We did an island tour with Bernard Tours, called the “SXM Island Tour II“. This included both the Dutch and French side. They picked us up at the port area, stopped at Simpson Bay Marina, Dutch/French border, fed/held iguanas, few mins at Oyster Pond, Orient Beach (for couple hrs), Marigot the French Capital open market, Maho Beach (watched plans land and takeoff), before taking us back to the ship. We did this twice with them on 2 different trips and because it was low season there, we were by ourselves with just our driver (so another private tour with no additional cost). Because of that, they were very very flexible with us, how long we wanted to stay at certain places, etc. At Maho Beach, I braved the “let me hold onto the fence as a big plane is about to take off” (before they disallowed this due to a death that happened) and WOW, what an adrenaline rush, and thank Goodness I did not lose my phone, sunglasses, or contact lens, lol. Our tour guide told us (since he worked at the airport before becoming a taxi/tour guide) that the larger planes take off with about 68,000 lb of thrust (wow!). An overall great time and I highly recommend Bernards Tours!