2025 ST MAARTEN LAND VACATION

DAY 9: Beaches and Planes

Well it's our last full day in St Maarten. I honestly had no idea what to do. Finding beaches in St Maarten provided to be more of a challenge than other places we have visited. We already did the things we wanted to do here (except for the boat with the swing and maybe diving again). I feel like there were just a lot more things to do at other islands that what we found here. So today we'd just play it by ear and see what we could get into.

The hubby and I were up by 7am and enjoying the balcony with the breakfast burritos I made as soon as I woke up (hungry since we really didn't eat dinner last night).

The ocean was back to being calm again and it looked like another beautiful day out. All the boats were returning back to our bay so that was a good sign.

There's that whale tail:

Once the kids woke up, Sakari wanted to test her skills again and she made her and Karl her famous, only tried to make once, pancakes. She did it "all by mine's ownself" (a saying she used to say all the time when she was little and yes we still say it at times and this was one of those times). She actually did good. (Since returning home Karl's sister has got her into baking cookies and she has non-stopped baked since we returned. I guess something extra special came out of this trip for her lol)

I knew one beach I still wanted to go to was in Simpson Bay over by Mary Boone's. We stopped here on our last trip and the beach and water was absolutely beautiful. However, it was after the hurricane back then and there was nothing open and everything along there had been destroyed. Maybe we'd get to enjoy it this time?

There were small winding roads to get over to that area and once we arrived, they were working on the road right in front of Mary Boone's and the road was closed. We got lucky and found a spot to park against a fence along the airport runway. Parking here was just like parking back at the resort...barely any place to squeeze in anywhere.

This is a very cute little place to stay at. It was decorated so nicely and gave off that tropical feel to it.

We made it out to the beach and disappointment set in. This beach was like all the other beaches we had seen after the hurricane. There was a big 4-5' drop off to get down to the water. Everything was eroded, which you couldn't tell until you got right up on it.

Well after starring at it for awhile, we decided this just wasn't the place for us to hang out at. They do have a nice restaurant on the premises as well that would have been the perfect place to eat at after a day at the beach but it just wasn't calling our name. Darnit.

Well since it was only 11am and the big planes weren't coming in until the afternoon, we decided to just head back to our resort and hang out at our own beach. The waves were nice and calm and there was no drop off like the other beaches on the island. I'm reassured that we picked the perfect area to stay at once again. The water still wasn't clear so I decided not to try to snorkel.

What's better than a picnic lunch on the beach in the Caribbean?

Around 1pm we decided to pack up and head over to Maho Beach to see if we could catch any of the big planes coming in. We wanted Karl to experience it and what St Maarten is known for.

Once again, we parked in the parking garage and walked to Maho. Once we made it to the beach a large plane was getting ready for take off so we waited along the side until it was gone. You're not blasting me into the ocean or on those boulders!

I suggested that we walk over to Sunset Bar & Grill. I knew from the past they used to have a surfboard with a list of all the times the big planes were coming in at the airport. Now you either have to walk on the road, which is VERY small and not enough room for traffic to pass if you are on the road OR walk on the concrete barriers along the road. Well, I can definitely tell you that I'm NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE walking on that barrier. The last time I did this, this is what happened....

Which resulted in this:

All because I was walking on this:

And randomly it has a break in the wall and I didn't see it and fell between it resulting in a fractured hand. Go me!

We made it over to Sunset and wow it had really changed and expanded as well. This place is huge now!

The hubby learned to play the sax. When did this happen?

Yep, the first place the kids headed to...

I was shocked to see they only came back with pop this time.

Yes, they still have the surfboard up with the times listed of incoming flights:

We seen our first "baby" plane coming in:

More small planes:

We sat under the shade at Sunset until we would see another plane come in and then jump up and take pictures/videos. It was extremely hot out and our pop didn't stay cold for very long as we waited.

Jet Blue taking off. I wish we would have seen that one come in.

More small planes coming in.

The next big plane to come in was supposed to be American Airlines at 2:31pm. We sat around and waited. However, it had different plans. Now I travel enough to know...planes usually run early and early this one was. It came in at 2:15pm, which did not give us enough time to get underneath it for the cool pictures. Darnit! I should have known better. Ok, we will be better prepared next time.

Another small plane with the propellers on the front. I think they are so cool to see.

The next big flight coming in would be another American Airlines plane at 3:09pm and I was not about to miss it. We headed over to the wall around 2:45pm to wait. We waited and waited and it was finally coming!

Don't ya know this one was actually right on time? Man was it hot out there on the wall waiting. But, it had finally arrived.

