Simpson Bay Webcam – Check Kim Sha Beach Before You Go

The Simpson Bay Webcam looks across the water to Kim Sha Beach, the strip of sand on Sint Maarten’s Simpson Bay where the Simpson Bay area meets Pelican and Billy Folly. It is a PTZ camera at Simpson Bay Resort Marina & Spa, so the picture travels along the beach. Zoomed in, it settles on rows of loungers under yellow umbrellas, a carved tiki head at the back of the sand and a small blue-roofed hut. Panned along, it finds blue umbrellas, picnic tables and a wooden shed below a fenced, scrubby slope. A wooden jetty and a line of swim buoys sit in the foreground, and swimmers and the odd jet ski cross the turquoise shallows. A second tab looks straight down on the resort’s sheltered private beach.

About Simpson Bay and Kim Sha Beach

Simpson Bay is the broad bay on the south coast of Sint Maarten, the Dutch side of the island of Saint Martin. The Treaty of Concordia split the island between France and the Netherlands in 1648, and the Dutch part takes the southern 44 percent: 34 square kilometers (13 square miles), with 58,477 residents counted in June 2023. Kim Sha Beach lies toward the eastern end of the bay, past the long arc of Simpson Bay Beach. It takes its name from a Chinese restaurant that once stood on the sand, one of the first developments in the area.

SHOWME Caribbean streams the camera from Simpson Bay Resort Marina & Spa, a Mediterranean-style resort set on the Kim Sha and Pelican Key beaches. The operator lists five pools, tennis courts, a spa and a sheltered private beach, the one in the second tab, along with gardens of bougainvillea, hibiscus and allamanda. The Buccaneer Beach Bar stands on Kim Sha Beach a short walk from the resort, and Flamingo Beach and Lay Bay Beach lie within about 650 meters (0.4 miles) to the south, around Pelican Key.

Inland, Simpson Bay Lagoon covers 1,250 hectares (3,100 acres) and ranks among the largest inland lagoons in the West Indies. The French and Dutch border runs across its center, and yachts ride out hurricanes inside it. Princess Juliana International Airport sits on the lagoon’s southern shore, with Maho Beach, known for jets landing low over the sand, about 3 kilometers (1.9 miles) west of Kim Sha. Philipsburg, the capital, is about 4.8 kilometers (3 miles) east as the crow flies.

Weather and Climate in Simpson Bay

Simpson Bay is warm in every month. Records from Princess Juliana International Airport for 1971 to 2000 give a mean temperature of 27.2 C (81 F), with average highs of 28.6 C (83.5 F) in January rising to 31.7 C (89.1 F) in August. Winter, from December to February, brings the mildest days and little rain, and spring stays mostly dry while the highs creep up. Summer is the hottest stretch, and the Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1 to November 30. The airport averages 1,047 millimeters (41.2 inches) of rain a year on about 142 rain days, with September to November the wettest months.

Those wet months are when the camera is most likely to catch a passing squall greying out the bay for a few minutes. Hurricane Irma made landfall on September 6, 2017, and destroyed around 70 percent of the infrastructure on the Dutch side of the island. On a clear day around midday, the sand in front of the loungers looks almost white against the turquoise water inside the swim buoys.

Things to Do Near Simpson Bay

The Buccaneer Beach Bar is the obvious first stop, right on Kim Sha Beach. Sailing trips run from this stretch with companies such as Aquamania and Eagle Tours, and kayaks and pedal boats can be rented around the beach. For a quieter swim, walk south around Pelican Key to Flamingo Beach or Lay Bay Beach.

Maho Beach, 3 kilometers (1.9 miles) west, is where crowds stand at the end of the Princess Juliana runway as jets come in over their heads. Simpson Bay Lagoon is the island’s yachting hub, busiest during the Caribbean Multihull Challenge in February and the St. Maarten Heineken Regatta in March. In Philipsburg, the boardwalk along Great Bay Beach runs beside the cruise port.

Similar Webcams You Might Like

Two more cameras on Sint Maarten and one on neighboring St. Barts:

• Great Bay Webcam
• Sint Maarten Airport (SXM) Webcam
• Col de la Tourmente Webcam

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Kim Sha Beach in St. Maarten?

Kim Sha Beach is on Simpson Bay, on the south coast of Sint Maarten, the Dutch side of Saint Martin. It sits where the Simpson Bay area meets Pelican and Billy Folly, beside Simpson Bay Resort Marina & Spa, about 3 kilometers (1.9 miles) east of Maho Beach and 4.8 kilometers (3 miles) west of Philipsburg.

What can you see on the Simpson Bay Webcam?

Kim Sha Beach, seen from across the water. The camera pans and zooms between loungers under yellow umbrellas with a carved tiki head behind them, and a stretch of blue umbrellas, picnic tables and a wooden shed. A jetty and swim buoys fill the foreground. The second tab shows the resort’s private beach from above.

Is this the Simpson Bay Resort webcam?

Yes. Both streams on this page are filmed at Simpson Bay Resort Marina & Spa and broadcast by SHOWME Caribbean. The main view covers Kim Sha Beach, and the second tab looks down on the resort’s own sheltered beach, with a thatched umbrella on the sand and a rocky shore to one side.

Does the camera show the Simpson Bay bridge or the marina?

No. The camera points at Kim Sha Beach on the open bay. The Simpson Bay Lagoon Bridge, which spans the channel into the lagoon, and the marinas inside it stay out of frame.

Can you see planes landing on the Simpson Bay Webcam?

Not the way you can at Maho Beach. Jets land over Maho Beach at the western end of the runway, about 3 kilometers (1.9 miles) away, and this camera frames sand and water rather than sky. The Sint Maarten Airport webcam linked above is the one for planes.

What is the weather like in Simpson Bay?

Hot and sunny for most of the year. Average highs run from 28.6 C (83.5 F) in January to 31.7 C (89.1 F) in August, and the yearly mean is 27.2 C (81 F). September to November is the wettest stretch, and the hurricane season lasts from June 1 to November 30.

How do you get to Kim Sha Beach from Philipsburg?

Buses between Philipsburg and Simpson Bay pass close to Kim Sha Beach several times a day, and the beach is in the Pelican taxi zone. It is about 4.8 kilometers (3 miles) in a straight line, a little more by road, which also makes it an easy trip from the cruise port on Great Bay.

Source: SHOWME Caribbean