maho beach

[shm]

what do you think of Sunset Beach Bar at maho Beach? We will be there & thought about going over to Maho beach to see the planes.. we will have kids with us.. is Sunset Beach Bar an ok place for all of us to grab some lunch?

[The Big Booper]

Sunset is fine for families. Casual food and a great spot to watch the jets. Go to Kal's recent post here on his longggg vacation and follow the link to his website for the plane videos. These were shot from Sunset.

 

(edit) here is the link.

 

http://www.bywindkal.com/SXM2006.htm

[Lakeman953]

You can go there for lunch but make sure you are in a cab before the bridge goes up around 4 or 4:30 i think.

 

And here is the website for sunset beach if you don't have it.

 

http://www.sunsetbeachbar.com/livecam

[The Big Booper]

Somewhere in his many posts Kal has a low and high season schedule of bridge openings, maybe on his website, which is an invaluable resource. As long as you get out before 3.30, shouldn't have problems. Especially in the summer.

[LUPY48]

We were there in Feb. with some kids in our group. "Ladies" that are topless drink free at SSBB. Our kids looked once and that was it. It was the best burger I've had anywhere ($8) A lot of people on these boards complain about the $4 beers. Bring your own and sit on the beach! There are chairs and umbrellas for rent but I don't know the price. You'll have a ball!

[kal]

Somewhere in his many posts Kal has a low and high season schedule of bridge openings, maybe on his website, which is an invaluable resource. As long as you get out before 3.30, shouldn't have problems. Especially in the summer.

 

3:30p is a good safe number for the winter, but there's more latitude during the rest of the year.

 

The Simpson Bay bridge opening times differ by season.

 

For "high" season (November to May)

Daily for outbound traffic at:

9:00AM, 11:00AM and 4:30PM

Daily for inbound traffic at:

9:30AM, 11:30AM and 5:30PM

 

During the "low" season (May to November),

Daily openings are for two way traffic at:

9:30AM, 11:30AM and 5:30PM

[shm]

ok. someone tell me about this bridge thing??

[kal]

The route to Maho and the airport includes a draw bridge which connects Simpson Bay with Simpson Lagoon. When the bridge is open, traffic is stopped for often 15 minutes or more. There is usually an extensive backup on both sides of the bridge.

 

Bridge open & traffic backups = time delays.

[johnrobert57]

Was there last week to watch the planes. Missed the large European planes but saw a couple of 757's land. It was great fun. The bar is nice and friendly. Great way to spend a couple of hours. One word of caution......I went to get a cab and made the mistake of getting an unlicensed taxi. I didn't fully realize it until I was already in and moving but he almost knocked my son down as he wasn't in the car fully and the ride back was a little frightening. My fault but just make sure it's a real taxi. Look for the taxi sign in the window or ask the bartender to call one for you. Enjoy.

JohnRobert

[islandbound1day]

I will be in St. Maartin again in October. I have heard that they will be closing Maho beach eventually because of construction at the airport. Has anyone heard when this will happen?

[johnrobert57]

They are doing a lot of construction at the airport....adding a big, new terminal building but not sure why that would meaning closing down Majo Beach. Of course....when you think about it....having large airplanes coming in within 50-75 feet of your head sometimes......they may have a reason!! But that would be shame because it is great fun. Hope it is not true.

 

JohnRobert

[gtaylor]

In earlier versions of the Airport Expansion Plan, they did, indeed, show the removal of the road that runs along the foot of the runway at Maho Beach. This had something to do with an FAA (or such) requirement for a buffer zone at each end of the runway.

 

I believe that this has been resolved by adding twice the new required buffer length to the Simpson Bay Lagoon end of the runway, and shifting the Maho end landing area East a little into the existing runway space, i.e. they added double the required buffer onto the other end to save the Maho end.

 

There's a great photo over at Airliners.net that shows the new fill into Simpson Bay Lagoon.

 

gary

[islandbound1day]

I am so happy to hear this information. We have a lot more family going with us this year and I was disappointed that they may not get to experience the planes landing over Maho. Thanks so much for the great info!