St. Martin has typically been considered the brief stopover island for fabulous jetsetters who then fly onward to St. Barth's. That is until our writer Shira Levine discovered that the bipolar island with a French and Dutch identity crisis is worth lingering on for a few days. Questions or suggestions? Let us know.

“Go out on the Dutch side, sleep on the French side,” is local St. Martiner and St. Maartiner Kate Richardson’s motto. (Her family heritage hails from both French and Dutch sides, although she relates considerably more with the French side.) Half a day on the island and you'll figure out whether you're more into St. Martin (the French side) or St. Maarten (the Dutch side) because folk definitely have their allegiances.

Despite the playful and, more-for-tourists turf wars, visitors don’t need a passport between the two sides of the 37-square mile island. Both sides do have their own government, but there's no real border and definitely no checkpoint or fence. Instead, there's just a “Welcome to the French Side” or “Welcome to St. Maarten." (That said, we aren't sure how any extradition laws work in these parts.)

Good news for Yanks--American dollars are accepted everywhere. The French also accept euros, and the Dutch are all retro with accepting the old school gilder. (Perhaps some "forgotten" change from those coffeehouse chillouts in Amsterdam?) ]]> shiralevine 2010-04-12T13:40:46-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/7/29/212557/350

We love airplanes, you love airplanes, so let's go look at airplanes! In our Prime Plane Spotting series, we'll let you in on all the best spots to whip out your cameras and binoculars for a piece of the aviation action.

No list of plane spotting locations is complete without highlighting the amazing daredevil antics that occur daily at Princess Juliana Airport on the French/Dutch Caribbean island of St. Maarten.

Due to the island's small size, mountainous center, and popularity with international tourists, jumbo jets from as far as Europe and island hoppers from neighbors like St. John zero in on a short runway that dead-ends right at the beach. This beach, Maho Bay, is open to the public and consistently draws aviation geeks, photographers, and curious tourists to the Sunset Beach Bar for some serious eye-level plane spotting.]]> JetSetCD 2009-07-30T11:19:26-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2008/3/10/121235/651

While this video was shot along Spain's Costa del Sol, it was definitely inspired by St. Maarten's Maho Beach, arguably the world's best planespotting strand.

The 747s that touch down in the Caribbean are a bit more, you know, real than this plane, but we still think this clip is cool. After the jump, we've embedded the making of video for your debunking pleasure.]]> pbb 2008-03-10T12:17:57-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2008/1/15/163210/812

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.]]> juliana 2008-01-15T16:36:38-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2007/8/21/22271/9248

Ok, this never gets old. Yes, that's a 747 and no, there's no CGI wizardry involved. Welcome to St. Maarten, home to possibly the only beach where you can catch a wave by the good graces of both Mother Nature and Air France.

The beach in question is right outside the Princess Juliana airport (SXM) on the south side of the island. Pilots consider it a tough spot to land heavier jets as that the bare minimum length runway forces pilots to come in extremely low, about thirty feet over the heads of sunbathers on the strip of sand outside the boundary fence. The effects of arriving jets seems tolerable in the video clip but word has it that departing planes can stir up enough of a sandstorm to clear the beach or, in some cases, enough wake for surfers to catch waves heading out to sea.

MORE]]> Judson 2007-08-22T13:57:48-05:00 Search Jaunted string http://www.jaunted.com/search/