We've only stayed on island in the dead of winter and one of the few downsides is the early sunsets. Are they appreciably later in the summer (say late June/early July) giving more beach time, or are they near the same due to the equator.

I know google will get me to tables out there, but I like the cool humans on TTOL who have first hand knowledge.

Hoping for an extra hour/two/three of warm beach time.

As close to the equator as the island is, I doubt there is much difference, although I've only been there in late February, April, November, and December. Not much difference in those months.

As GaKaye says, SXM is sub tropical so there is not a lot of difference in sunrise and sunset times across the year... With the island at 18 degrees north latitude, the sun is NORTH of you at noon time for almost two months in June and July. Your noontime shadow on the summer solstace actually points south.

In addition, you do not get the much longer daylight hours in the summer like in New England when the earth's tilt has the sunrise in the Northeast and the sunset in the northwest...

Twilight is very short...morning and night.

Also, St Martin stays on Atlantic Standard time year around..

The sunset/sunrise tables you get if you do a google search will tell you the earliest sunset in Winter is around 5:30pm. Latest sunset in Summer is about 6:45pm. That's the same info you'll get from "humans on TTOL".

Thanks all for the helpful, good answers. I'll take the extra hour plus. Thanks for the google help.

Glad we all could help. Over the years we have been visiting St. Martin we adapted our expectations and plans to the reality of the sunrise and sunset times. We stay at Club Orient and usually can sleep until about 7 am when the sun is fully risen and pouring in through the mini-suite windows. We pick up our pastry orded at LaBotique when they open the doors at 8 am and have a nice breakfast back in our unit and hit the beach around 9am.

In the afternoon we head back to the unit around 4 pm as the sun starts to move towards the mountains to the west so we can wash off the sand, shower, and dress for our dinner trip to Grand Case. We head to the group of amazing restaurants around 6 pm, read the menu boards, and are seated just before sunset...if we have chosen one on the water side we get to watch the sunset and the lights come on over on Anguilla as we enjoy our appetizers.

After dinner we return to Club O for a nightcap and then turn in around 9 or 10 pm to sleep until the early sunrise wakes us again the next day.

After our first trip in the late 1990s we learned to adjust our schedule to the sun's... <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Thumbsup.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/dine.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Grin.gif" alt="" />

We visit in February and May. While not noticing a big difference in timing of sunsets, we do notice a change in where the sun sets relative to our vantage point.

We have noticed this also! In April, we can see good sunsets at the Grand Case Beach Club. In November, the sun sets over the land.

BobandJeana

You actually get the same an hour and a bit extra sun in the morning, so its about 2 and a quarter hours more sun in June than in December. Essentially getting only 11 hours on the winter solstice and 13 and a quarter on the summer solstice.

Your results may improve if you relocate to the Petite Plage. I think you may still see it drop into the ocean from there.