The Best Caribbean Island

The number one question I am asked by family, friends, and even complete strangers when they learn I work for an airline, is "where is my favorite place to travel"?  As you can imagine, that question is not as easy as it sounds to answer.  Cities are different than beaches are different than small town day trips, etc.  Trips with people you love are sometimes more fun because of your traveling companions and doesn't necessarily have anything to do with the actual location.  Inclement weather or a bad cold can make your time in a destination less than desirable.  With that being said, hand to heart, if I had to pick my favorite place in the world, I would pick St. Maarten.  

Luckily, I've had the opportunity to visit SXM about ten times.  My first trip to the island was with a group of 30 coworkers that I barely knew, but they helped me fall in love with the area.  Two weeks later, I returned with many of the same coworkers, but this time, brought along ten of my very close friends from work.  I've visited for a weekend with my sister and again right before I left US Airways with some of my besties from the office.  Every time I've been to St. Maarten, it's been perfect.  A majority of the trips to the Caribbean have been less than 24 hours as airlines tend to only fly on the weekends unless it is peak season.  When I lived in DC, we'd leave bright and early on a Saturday morning, connect through PHL or CLT, and arrive in St. Maarten in the afternoon, just in time to change into our suits and head to the Sunset Beach Bar for Caribs and plane spotting.  The sunset over the ocean is incredible and the Sunset Beach Bar plays the communication between the planes and the tower over their sound system.  They also list the aircraft type, landing time, and airline, so you can schedule your day around when your favorites land at Princess Juliana Airport.  You can see the planes from a distance and watch each one grow larger and larger until they are directly in front of you, landing on the runway.  Even if I wasn't an airline nerd, I would absolutely love this experience.  

After dinner at the beach bar and a quick shower back at the hotel, it's time to head out to Bliss nightclub.  The club is an outdoor venue with great music and a massive dance floor.  There is nothing better than dancing with your friends on a hot summer night.  We're always dripping with sweat but oh so happy.  

The next morning, we're up with the sun, relaxing at the pool and lounging at the beach.  I've always stayed at the Sonesta Maho Beach due to its proximity to the beach bar and the airport, and most importantly, they always offered a killer hospitality/travel industry discount. When the Sunset Beach Bar opens at eleven, it's time for lunch, and for watching the planes take off from the airport.  While the view of take-off isn't as picturesque as the landings, it's still an incredible experience.  The force of the exhaust from the speeding jets is extremely powerful.  It's absolutely imperative that you are not behind the planes as they start to accelerate down the runway.  The little prop-planes are not as powerful, but the force will still push you down.  End up behind a wide body when it starts to move, and you could be severely injured.  In one experience, I was walking with a group of friends down the beach and looked up to notice that a KLM 747 was about to take off.  We were directly behind the plane (the set up is the runway, a chain link fence,  a small road, and then the beach.  The planes are probably no more than 100 feet from you when they start to accelerate down the runway! You can watch all the action on the Sunset Beach Bar's live camera.)  My friends had never seen a plane take off yet so weren't aware of the danger.  I remember screaming that the plane was about to take off and they turned, excited, to watch it happen.  I yelled for them to run, but they didn't react quickly enough or understand my fear.  The plane zoomed down the runway and all off them were pushed back into the surf.  Watching them from a safe distance, a few steps away, they looked like something from a movie.  Legs and arms all over the place, all jumbled up together, rolling as a large mass into the ocean.  Picture the swarming mess around the Peanuts character, Pig Pen.  That is what they all looked like.  Luckily no one was hurt badly and they were all cracking up with laughter once the plane was gone.  Case and point, be aware of your surroundings during the mid-day bank!  

After watching a few planes take off and enjoying your last Carib, it's time to head back to the hotel for a quick shower and then head to the airport.  We've had so much fun, it's hard to believe we've only been on the island for 22 hours.  It's about this time in the day, that you start checking the flight loads to see if you can return in the next few weeks :) 

The trips that originated in Phoenix, usually lasted more than 22 hours, thanks to the long transcontinental flight we had to take before connecting in PHL or CLT.  One those occasions, we did venture outside the Maho Bay and there is a big beautiful island out there to explore.  St. Maarten is colonized by both the Dutch and the French, and each side of the island is slight different.  I spend a majority of my time on the Dutch side, home to the airport, the Sunset Beach Bar and the town of Philipsburg.

Leaving the island is always so sad.  Until next time, check out the other cool locales where we've celebrated Matt's birthday, including San Juan, PR, Ensenada, MX, Mazatlan, MX & Fort Lauderdale, FL.