Does this plan sound doable?

Hi. My husband and I are going to be arriving in Philipsburg on a Monday in Feb and we are in port from 8-5. My plan right now is to rent a car(I've read that there are a few rental companies right by the dock). Should we reserve the car ahead of time or just walk off the ship and pick a rental place that day? After we pick up a rental we plan on heading to Cul de Sac(hopefully arriving around 930-10am) and rent a kayak and kayak over to pinel island. The plan would be to return the kayaks around 1pm. Then we would head to mullet or maho. I would like to spend more time on mullet but my husband really wants to see the planes land on maho. So I figure we can look up the flight schedule that day and just drive to maho for like a half hour when the planes are scheduled to land. or maybe we would just go straight to maho and skip mullet depending on time. I would like to leave the maho/mullet area around 3:45 to avoid the draw bridge and to ensure we have enough time to get back to the ship by 5. Does this sound like a good plan for the day?

Is it doable? Maybe , but I would give myself more time getting back and returning the rental car.

Leaving at 3:45 with traffic , car rental return, and getting back to ship is cutting it way too close IMO. But then again I am someone who would rather be an hour earlier than needed rather than push it.

Thanks for your advice! I didn't even think about returning the rental and that could take up some time. So maybe we will just skip mullet and go straight to maho and leave maho around 3. That way we will have 2 hours to drive back, return the rental and get to the ship.

Is it doable? Maybe , but I would give myself more time getting back and returning the rental car.

 

Leaving at 3:45 with traffic , car rental return, and getting back to ship is cutting it way too close IMO. But then again I am someone who would rather be an hour earlier than needed rather than push it.

That's what I was going to say. When we were last there, our ship left at 5 pm and the latest the TAXI would pick us up to get back to the ship was 3:00 pm from Maho. They said any later and they could not be held responsible. While we didn't hit any traffic or drawbridge on the way back, we only had about 30 minutes to get a drink and shop a tiny bit before it "all-aboard" so it took us about an hour via taxi on the ride back without too much traffic trouble.

You know all aboard is 30 minutes prior to sailing, right? So you'd need to be back on the ship by 4:30 ish.

You would want to reserve your car in advance - check with Coastal and Avis who both have facilities at the terminal. Prime incoming flight time at SXM is probably noon to two PM. If you left Maho at two, ahead of the traffic, you could probably get to Dawn Beach (on the east side of the island perhaps 15/20 minutes north of the port so afternoon traffic would not be a problem) by 2:30 or so and have an hour there.

Your problem would be having enough time to kayak to Pinel and get down to Maho by noon - or even one PM.

Thanks for the advice and suggestions everyone! I am going to have to rework my plan. Do any bigger planes land early in the morning? Maybe I will stop at Maho first then head to pinel? I guess it will all depend on the flight schedule for the day I am there. Or maybe I will just skip pinel and take the bus to mullet and maho for the day.

I would find out just how early you can rent a kayak at the Cul de Sac. Since there are only a couple of ships in on your day you should be able to rent your vehicle and be at the Cul de Sac by 9:15. So if you can rent the kayaks then and paddle straight over to Pinel you should be arriving before 10. My suggestion would be to aim to drop the kayaks off at 12:30 and be at Maho for 1:30. You will be hungry by then and the 1 and 1/2 hours spent here eating and plane watching will go by fast. If you leave Maho at 3 you will have time to drop the car off and perhaps visit a bar or a few shops at the pier.

Pinel island is a lovely spot and I think that you are better off to enjoy the beach there and enjoy Maho for lunch and plane watching instead of shortening your stay at these two places so that you can get another beach in.

Thanks for the advice and suggestions everyone! I am going to have to rework my plan. Do any bigger planes land early in the morning? Maybe I will stop at Maho first then head to pinel? I guess it will all depend on the flight schedule for the day I am there. Or maybe I will just skip pinel and take the bus to mullet and maho for the day.

Jets from the US don't start arriving until about noon, and the KLM and AirFrance flights from Europe a bit later.

Jets from the US don't start arriving until about noon, and the KLM and AirFrance flights from Europe a bit later.

I have been at Sunset Bar and Grill in the summer and watched the KLM from Amsterdam land before 11 and shortly after 11 on another occasion.