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Maho Beach

tortoisegirl

By tortoisegirl,
in St. Martin/St. Maarten

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jjrabbits

jjrabbits

Posted
Posted

We were there the same day as Floridagirl! (It's funny- we have found our family in a few of your other pics!) I just posted a bunch of our Maho pics on Webshots, and am uploading a few videos of planes coming in right now. Here is the link...

http://community.webshots.com/user/jjrabbits

We had a BLAST at Maho!

Renee

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sunandseagirl617

sunandseagirl617

Posted
Posted
We were there the same day as Floridagirl! (It's funny- we have found our family in a few of your other pics!) I just posted a bunch of our Maho pics on Webshots, and am uploading a few videos of planes coming in right now. Here is the link...

http://community.webshots.com/user/jjrabbits

We had a BLAST at Maho!

Renee

Renee, Our families did the exact same things! Your shots at CoCo Cay have tiny images of our family in them! We were sitting right in front of the Aqua water park!:D We missed the Meet and Mingle so I didn't get to meet too many people from our roll call:(!

 

We went to Coki Beach and Coral World in St Thomas! Of course we were at Maho Beach! Can't believe we didn't meet!:eek:

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jjrabbits

jjrabbits

Posted
Posted

Floridagirl- we were in a few of your pics, too:D We are in the picture of the crowd getting off Freedom at St. Thomas, and in your Coki pictures. It was funny seeing the Coki pictures because it does look crowded in your pictures, but we NEVER felt like it was crowded at all!!

My daughter is VERY upset that she didn't meet your son after seeing him in your pictures. She didn't meet anyone on this cruise, like she did on the other cruises, and ended up hanging out with her brother and me the entire time. (not that I minded at all- since she's 16 we won't have that many more years to be able to spend such quality time together!!)

We slept right through the M&M, but I just read on the Mix n Mingle forum from our cruise that it was lame. They said the giveaway was paper clips! Now I'm glad I didn't wake up in time!

Renee

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  • 2 weeks later...
Rogocop

Rogocop

Posted
Posted

We are going to St. Martin on the Freedom of the Seas November 8th sailing. Will rent a car and end up at Maho Beach in the afternoon to watch the planes. This is a one of a kind treat to see them this close. Below is a link to my favorite plane shot at Maho......shows how close they really get.

 

http://www.airliners.net/photo/KLM---Royal/Boeing-747-406/1252724/L/&sid=86cb389ccf2a13db9b4d6d7436d2b1aa

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bgsimp

bgsimp

Posted
Posted
We are going to St. Martin on the Freedom of the Seas November 8th sailing. Will rent a car and end up at Maho Beach in the afternoon to watch the planes. This is a one of a kind treat to see them this close. Below is a link to my favorite plane shot at Maho......shows how close they really get.

 

http://www.airliners.net/photo/KLM---Royal/Boeing-747-406/1252724/L/&sid=86cb389ccf2a13db9b4d6d7436d2b1aa

 

Hi there,

Nice picture, but nothing like watching the video.

Just in case you didn't see this in the thread earlier, here's the link.

 

http://www.mypointless.com/2009/04/plane-landing-at-st-maarten.html

 

Just be careful if you rent a car. The traffic can be horrendous. Make sure you leave yourself PLENTY of time to get back !. You can be stuck there for hours.

Have a fabulous time on your cruise.

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KLMMD11

KLMMD11

Posted
Posted

Hey Rogocop,

that is the best picture from SXM on airliners.net......I haven't seen one better........I like the guys ducking down as it lands in the pix, too bad

the extra fence is blocking the approach end now which unless you stand in the road you can't be on the edge of the runway :mad:

as for our day I was lucky enough for my KLM to be the

MD-11....I am sure you understand why I feel I was lucky! :)

 

Jon

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  • 1 year later...
ctbeacher

ctbeacher

Posted
Posted

I must say that the trip to Maho made my whole trip! I love planes and standing right under a huge landing 747 was an experience I will never forget.

