1st time poster, love the forum that you have here!

We're making our 1st trip to St Martin in a few weeks. I've loved reading your stories & insights into St Martin & have a few questions for you experts.

We fly Winair from SJU to SXM midday on a Friday. Any tips or thoughts on that flight? We've not traveled much & this will be our 1st small carrier between islands.

Renting a car at SXM for 4 days. I've read that many highly recommend Kenny's. But I'll probably book thru the Chase Travel Portal so that we have $0 out of pocket. I'm looking at a convertible Mini from Greenmotion @ SXM for $173 total. Or maybe a sedan from Alamo/National/Mex for ~$220-250. Booked on a Sapphire Reserve so that should cover liability. Comments or suggestions are welcome.

We're staying 4 nights at Secrets St Martin. Recent reviews seem to be all over the place but we're Hyatt Globalists & a free stay on points dictates our lodging. Any thoughts on this resort? Or the protected bay there? Any sargassum here?

wrt things to do, we're pretty content to lay on the beach & eat/drink for free but would like a small number of experiences while on the island.

Definitely want to experience the planes at Maho. Planning to park @ Sunset Beach Bar, get a drink, & then walk to the airport fence area. Can you watch the fun from the bar? I think we want to get pretty close but stay just long enough to say that we did it.

Pinel Island looked great but those sargassum pics are crazy. Is it still worth going over there?

Any suggestions for 1 or 2 beaches, hikes, spots that we simply can't miss?

And what would be the 2 or 3 other things that 1st time visitors must see/do/eat/experience?

Thanks again for sharing. Your discussions have already been incredibly helpful to us!