Saint Maarten

I was lucky enough to escape the US once again, and headed off to Saint Maarten, NA for a family trip.  The French and Dutch owned island is very beautiful, with some of the clearest turquoise water and most relaxing beaches around.  Maddie convinced me to bring my underwater housing, and I'm very happy I did.  St. Maarten is home to one of the craziest airports in the world, and I knew I wanted to get a unique perspective of an overly photographed sight on the island.  The jumbo jets come in for a landing on the runway, which sits right in front of a beach and a couple bars.  It looks very surreal, as if you are going to whitness a huge plane crash or see people being mowed over by these jumbo jets.  Needless to say, shooting from the water was pretty cool.  Check out the photos, and sort out your next plane to paradise...

wait around for all the images to load, it's a big post.

a jumbo jet coming in for the hairy landing.  the fisheye lens makes it look a lot smaller and further away than it really was.

liked this one as well, air france coming in hot.

getting smashed around a bit on the shore break, snagging some cool barrel shots.  this one's my favorite.

caribbean shack

quick self portrait, the water visibility was ridiculous.

saw a shot similar to this a long time ago somewhere, and wanted one of my own

really liked this grungy shot in the barrel.  super crisp.

and one more shore breaker, blowing bubbles on the lip.

inviting...

palm trees and blue skies

pretty awesome bar on orient bay

cool clouds

a large part of the island still has not recovered from the hurricane many years ago... but it does make for some cool photos.

hiking to the summit of a nearby island called pinel island

watched this determined dog swim in the breakers and pick up this huge iguana, who was clawing her the whole way in.  pretty intense

pinel island summit, with saint maarten in the background

thought this was pretty funny, my brother spencer with his head out of a porthole.

some more on pinel island

and this is the view of the beach right before the runway.  unaware tourists who don't get out of the way when a jumbo jet throttles its engines get blasted with sand.  there's always a crowd running to the water trying to escape.  really liked this one because it's definitely not bliss for these guys, and the couple in the background with the lady crawling to escape was pretty funny.