This is my first time in St. Maarten. We are going to do something I’ve always wanted to do here which is visit Maho Beach. I’m going to do it on my own using public transportation.

I had heard it’s a 10 minute walk to town and a $3 shuttle to Maho. Otherwise it’s a $20-30 taxi to Maho.

I considered taking the water taxi to the shuttle. It’s just $7 for a round trip ticket. But the line is long and I don’t know how long the wait is for a water shuttle.

I saw another sign for the water shuttle. The line looked much shorter but once you peek in the building it’s a long line in there as well.

When you go in this building the line goes to the right. It’s a long line.

I decided to walk it.

As soon as I got out of the gate, a bunch of people hit me in the face trying to sell excursions.

I think one guy said $2 or 3 for a cab to town but at that point he could’ve offered me a free ride and I wouldn’t have taken it. I can be a bit stubborn when people are rude to me.

But you may be able to get a better deal on taxi cabs simply by walking outside of the port.

I made it to town. It looks like the water shuttle comes in down there.

On the map the pickup point was by the casino so that’s where I’m heading.

That corner on the right is the spot.

This is a good landmark.

The walk wasn’t bad at all. I had heard the Maho shuttles come every couple minutes but for me it was 15-20. I saw multiple Marigot, French Qtr, and others. You can probably get just about anywhere you want by taking a 10 minute walk, $2-3 taxi, or a $7 (round trip) water shuttle to town and catching these shuttles.

A couple of older ladies walked up and asked:

“Do you speak any English?”

A little.

”Do you know how to get to the cruise ships?”

Go down by the flag poles, take a left, then right and follow the road back to the ships.

”You speak good English!”

Oh, thanks!

 

The security guard across the street has been watching me standing here. She just yelled she has never seen it take this long as the shuttle finally pulled up. This probably isn’t the norm. 

By now there were five of us going. It was indeed $3 per person.

We made one stop at Bob’s deli, dropped a guy off and picked up a lady….passenger.

Actually we made another stop at the land for sale sign to pickup a male passenger.

We made one drop off at KFC.

We hit a little bit of a jam at the top of the hill but it was just a minute or two before we were moving again.

I’m on the wrong side of the shuttle for pictures. You want to be on the left side going there and the right side coming back.

There are a lot of stores and restaurants in this area.

Or whatever you want.

We hit some slow moving traffic in this area.

We made one dropoff at Bushalte.

We ran into more traffic.

I don’t know how long that ride is supposed to be. It took us 40 minutes to get to the beach. The stops didn’t really cost us. They were a few seconds each. If anything held us up it was traffic.

We were dropped off by the Maho Market. The return shuttle is supposed to pick us up across the street.

If I could do this again I would’ve brought a soft side cooler and picked up beer at this market.

There seems to be a bar on each side of the beach. Mid beach looks to be to be all towels. Down by the bar/restaurants there are loungers and umbrellas that I assume are for rent.

I walked down to the bar at the far end of the beach in search or restrooms.

The restrooms are in the back. They have a sign that it costs a dollar but I didn’t see anyone paying or anyone there asking for money.

It looks like if they do charge you, they give you a voucher to use. 

There are a couple of food places in the back. One is a pizza place. I caught some nachos coming out of the other one.

They have tables available with nice views if you want to sit here, eat, drink, and watch the planes. Here is their menu: Sunset Menu

There are several bars in this complex. The first is a frozen drink bar called the Bikini Bar.

There are two bars in the middle. This is the largest.

I went for the smaller of the two bars.

I got a Presidente. I wish I would’ve drank this one then got a couple more to take to the beach. It turned out there weren’t any bars or servers on the beach itself.

I found a spot on the beach. There’s nobody to watch my stuff and it would be a real pain to pick up and move every time I want a beer so I wish I had bought more. A bucket option would be nice. A cooler of beer from the Maho Market would’ve been smart.

I’m glad I have a big towel. The group of four next to me just has a plain white t-shirt.

Our first action is this prop plane taking off.

Here comes our first landing.

I made sure I got a big one landing before I got in the water. That was a United plane.

While I was in the water I saw another big one coming so I got out. It was American.

After that I got back in the water. While I was in a big plane took off over my head. I didn’t know they did that. I always saw them landing that way and taking off the other way.

Unfortunately you can’t see the airport from the water because the beach is uphill. So you have no idea when that’s going to happen if you’re in the water. It’ll scare the spit out of you for the same reason. 

Now I’m not happy with the big planes landing I need to get one taking off.

Small plane after small plane.

I got another big one, Delta, landing over me.

United and American landed shortly after I got there. They have to take off at some point.

Finally here it is. United. This beats the heck out of them landing! I only got to see two of these though.

After that I got back in the water for awhile. Then I got out and figured I’d watch planes while I air dry.

Ever since United took off, I’ve been watching that American tail. It has to be moving soon.

Finally here it comes. I would love for it to take off over my head but if it goes the other way and I get the jet wash, I’ll have pretty much seen it from every angle you can on the beach.

Unfortunately when it started going I squeezed my phone a little tighter so I wouldn’t drop it and I squeezed the button that stops the video. I also got a face full of sand at at that moment. I was able to start it back up and put the two together but it’s obvious a key part is missing.

The one other thing I would like is a shot of a big one landing from the bar.

My plan for cleaning up is to go over to those rocks over there to get the sand off my feet, dry them, and put my shoes on. 

Come to find out they had a place where you could wash your feet by the bar entrance but it was kind of flooded.

I caught some free internet while I dried off and waited for a big plane.

It looks like you can get it an hour at a time.

Right about then I got the last thing I had been waiting for courtesy of Air France.

I am heading back to the shuttle pickup spot.

Right when I got there American Airlines landed.

I was keeping my eye out for two shuttles. “PHBurg” is the one that goes back to Phillipsburg. But I  was keeping an eye out for a Maho one. I would ask that driver if they were going back to Phillipsburg to pickup for Maho. If so maybe I could catch that one. 

It was about a five minute wait before I saw a “PHBurg” shuttle.

I got in the back and as long as I don’t have to move I have the whole back row to myself.

They wanted three dollars to get here and two dollars to get back. That’s per person. It’s a good deal for a solo. It may add up if you have a lot of people.

I’m back at the spot. I was the last person to be dropped off and I was able to keep the back row to myself the entire trip.

The casino is a good landmark for getting here.

A lot of people of all ages are making the walk back.

I really enjoyed Maho Beach. I know there’s a lot to do in St. Maarten. I’m glad I decided to do this on my first trip. I can’t imagine a more fun way to spend the day on this island. And it was very inexpensive. I paid $5 for transportation and I bought a beer. 

I just wish I would’ve thought to stop at the Maho Market for beer.

 

 

• St. Maarten