Well, a lot of people like to stand on the beach as planes fly in off the ocean, zipping over their heads and landing just beyond the beach at Princess Juliana Airport. I took it to the next level: When one of the biggest planes to depart St. Maarten took off, I decided to get a feel for the jet blast.

The pilots totally get it – and completely embrace it – as you’ll see in the first part of the video. As they approached the end of the runway and prepared to take off, we could see the pilot stick his hand out the window, give a thumbs up to those of us waiting on Maho Beach.

That first plane wasn’t as big as the 340, yet he sure leaned on the throttle, sitting on the runway in neutral for what seemed like an unnecessary amount of time.

I loved it – so funny – and after that, when the big boy came up to bat, I took my position on the beach.

I won’t lie – it hurt, and for once in my life, I was speechless.

I had way too much sand in my mouth.