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Making a Weekend on St. Maarten Happen: What To Do

Wondering when is the right time to jet down for a long weekend on the Caribbean island of St. Maarten? Right now, that's when. We did it and you can too, easily. All this week we'll be sharing the details on making the dream of sunning, sipping cocktails and spotting St. Maarten's notoriously low-flying planes a reality.

Everyone knows Maho Beach, where the airplanes land within a few hundred feet of the SPF-slathered bodies of gawking tourists, but there's more to St. Maarten than that. Rest assured that we'll bring you an entire guide to making the most of Maho tomorrow, but we can't forget the food and frolicking of other nooks of the island.

Here's four long weekend activities on St. Maarten (aside from plane spotting):

Clothing optional sunbathing

Look, St. Maarten is a tropical island split into French and Dutch sides, so prude land this is not. The most famous of the "clothing optional" beaches is Orient Bay, though it's quite a long drive which can be a challenge if you're only planning to spend a long weekend on St. Maarten. Still, the is very welcoming for ladies who prefer to tan au naturale, and Maho Beach's Sunset Bar & Grill famously lets topless ladies drink for free.

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The Adventures of Travel Cat: Maho Beach, St. Maarten

Kitty cats. They rule the internet and, whether we realize it or not, pretty much the world too. Ever noticed how cats sometimes stake out the coolest spots in a city? This new feature—Travel Cat—focuses on exactly that. Submit a photo to be featured by tweeting or Instagramming it to us (details below).

Travel Cat spotted at: Maho Beach, St. Maarten

This week's Travel Cat comes from yours truly! We were chillin' on the Caribbean island of St. Maarten a couple weeks back, pondering what best to recommend to you in our series on the destination, when we spotted these two likely also deep in thought.

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Making a Weekend on St. Maarten Happen: Where to Stay

One of the Sonesta's two pools has this awesome view of Maho beach & the end of the runway

Wondering when is the right time to jet down for a long weekend on the Caribbean island of St. Maarten? Right now, that's when. We did it and you can too, easily. All this week we'll be sharing the details on making the dream of sunning, sipping cocktails and spotting St. Maarten's notoriously low-flying planes a reality.

We're going to give it to you straight: the toughest bit of a planning travel to St. Maarten is figuring out a hotel that won't break the bank and isn't too far away from the good plane spotting at Maho Beach. The high season of winter takes hotels near sold-out levels, prime properties that look like hotels are actually condos or time-shares, and the island doesn't have an abundance of nice hotels as it is.

All that being said, there are a few to consider:

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Making a Weekend on St. Maarten Happen: How to Get There

Wondering when is the right time to jet down for a long weekend on the Caribbean island of St. Maarten? Right now, that's when. We did it and you can too, easily. All this week we'll be sharing the details on making the dream of sunning, sipping cocktails and spotting St. Maarten's notoriously low-flying planes a reality.

First off, you gotta get to St. Maarten. It's an island, by the way, so access options are limited to air and sea. Believe it or not, a nonstop flight from the US east coast to St. Maarten takes just over four hours; that's less than flying coast-to-coast and just a little less than going to Ireland. We know where we'd rather be.

For your reference, here's the Four Ways to Reach St. Maarten:

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Princess Juliana Airport Still Unsafe But Like, Totally Fun to Watch

Over the summer, we classified the  Princess Juliana airport (SXM) on St. Maarten as one summer vacation with an edge simply because piloting big jets on the stunted runways is rather tough. And because nearby sunbathers on the beach could be exposed to a sandstorm stirred up by the planes.

But one tourist is like "whatever!" about all that because it's the best place for jet enthusiasts to get up close views of their favorite flying machines. Sue writes:

I went to St. Maarten for a week last Christmas (2006), strictly and solely to watch big jets approach and land at Princess Juliana Airport.  Had a BALL.  Most awesome week of my life.  Can't wait to go back.

If something changes during the airport renovation so that jet enthusiasts can't get close to the landing jets, I won't go back.  There are too many other places in the world I haven't visited to blow any more time on St. Maarten if jet-watching thrills are removed from the docket.

PLEASE HEAR ME, ST. MAARTEN ... DON'T CHANGE YOUR NEATEST TOURIST ATTRACTION!  YOU'LL LOSE OUT ON LOTS OF TOURIST BUCKS!

Whoa, Sue means business. As for renovations, we know that the airport opened a new terminal back in 2006. But if traffic to the island of St. Maarten continues to increase a new terminal will be built as well as a full parallel taxiway system.