737 coming out of the sky

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And I am on that 737, landing over the world famous Maho Beach.

I had been planning this little getaway for a few weeks and then I read the news today, oh boy!

Tropical Storm Ana was heading towards the island. Well, Ana fizzled out. But then came hurricane Bill. I decided to postpone the trip until the following week. I kept a watch on the weather and saw that Bill was projected to turn north about 300-400 miles from the island and totally miss. Great news! The trip planning was back on. The flights were wide open in each direction since it is low season so I booked a hotel on Wednesday evening and departed Indianapolis on Thursday morning.

I flew a Delta Connection Embraer 175 from Indianapolis to Atlanta and got first class. The flight was smooth and we were there in just over an hour.

The next leg was a Delta 737-700, this time in business class. It was a smooth flight of about 3 and a half hours. I was impressed with the Delta meal and inflight entertainment, but then again I am partial. You can listen to CDs and even create your own playlist. I spent the time listening to a mix of Depeche Mode, New Order, ABBA, Fleetwood Mac, and Sting. The meal was a chicken stir-fry with a salad and chocolate cake. I drank some gin and tonics.

Our flight path took us down through Georgia and into Florida. We flew directly over Jacksonville and then went south along the Florida coast until about Cocoa Beach. We then went east over the ocean, crossing over Nassau and on down into Saint Maarten.

At about 2pm we were on approach over the famous Maho Beach. This is one of the big reasons I came to Saint Maarten. The aircraft make a very low approach over the water and seem to just clear the airport fence. There are many videos and pictures of this on the net, just google SXM or Maho Beach to see.

Customs and Immigration took about 15 minutes and I seemed to be in the slowest line. Next it was off to Maho Beach!

I saw that the KLM flight had not yet arrived so I was going to try and photograph it landing.

I left SXM airport and walked over to Maho Beach. It was about a five minute walk. The weather was not bad, with it being mid 80s and low humidity. I got over to Maho and waited. The water looked so refreshing but it would have to wait until KLM arrived. I chatted with a guy from Montreal who was really into aircraft also. There were about 10-20 people there. We saw some departures, including American 757 to Miami, Jetblue Airbus 320 to New York, and Corsair 747 to Paris. Finally, I saw the KLM MD-11 turning onto it's final approach! I took my shots and also got some video of some others.

It is an amazing site for both lovers of aircraft and non. After the KLM flight, it is pretty much small island hoppers so the crowd dispersed. I walked back to SXM airport and caught a taxi to my hotel. It was about 4:30 at this time.

The hotel is called Mary's Boon Beach Resort. I found it on the net and since it was the lowest price, I booked it.

I quickly checked in and then went out the beach. I swam out there in that beautiful water for an hour.

Later, I went to dinner in town. It was called Uncle Harry's. I had some scallops that were decent but the place it self was only all right.

After my meal, I went back to the hotel and had some Red Stripe beers at the bar.

I went to sleep at about 10.

The next day I woke up at 7 am and hit the beach again. I was in that water for a couple of hours knowing that I would soon be departing. It was so refreshing! I checked out at noon and headed over to Maho Beach again for some of the big arrivals. Continental and US Airways brought in their 757s and Air France with their Airbus 340. At about 1:30, I went over to SXM airport and checked in. I grabbed some Dominos Pizza there at the airport and went upstairs to the gate and waited. There were 30 open coach seats and 4 business but I did not have an assignment yet. The flight was scheduled to depart at 3:25 pm and I was given my seat at about 2:45.

What's this? 1D.....business class again! What luck! After a little delay for ramp congestion, we were flying over Maho Beach on the way to Atlanta. This flight was a 737-700.

I listened to the same mix of music as before and also watched the movie "17 Again". The meal was chicken fajitas. I consumed a few gin and tonics also. We arrived into Atlanta at about 7:30pm and the customs and immigration process was 15 to 20 minutes. They always get suspicious about me being gone for only one day but when they hear where I work, it's end of discussion.

My connection to Indianapolis was at 9:48 but I saw that there was an 8:28 departure so I tried to get over there to see if I could get it.

Atlanta is the world's busiest airport and it took some time getting over there. When I arrived, they had just closed the door. Oh well, off to gate A32 to wait. This flight was going to be tight. It was showing only 14 open seats and there had been lots of weather problems so I did not know what to expect. I saw that I was number one on the list so that was good. They also showed 15 open in coach and 1 in first. The luck was probably going to change......or was it? I cannot believe it! I got seat 1C, another upgrade! We were all boarded up and ready to go and even taxied out of the gate. Then we went nowhere. Our MD-88 aircraft was sitting in a long line of aircraft waiting to depart.

The Captain finally came over the PA to tell us that a thunderstorm had moved in and that departures were going very slow if even at all. No big deal. I was tired and wanted to get home but at least we were on the plane. We were supposed to be in Indy at 11:30pm but we did not even leave Atlanta until that time. There was lightning all around and we flew close to it but within 20 minutes, we were in the clear and on the way to Indy. I finally got to Indy at 12:30am and was home at 1:30am.

What a great time, even if it was short. We are planning on going to Europe or South America or Central America for Fall Break but just maybe I will have to consider Saint Maarten also..........

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