standing with their arms raised as a plane comes in for a landing, are they basking in the fantasy of having their fingers or hands sliced off?
I was trying so hard to get decent video that the noise really didn’t register. Then again I work in a sheet metal shop so I’m half deaf anyway. The people with their arms raised were often trying to frame the plane for someone behind them with a camera, or maybe make it look on film like they actually touched it. Maybe I should have tried to focus between somebody’s arms since I couldn’t actually see the screen on the camera I had, due I suppose either to the sun or sunglasses. And thanks for the compliment on my video.
Wow, that shot of the KLM plane is crazy! It is so low. I would love to go there one day.
The water looks nice there too. Was there anything to see in it or just a good spot for a swim?
We didn’t go in the water there, just sat in the beach chairs and watched for planes. I did not see anyone snorkeling or putting their heads under, they all just bobbed in the waves waiting for planes. People go to that beach to see planes. I have no idea if anyone ever looks to see if there is anything worth viewing under the water.