The Civilized Explorer

The airports at St. Maarten and St. Barth

Life in the Caribbean can be quite different for people used to fast- paced living. Here are some descriptions of making the transition from north of the tropics to decidedly within them.

We have a page on St. Maarten, but our pages are on the airport and landings on St. Barth, where the airport is literally on a beach, with one end of the runway buried in the sand and sunbathing and swimming within a stone's throw of landing Twin Otters.

Life at Juliana Airport, Sint Maarten (1997): Mostly text; a description of an arrival and a departure from Juliana airport and lost luggage
The St. Barth Airport (1997): Still photos for those that are bandwidth- challenged
Photos of St. Barth Airport (2001): Seven photos of the airport, including an overview, the beach, and the hill above the airport.
Landings on St. Barth (2001, 2003): These are MPEG movies on our SmugMug site. They show landings from a hill above the plane, from the end of the runway, landings over the bay, and a bumpy landing from the plane. Some of the views show just how close the airplane gets to the road.