Shopping/Orient/Maho

[loubct]

We will be visiting for the day on a cruise in September. Our plans are to do some shopping in Phillipsburg, spend a few hours at Orient Beach (lunch/drinks) and then proceed to Maho Beach (wife really want to see the planes) before we get back to the ship about 5:00 pm.

Is the best way to get between points to get a taxi? There will be 4 of us.

Is it easy to get a cab from Orient to Maho ? How much?
Was it the best place on Orient to get a couple of chairs and have lunch?
Was it the best time to get to Maho to see the most/biggest planes land/take off?
How much time/cost for taxi from Maho to the port.

Thanks in advance

[gtaylor]

With a group of four, you might want to consider renting a car for the day.

The [url="http://www.sxmtaxi.com/rate.htm"]official rate[/url] from the cruise pier to Orient for four is $24 (plus tip).

Maho back to the port is the same, $24. Time could be anywhere between 20 minutes and an hour, depending on day of week and time of day.

Orient to Maho isn't on the chart, but will be more than $24. There aren't very many points farther apart on the island. See the [url="http://www.caribbean-on-line.com/sm/smmap.shtml"]map[/url]. It shouldn't be a problem getting a cab, though.

For a spot on Orient, just get to Pedro's, the normal drop off, and walk to the left along the beach until you find a place that catches your attention.

For the flight times at Maho, I had a list of flights, but I'm afraid it's out of date. You can check out [url="http://www.angelfire.com/il2/sxm/home/facts.html#When%20do%20the%20jumbo%20jets%20land%20on%20SXM?"]Ray Mann's site[/url]. If you're there between 1:00 and 3:00 or so you'll see at least 757/767's landing, as well as numerous smaller flights. Air France has an Airbus scheduled to arrive at 1:25, but it is very often early.

If you're there on 9/25 at 2:04 you'll see us arrive on AA687!