 

My wife and I are not the type to take tours. We have been to the caribbean many times are are content to head to a beach when in port. Before we left on this cruise (on the Celebrity Eclipse - wonderful!) I gave my wife the two beach options - Orient (with the throngs of hawkers adn cruisers gawking at the nudists) and Maho. After viewing a Youtube video, she said we had to go to Maho. I married a good woman!

 

We checked the price of a rental car, figuring that we would stop by Maho and then tour around a bit - but the rental cost was too high, so we shared a taxi (big bus) with other some other eager adventurers and got a lower rate (I think $8 each for each way?).

 

The ride there was a little long due to traffic and we were warned to leave about an hour for the return. That was good advice.

 

The taxi left us off at the Sunset Beach Bar. Joined the big crowd and bought a very expensive beer there ($6 for a Carib!). Can you say rape the tourist? We took our beers down on the beach and asked about renting two chairs. We asked a beach attendant from Sunset if any were available (due to the crowd) and he was really kinda rude - maybe a bad day? Also the prices he quoted were higher than we found stated online, so we politely declined. We elected to take our expensive beers down to the middle of the beach (right under the approach path for the planes) and sat on the towels we brought with us from the ship.

 

What a rush! We got there for the peak landing period. You see the planes stacked up far away and you feel as excited as a little kid at Christmas as they move into the final approach. You get the same feeling every time: "Hmmm, this one seems a bit lower than the last one - will this be the time it misses and we get creamed?" Every time one goes over you can't help laughing. What a gas!

 

In between planes we took a swim. The beach and water are very good, considering the location. We bobbed around and waited for the larger planes to come in.

 

It started to rain and we thought against going back to the Sunset ripoff bar and took cover instead under the thatched umbrella of the "Boat Bar" at the opposite end of the beach. Not great ambiance, but we stayed dry and were away from the big crowd at Sunset. The bar was tended by a very nice woman. We ordered a round of beers at half the price of Sunset. Lesson learned there.

 

We bought one final round as the sun came back out and we just had to go stand behind the 747 as it took off. We braced outselves and put on our sunglasses, but nothing prepares you for the FOD (military for "flying object debris") that hits you. The jetblast picks up everything on the runway and pelts you with it. My wife rinsed out little tiny runway pebbles from her hair during her showers for the next two days! But we had to try it once. If you do it it is a good idea to protect your eyes.

 

We went back to Sunset and got another shared taxi to return to the ship. As mentioned in other threads, it is always a good idea to confirm the taxi price ahead of time.

 

So, avoid the Sunset Bar and head to the Boat Bar to save some bucks and, if you like planes, enjoy a once-in-a-lifetime experience at Maho Beach. You really didn't want to see the pudgy nudists at Orient beach anyway, right?

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Smileeface

Smileeface

Posted
Posted

Hi Ctbeacher! I just searched back on a review I did of Maho Beach when we were there in 7/09, and I wrote that at Sunset Beach we paid $3 for Carib beers and $5 for rum runners. Could they really have gone up that much, twice as much in price since then?? I wonder if someone was just really taking advantage of you--that just doesn't sound right :(!

 

We loved Maho Beach just as much as you did, it seems, although we weren't crazy or brave enough to stand in the path of the jet taking off. We did see people doing it and blowing over, tumbling like something out of a comedy show--hysterical! Definitely loved it and would highly recommend ;)

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mitsugirly Great Review Rare

mitsugirly

Posted
Posted

I was looking (and reading this thread)...we went to Maho last September and LOVED it, so it interested me.

 

Anyhow, I came across the picture that someone posted...and was like OMG!!! It actually has a beach now. They removed all the rocks and they have chairs there and everything. I couldn't believe what a difference it was. Then I look at the wall divider (from the beach to the street), it looked like it was a solid, non-stopping, retaining wall (unlike when we went)

 

THEN....I notice the picture/post was from 2009!!! Gack! :eek: So, obviously that is what it USE to look like (which to me is A LOT better than now with all the rocks and no place to actually sit on the beach).

