Eww, that's really scary looking!
747s are landing there now? We were in St. Maarten in 1979 and we landed in a 727 or a 707. I can't remember which one it was now, but it was a really scary landing. The pilot told us to buckle our seatbelts extra tight because the landing would be a very "brief". I remember he started reversing the engines before we even landed, and then slammed on the brakes because the runway was so short. Taking off was scary too, because there is a mountain not far from the end of the runway, and he had to dodge it by quickly turning the plane just after takeoff.
They had signs posted all along the beach warning people of sand blast from the jet engines. Our hotel was a little bit further down the beach from the airport so it really wasn't too much of a problem for us, but I remember we had lunch at a restaurant near the airport and that's when I saw those signs. They must have upgraded their airport since I was there. It was called Queen Juliana airport back then and it was designed for smaller airplanes. St. Maarten was just becoming a popular tourist destination when we were there, and many parts of the island were not developed yet. I'd love to go back there someday. It's a beautiful little island. We stayed on the Dutch side, in Phillipsburg. One day we drove over to the French side of the island (called St. Martin over there). There's no customs to mess with when driving from one side to the other, just a little sign welcoming you to either the Dutch side or the French side.