Maho Beach is a major tourist attraction. Visitors flock there on daily basis to take photos and particularly selfies with landing planes in the background. It is hardly an ideal situation though, causing traffic congestion that has become a nuisance for persons driving to and from Beacon Hill.
Moreover, there is no longer a side-walk since the airport fence was moved further back after a thrill-seeker hanging onto the original one to experience being levitated by a jet blast fell, hit her head on the concrete road divider and died, despite various warning signs. Certainly when there is little sand cover, as often happens due to prevailing currents that expose the rocky surface, pedestrians are forced to walk in the street as vehicles pass within inches, while others try to balance on the narrow seawall, in both cases a risky undertaking.
But even worse is that especially when several cruise ships are in port, people just dump their cups, cans, bottles, plastic plates and cutlery as well as styrofoam food containers on the beach. Mind you, this is something most would never do in their own country.
The area regularly gets cleaned, but with high tides like in the past few days much of the rubbish ends up in the crystal clear blue water. It is an environmental hazard to say the least.
Granted, there are no garbage bins and very little space to put these. Nevertheless, this practice at the expense of nature must not be allowed to continue.
The tour buses and taxis that take many of the guests there should inform their passengers of the need to pick up after themselves when leaving and perhaps provide their clients with trash bags. Making tourism more sustainable is in the island’s best general interest, which means all involved have a role to play.
