Why a post about an airport in the middle of a cruise? Well my dear friends, I was all kinds of excited when I discovered that one of the most famous airports was on the island of Saint Maarten. I told John that if we had enough time that I would LOVE to go visit. Luckily for this gal, we had plenty of time and headed over to Maho beach near the airport.
If you aren't familiar with the airport by name, perhaps this sign might spark your memory. Danger signs were abound on the beach area. It stated that serious bodily harm or death could occur if you get too close. No worries, we stayed a safe distance to watch all the other crazy people who wanted to be harmed that day.
At the nearby beachfront bar, there was a listing of the arrivals and departures for each day. Sadly, we were only there for some of the smaller planes. The airport has a few 747's each day that I can imagine are pretty fun to watch.
We had a little bit of time to kill before the next plane came in, so we enjoyed the beach. Pretty small but oh so beautiful!
The water was perfect and I was regretting not bringing my suit. We had been to the zip line adventure earlier in the day, so I only dressed for that. Bummer.
The Plane!!! The Plane!!!
Hard to see here with the photos being shrunk a bit for the blog. Left center of the pic is an approaching plane.
This is why I wanted to come to the airport. The planes get freakishly close to the beach as they land.
Pretty amazing, huh?
As a plane would prepare for takeoff, the crowd would gather along the beach.
These were the people that weren't listening to the Danger sign. They all stood directly behind where the plane would be accelerating their engines.
This was the largest plane we saw take off. I believe it was a 737. On this takeoff, we saw several people lose their hats, glasses, and personal belongings to the ocean. It easily carried some of the items 200 feet into the water.
Video of Plane Landing
This link is footage from our trip that we recorded. For some reason, blogger don't want to let me have a pretty little video box. So click the link to see what we saw first hand.
Taking off. If you watch just one of the videos on this post, this is the one to watch! 747 taking off- THIS is why the danger sign is posted. People and items flying everywhere- well those who lacked intelligence and stood directly behind the jet.
Another view of the power of these planes. Why people want to do this baffles me, but I was more than willing to stand by and watch. Maybe that makes me equally lacking in decision making skills.
If you think what we recorded was low, just check out this footage! Our taxi driver said the DHL plane is known for their low landings and the fence usually has to be re-welded every week as result.
I couldn't imagine!!! Crazy!!!
Video of Plane Landing
This link is footage from our trip that we recorded. For some reason, blogger don't want to let me have a pretty little video box. So click the link to see what we saw first hand.
Since we weren't able to see the big guys during our visit, I wanted to share some YouTube videos of a 747 landing.
Taking off. If you watch just one of the videos on this post, this is the one to watch! 747 taking off- THIS is why the danger sign is posted. People and items flying everywhere- well those who lacked intelligence and stood directly behind the jet.
If you think what we recorded was low, just check out this footage! Our taxi driver said the DHL plane is known for their low landings and the fence usually has to be re-welded every week as result.
Can you believe this is going to fly over my head?!?
John was giving clearance for landing for this plane.
Perfect capture of the latest arrival.
One of my favorite selfies John took during the trip.
No comments:
Post a Comment