Fence Surfing in the Caribbean

This is Maho Beach.  From the name you'd think it was in Hawaii, but it's not.

It's in St. Marten (or Sint Maarten if you're Dutch). Sint Maarten is a neat little Caribbean island where the Dutch own one side and the French own the other.

For those of us that grew up in La Jolla, Maho Beach is a warm version of WindNsea or Sea Lane beach. In other words it has a very sharp shore rise which produces waves that last for all of 3 seconds.

Make no mistake about it - these are not waves for inexperienced swimmers (or old guys like me that useta play in them).  These waves are homicidal and will try to kill you.  The picture of the above wave has no reference points, but trust me, this is a 9 footer. You don't want anything to do with a wave like that unless you're in terrific shape and stupid.

As soon as the ship docked we took a taxi over to this world famous bar.

This is the renowned Sunset Bar and Grill (not to be confused with the one Sheryl Crow sings about). The taxi ride over was memorable as our driver was an enormous, bald, black man.  The people we shared the taxi with were looking at the bars as we drove through town to get to the Sunset Bar. During the ride our driver commented  "You Americans and your alcohol.  Too much hepatic disease" .  What?  "Mon, you need to do what I do.  At 5:00, this will be my party".  At this point he produced his hard pack of Marlboros from his shirt pocket. Nestled in the middle of the cigarettes was a carefully rolled joint. "Mon, this is Holland, its legal here, just like it is in Amsterdam". That was hilarious, but I couldn't resist asking him why he mentioned  hepatic disease (only someone in medicine would say hepatic disease - most lay people would say liver disease). Turns out our driver was older than he looked and was, in fact, the island's retired pathologist. I asked him why he drove a cab and he replied that he owned around 20 rental properties and this was a way for him to check on them and make money at the same time. Truth be told, I think what he was really doing was driving around the island all day checking on his girlfriends and scoping out new ones.

So what does all this have to do with fence surfing (my term and I'm proud of it) and why is the Sunset Bar and Grill so famous? Simple - location, location, location. You see, if you look closely at the pictures above you'll notice that I've only shown you the water side. The water's nice and all, but it's whats on the other side of the beach that is so unique.

This is runway 10 of the Princess Juliana International Airport and Maho Beach is well known to any pilot or plane enthusiast (Mahol Beach is at the very bottom of the picture above) here's why:

That is is not a zoomed picture.  If you're standing on the beach when a plane comes in for a landing, you'll swear that its going to land on your head.

Arriving aircraft must touch down as close as possible to the beginning of Runway 10 due to the short runway length of 2,300 metres (7,500 ft),^[1] resulting in aircraft on their final approach flying over the beach at minimal altitude.  No kidding.  It is spectacular and LOUD.

 That's all well and good, but it's what happens when KLM arrives that the main show begins.  Arrival times are posted at the bar on a modified surf board.

Anticipation is high as the KLM arrival time approaches.   With good reason.

Your eyes aren't deceiving you.  That's a 747 and if you thought the twin engine Airbus was loud, it pales in comparison to the thunder a 747 makes. Check out this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPlCEXAqhnU&feature=player_embedded  The landing, loud and exciting as it is - is merely the prelude to what comes next.

Yup, the takeoff happens an hour and a half later.

As the 747 made the turn to line up on center-line, the copilot waved to the assembled crowd of lunatics (myself included) lined up on the fence. If you look closely, you can see the third officer taking our picture (window on the far left). No doubt he wanted to document for all his friends back in Holland that Sint Maarten had let all the inmates out of the local asylum to view the takeoff.

 The moment of truth had arrived. Time to grab a piece of the fence.

At this point you must be thinking "Bill, have you lost your mind?"  That's exactly what I was thinking, and believe me, I had serious doubts about whether or not this was a good idea. Looking at the engine cemented the thought.

Yup, this was a real stupid idea. Problem was - it was now too late. In order to get safely off the ground with such a short runway the pilot stands on the brakes and spools the engines up to full throttle. When all the engine readings come back normal and at 100%+, then, and only then, does he release the brakes.  If you let go of the fence now - you're going to get blown across the road, down the beach, and into the water.  The wind coming off those massive engines is around 150 mph at the fence line. It is simply unbelievably loud and painful. The exhaust picks up all the sand and stones and hurls them into your body. I had the bruises and cuts to prove it. Hurt like hell.  Scared the crap outta me too. But you can't let go. You have to hang on for dear life.  So I did! This is a great video of what its like

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eP6Y3RHC7MY   Would I do it again?  No friggin' way. But, it was great fun (once) and a thrill I'll never forget.