 

The main reason that this was interesting to me is...when we were there last September, because of the rocks and being hard to walk on, I was walking on the retainer wall by the road, trying to avoid traffic and FELL! I broke my hand, was bloody from my thigh down to my foot, broke my toe, and pinched a nerve in my elbow (that my 2 little fingers on that hand to this day is STILL numb from it). So I was REALLY hoping that picture was up to date and they removed those rocks and repaired the gaps in the retaining wall so no one else had the misfortune of falling between them like I did. :rolleyes: Darn.

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Karysa

Karysa

Posted
Posted
I was looking (and reading this thread)...we went to Maho last September and LOVED it, so it interested me.

 

Anyhow, I came across the picture that someone posted...and was like OMG!!! It actually has a beach now. They removed all the rocks and they have chairs there and everything. I couldn't believe what a difference it was. Then I look at the wall divider (from the beach to the street), it looked like it was a solid, non-stopping, retaining wall (unlike when we went)

 

THEN....I notice the picture/post was from 2009!!! Gack! :eek: So, obviously that is what it USE to look like (which to me is A LOT better than now with all the rocks and no place to actually sit on the beach).

 

The main reason that this was interesting to me is...when we were there last September, because of the rocks and being hard to walk on, I was walking on the retainer wall by the road, trying to avoid traffic and FELL! I broke my hand, was bloody from my thigh down to my foot, broke my toe, and pinched a nerve in my elbow (that my 2 little fingers on that hand to this day is STILL numb from it). So I was REALLY hoping that picture was up to date and they removed those rocks and repaired the gaps in the retaining wall so no one else had the misfortune of falling between them like I did. :rolleyes: Darn.

 

Maho Beach was significantly damaged/erroded from Hurricane Earl on August 30th of 2010. This hurricane passed just 25 miles north of St.Martin and then on August 31st, Tropical Storm Fiona produced tropical storm warnings for St. Bart's and St. Martin and the significant rainfall added insult to injury. In early October the island had to bare another storm when Hurricane Otto went through the area. Pictures of the beach from then until now have shown that the beach has made a slow but steady recovery.

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mitsugirly Great Review Rare

mitsugirly

Posted
Posted
Maho Beach was significantly damaged/erroded from Hurricane Earl on August 30th of 2010. This hurricane passed just 25 miles north of St.Martin and then on August 31st, Tropical Storm Fiona produced tropical storm warnings for St. Bart's and St. Martin and the significant rainfall added insult to injury. In early October the island had to bare another storm when Hurricane Otto went through the area. Pictures of the beach from then until now have shown that the beach has made a slow but steady recovery.

 

Yea, we were there right after hurricane Earl. (2 weeks after). But when did they put all those rocks there? HUGE rocks that you have to climb over to get to the water and sit on if you want a place to sit. 1017693505_EWbZ4-M.jpg

 

As the day went on, the water was all the way up to the rocks and you didn't have a choice but sit on them and climb on them if you wanted to get around. I just don''t like the rocks there. It looked better in the other posters picture with no rocks. :(

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mitsugirly Great Review Rare

mitsugirly

Posted
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Yea you would think that has something to do with it. However, the road is up way higher and there is a retaining wall (which is in both my picture and the other posters picture as well). I know after being there a few weeks after the hurricane, there was sand all over the road and it was hard to drive on it (for the drivers, not me) and the road is very skinny to begin with. But I would think that retaining wall is there for that reason. I'm not sure what the rocks would do in that case. But good point.

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Karysa

Karysa

Posted
Posted
Yes, the rocks were placed to slow erosion, but this exposure happens regularly.

 

Here are some photos from back in 2000 and 2004.

 

0713366.jpg

 

 

Airliner.net links:

 

2000

 

2000

 

2004 (Image above)

 

gary

 

I absolutely love this picture. Do you know where it was shot from? My DH would be so impressed if I brought him to this spot.

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