I told the kids to head over where they would be positioned somewhat under the plane and hold their hands up to reach for it and i ended up with a pretty crappy picture that wasn't anything like I wanted to to turn out like. I think i was a bit too close to them to get the full effect of what I was going for. You really need to plan this better and by better I mean I need a few days ahead of time for practice until I get it right! 😆

In my defense, there were other people on the wall behind me and had I moved back further, the picture still wouldn't have turned out right because they would have been blocking the kids.

The hubby managed to get a better picture from the GoPro.

You just really underestimate the size of these planes flying so low and how far back you need to stand.

We decided not to stay longer as the next big flight wouldn't be until 5:50pm.

As we were walking back one of the AA flights were taking off.

A short video that shows Sunset, Maho Beach and its erosion and planes taking off and landing.

We had been eyeballing a little ice cream shop that was along the strip walking back to the parking garage (The Ice Cream Bar...and they really meant "bar"). We knew we wanted a tasty treat to cool us down and headed that way.

They had so many different flavors and you could also get them mixed with alcohol as a shake. Well game on!

I played it safe because I was driving and just got the waffle cone with caramel and peanuts. The hubby ordered a "chocolate chip mint" shake which had mint liquor, cookies n cream, chocolate, and chocolate chips. Sakari got the Bailey's shake with baileys, marshmallows and she substituted the vanilla ice cream for macadamia nut ice cream instead. For some reason I didn't write down what Karl ended up with but it was also one of the specialty shakes from the menu. They were all very good and we decided to stay in the shop to finish them off because the a/c felt good and we didn't want it to melt.

Parking was $2 again this time but we were out longer than the day before but hey, I'll take it if that's all they're going to charge.

Now comes the worse part of vacation, packing! Ugh! I would also discover that I had left my luggage scale back at home. It was just a guessing game from here on out. Thank goodness Karl didn't come with an over packed suitcase resembling someone that was going to be staying for months like ours. We was able to fill his up with extra things we were returning back with...including some food/non perishable items that we were unable to use up while here. Also, don't forget that grocery bag I brought with us and never once remembered to take it to the store to put our groceries in either...I may need that on my next vacation so I can repeat this process again. Just saying...

Every land vacation we go on we usually try to find a cute little tasty pizza place at least once. Well, we hadn't done that yet this trip. Karl suggested pizza tonight and we knew there was one right down the street. We all got ready and off to Pizza Italy we went.

It was cutely decorated and the seating was outside under the roof with lights. We really liked it.

Karl being Karl ordered his very own pizza. He got the half pepperoni and half meat lovers ($17) because he wanted the best of both worlds. We ordered one pepperoni pizza ($14) and one meat lovers ($20). The drinks were $3 each for both pop and juice.

The pizza was really good and we were highly satisfied that we had picked this place. After eating the waiter asked if we wanted a free shot on the house. Well yea buddy, bring it on! Free is always going to be a yes for us. It ended up being a Limoncello and it was SOOOOOO GOOOOOOD!!!!!!

Sakari wanted to do a toast to a great vacation in St Maarten, minus the hurricane weather. We said this multiple times. We were both getting our camera's ready. Me taking a picture and her doing a video. We picked up our shot glasses then....the hubby threw his drink into his mouth and Sakari and I both gasped at the same time and yelled "NOOOOOOO!!!!!" The look on his face getting scolded by his girls and he immediately spit the mouthful back into his shot glass and hung his head. OH EM GEE! Are you serious right now? We could not stop laughing. Like seriously...I was crying and couldn't even do the shot after that for quite some time. Never a dull moment with this guy! After awhile, my ribs stopped hurting from all the laughing and we managed to FINALLY do our toast.

Man that stuff is good!!!

The waiter asked if we'd like to have some dessert. I'm so stuffed but we might as well go out with a bang right? Karl and Sam got the Tiramisu (coffee based so that's a hard no for me) @$8/each and I got the Panna Cotta Lime with berries, also $8.

I just had to mention that I find it so weird that St Maarten allows smoking and vaping everywhere you go...including in the restaurant like this. I'm so not used to this back home. It's a different world down there.

We headed back to the room for some more depressing packing, watched a little tv and then....the diarrhea set in once again. I had really hoped I was over this but nope! It would continue tonight. Ok, I've had enough. I'm getting myself some meds tomorrow for sure. I will not be tricked again into thinking it's over with.

Off to bed we went around 11pm for another restless night for me with multiple trips to the bathroom. Ugh! 💤💩