Sint. Maarten Trip Report 6/18-6/25 2009

[JCAT]

Flew into Charlotte, late yesterday afternoon, from a week in Sint. Maarten. Out of the 13 islands we’ve visited, this one is near the top of places I would go back to.

Sint. Maarten/St. Marten is an island in the lesser Netherland Antilles. A 4 hour non-stop from Charlotte, NC deposited my wife and I around 1:30pm. The flight was non-eventful, besides the usual pain that accompanies flying in general. Rude people, TSA agents who went nuts over my wife’s wide-angle lens, people who won’t sit down so we can taxi, the usual cr@p.

Day 1- The approach to the airport is pretty neat, as you pass over Maho Beach. This is what it looks like from different views. Lots of you tube and pictures on the net of this.
Upon clearing immigration and customs, we were surprised by how nice the airport terminal is. Dominos, Quiznos, and small shops are in the food court. We picked up the rental car and headed out to the Dawn Beach area.



Since I’ve lived in other countries, driving brought back fond memories, however my wife was not quite prepared for the first round-about. Man, I do miss those, too bad the U.S doesn’t adopt them. Because of road construction, traffic, goats, ect. The trip over to Dawn Beach took about 40 minutes; it can be done in less depending on time of day. We stayed at a place called Princess Heights overlooking Dawn Beach. It’s built on the side of a hill, very quiet and the rooms were nice. However, the view of Dawn Beach has been obstructed by the Westin. Basically the Westin has taken over the beach as their’s, you have to enter their property to get to the beach. Thankfully, the island has many beaches that we visited. After we dropped our luggage off, we headed back down to Phillipsburg and hit the grocery store for food.





Day 2- I decided to dive with Ocean Explorers, since they are a small 6-pack operation operating from the Kim Sha beach area. This is a top notch dive op and I doubt I would dive with any anybody else now. They are friendly, helpful, and super nice people. They really enjoy what their doing and it shows. When we travel, I carry my own gear which is usually a good idea because you never know what you could end up renting. Ocean Explorers gear is well maintained and I wish I would have left my gear at home. Their rental gear is that good. The only dive op I have ever been able to state that about, including my local LDS. Ocean Explorers rents cameras, as well as anything else you might need. (Wetsuits were practically brand new) Prices are very reasonable, but you need to book early. They respond vey quickly to emails (sometimes in less than 15 minutes) and will answer your questions. Especially about dives on Friday’s, which are shark dives. Their passion for the conservation of these magnificent animals quickly becomes apparent as their goal is to educate. If you wish to learn about Caribbean Reef Sharks, these are the folks to dive with. I highly recommend them.




I know there is a running controversy about shark feeding, both the pros and cons. I also understand that what mankind fears comes from a lack of understanding. Even Peter Benchley, who wrote the novel Jaws, realized later in his life the harm that he had caused. He strove to correct the idea that sharks were mindless killing machines until he died in 2006.

My goal on this dive was to learn, and of course take pictures! I will tell you that I found that these are highly intelligent animals, sometimes inquisitive, and they need to be protected from us by us. The only way to do that is by close study and understanding.
I’ll get off my soapbox for now.

Other things I learned were that taking pictures around sand is hard. Couple that with the case of buck fever or rather ‘Shark fever’ I had and you can imagine the number of pictures I screwed up. Here’s a few of the ones I like.

[JCAT]

More Pic's and stay tuned because I still have reef pictures to process and post...Turtles, lobsters, Sting Ray, and a spotted Eagle Ray among others..

See my photo section for more sharks..

cheers

[JCAT]

One more, the shark vs. the crazed underwater Paparazzi!

[mrmccoy]

looks like you had a great time! Can't wait to see the rest of your photos

[chinacat46]

Thanks for the report looking forward to more pics. I love eagle rays.

[navyhmc]

Thanks for the report JCat! I'll be there in Jan. How's the water? Did you ask what the conditions are in Jan/Feb for me?

[Recon]

I will be there in about 32 days !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

~Recon

[petronius]

Beautiful! I'll look forward to more pictures...

You'll be glad to know that they've just installed a roundabout here, the only one in the county as far as I know. Thus far, it's not going too well...

[JCAT]

It will be a couple of days for the next installment. Must go through pic's of Pinal Island and Anguilla.

I've had to manually correct many of my reef photos, because I lost my mind for a bit after getting the Eagle Ray on video.

Water temp in Jan/Feb is usually around 74 deg, but it's been high this year. Water temp at 60fsw was at 81 deg this trip. I had on a full 3 mil, but I've turned wimpy in my old age. A younger guy was wearing shorts and a t-shirt. Surface swells are not flat, maybe 1-2'. No worse than my own coast in the early spring.

Cheers

[navyhmc]

Thanks for the information JCAT!!!! I'll bring my 3/2. Great picts. Glad to know you're having a great time.