What you can see on the Maho Beach cams
One camera, at the Sunset Beach Bar, looks along the beach itself: the sand, the rocks at its end, the fence of the runway right behind and the hotels on the point. Another turns between views of the beach and the clear water off it, shallow and full of reef close in, turning deep blue further out. Both carry a small inset of the sky or the runway, and both are the cams for the moment a jet sweeps in over the beach.
Maho Beach from the Sunset Beach Bar
From the Sunset Beach Bar, this camera looks along Maho Beach: the sand and the surf, the rocks at the end of the beach, the fence of the runway behind it and the hotels on the point beyond. A small inset in the corner shows the sky to the west, where the planes line up to land.
The bar streams it with its name and a running line of text along the bottom.
Watching the planes at Maho Beach
This camera turns between several views of Maho Beach. One looks out over the sea off the beach, shallow and clear close in, with the dark patches of the reef showing through, and deep blue further out; another follows the narrow strip of sand and the rocks along the shore. A small inset in the corner keeps an eye on the runway of Princess Juliana airport.
An on-screen panel gives the weather at Maho Beach. SHOWME Caribbean streams it on YouTube and follows the arriving planes, the reason so many people watch.
Under the planes
The runway of Princess Juliana begins just across a narrow road behind the beach, so landing aircraft pass very low over the sand on their final approach. Plane spotters come from all over the world to photograph them, and the day's arrival times are posted at the beach. Departing jets are the dangerous part: their jet blast can knock people off their feet, and warning signs on the airport fence tell visitors not to stand behind them.
When to watch Maho Beach
Most of the big jets from North America and Europe land between late morning and mid-afternoon, which is when the beach is most crowded. Early mornings are quiet, with calm water and few people.
Nearby
Mullet Bay, the next beach to the west, is calmer and has no planes. Simpson Bay, with its long beach and lagoon, is just east of the airport, and Cupecoy, with its sandstone cliffs, lies a little further west.
Getting there
The airport is next door, so it is easy to stop at Maho on arrival or before a flight. The beach is narrow and drops off steeply in places; the water near the runway end is not the place to swim when jets are taking off.
