Last I wrote, we were headed for the Sunset Beach Bar to experience a uniquely local pastime involving the jet wash from huge jet planes. St. Maarten has only one active runway. 90% of the time the planes land and take off toward the mountains with the sea at their back. On the end of the runway where the planes start their take off is a narrow strip of public land outside the airport perimeter. This is where the Sunset Beach Bar is located. They have an old surfboard stuck in the ground outside the bar where they keep a list of all the landing and departure times. Also on the bar deck they have speakers so you can hear the conversations between the pilots and ground control. Landings are one particular sort of thrill. You stand directly in front of the runway and these huge planes hurtle toward you passing about 50 feet over your head. Looks like they are going to fly directly into where you are standing. The take offs are another thing entirely. Some brave souls have been known to hang on to the fence that demarcates the airport property. It’s said that one of the larger jets will actually blow them up so their feet are off the ground. We were not able to witness this particular type of lunacy. We did, however, get to see some brave young boys stand on the beach in the direct blast zone. When the jet started its take off run, they were pushed and then tumbled down the beach into the water. One young buck was able to save his beer but lost his camera in the process. It was sort of like a small Olympic sport, as all the patrons on the bar deck cheered for great performances.
One thing worth mentioning: while Vickie and I were sailing earlier, Jerry and Brenda strolled the boardwalk and had a wonderful lunch at one of the oldest hotels on St. Maarten, The Pasanggrahan Royal Guest House. They had Bell Pepper stuffed with Chicken Salad, and a Tomato stuffed with Tuna Salad, both presented on a bed of lettuce pepper rings and other greenery. They said the food service and ambience were wonderful, in spite of two cruise ships being in town. Since Jerry and Brenda had a late lunch, we just grabbed something at the McDonald’s drive though on the way home from sailing. Amazing McDonalds is pretty much the same everywhere, but it tasted like they still used the good (including trans fat and flavoring) grease to cook their French Fries. They tasted like the McDonald’s fries I remembered.
The next day, we set out on a circumnavigation of the island to see the French side. We drove all the way up the other coast, and saw the numerous beaches and vistas. This is truly a grubby little island with great scenery and beaches. They are taking in an immense amount of tourist taxes and fees, but very little of it is going into infrastructure. It is also the land of speed bumps. Almost every road you drive on has periodic speed bumps often tall enough to scrape the frame of the car. The locals use the speed bumps as sort of crazy passing zones. They wait for the tourists in their rental cars to slow for the speed bumps and then they fly by at high speed passing while ignoring the speed bumps. This must be a shock absorber salesman’s heaven. Oh and they have speed DIPS which as you can guess are the opposite of speed bumps. We decided they are even worse and they don’t paint any of the darn things yellow, dips or bumps. On the way home from the circumnavigation we stopped at the Boathouse Seafood Grill and Bar for a late lunch. The food turned out to be excellent. Jerry and I had Fish and Chips that we both agreed were some of the best ever, and the girls had wraps that they greatly enjoyed. Tomorrow we pack up and travel on to St. Kitts.
More later,
Wes
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