French food, St. Barths glamour and Anguilla’s empty beaches inside one week. The price is paperwork and open water: almost every stop is a different country, and the hops between islands are 15 to 20 miles of unprotected sea.
Who a St. Martin charter suits
Crews who have done the BVI, anchor with confidence and would trade beach-bar moorings for a long French lunch. If your crew gets seasick or you have never anchored overnight in a rolly roadstead, do another BVI week first.
Where you start
Most bareboats leave from the French side: Marina Fort Louis in Marigot and Anse Marcel on the north coast, with some boats at Simpson Bay on the Dutch side. You fly into Princess Juliana (SXM) on the Dutch side, 20 to 35 minutes by taxi from the bases. Some bases close in September. Oyster Pond, on the windward side, is off limits to the big fleets.
The 7 night route on a map
Gold pins are the nights, numbered in order. Light blue pins are day stops on the way. The longer passages are marked in nautical miles.
- Charter base: Marigot
- Grand Case
- Day stop: Tintamarre
- With more time: Ile Pinel
- Ile Fourchue
- Anse de Colombier
- Gustavia
- With more time: Simpson Bay
- Road Bay, Anguilla
- Day stop: Sandy Island
- Day stop: Prickly Pear Cays
Not for navigational purposes. Positions are approximate and the route line is a sketch that keeps off the land. It ignores depth, reefs and shoals.
- Charter base
- Night stop, numbered in order
- Day stop
- With more time
- Typical route
7 nights from Marigot: day by day
A week out of Marigot takes in three countries: French St. Martin, St. Barths and Anguilla. It works best in this order, with the upwind leg to St. Barths early while the crew is fresh and the long reach to Anguilla later.
Marigot to Grand Case
Boat briefing, provisions aboard, then a short hop up the coast. Anchor in sand off the beach and go ashore for dinner: this is the best restaurant street in the islands.
Grand Case to Anse de Colombier
On the way: Tintamarre
Lunch and a swim at Tintamarre, then the open-water leg to St. Barths. It is upwind and lumpy, so leave early. Pick up a marine reserve mooring in Colombier. No road reaches this bay.
Anse de Colombier to Gustavia
A two mile hop. Anchor or take a mooring outside the harbour, clear in at the port office, and give the crew a day of town, shopping and Shell Beach.
Gustavia to Ile Fourchue
Clear out, then an easy five miles to a private island with reserve moorings, goats and good snorkelling. Rolly in a north swell, so check the forecast.
Ile Fourchue to Road Bay, Anguilla
The long day: about 27 miles on a reach, up the east side of St. Martin past Tintamarre and down the Anguilla Channel. Clear in at Road Bay, the only port of entry for yachts, then find a beach bar at Sandy Ground.
Road Bay, Anguilla to Road Bay, Anguilla
On the way: Prickly Pear Cays and Sandy Island
Buy the cruising permit, then day trip to Prickly Pear or Sandy Island. Overnight anchoring is only allowed in Road Bay, so you come back here for the night.
Road Bay, Anguilla to Marigot
Clear out of Anguilla and reach across the channel to Marigot. Clear back in to France, anchor in the bay and have a last dinner at the waterfront.
Marigot to Marigot
A short motor to the dock for fuel and check-out. Most bases want the boat back on the dock by mid morning.
The stops in more detail
Marigot
The French capital. Anchor off the fort in good holding, clear in, shop at the best supermarkets you will see all trip.
Grand Case
The restaurant town, and the reason many people come. An open bay that gets rolly, and worse in a north swell.
Tintamarre and Ile Pinel
Nature reserve stops on the north-east corner. Tintamarre has reserve buoys and turtles. Pinel has a tricky entrance and some fleets do not allow it.
Ile Fourchue and Anse de Colombier
Inside the St. Barths marine reserve, with free buoys and a four-night limit. Colombier can only be reached by boat or on foot and is the best night of the week.
Gustavia, St. Barths
The only port of entry. A big, crowded, rolly anchorage outside the harbour. Call the port on VHF 12 before you arrive.
Road Bay, Anguilla
Anguilla’s only port of entry: plenty of room, good holding in sand, beach bars ashore.
Sandy Island, Prickly Pear and Crocus Bay
Anguilla’s marine park stops. Day use only, 6 am to 7 pm, and you need a cruising permit that is not cheap.
Simpson Bay lagoon
In through the lifting bridge for marinas and chandleries. The bridge opens only a few times a day, so plan around it.
Where the work is
Clearing in and out
This is the headache. French St. Martin, Dutch Sint Maarten, St. Barths and Anguilla are four separate jurisdictions. The French side and St. Barths are quick: an online form or a port-office computer and a few euros. The Dutch side is done in person at Simpson Bay. Anguilla is in person at Road Bay, and anywhere outside Road Bay needs a paid cruising permit. Allow 30 to 45 minutes each time and carry the ship’s papers and every passport.
Moorings and anchoring
There are no BVI-style pay mooring fields. Buoys exist only in the reserves: free at St. Barths and Tintamarre, day-only in Anguilla. Everywhere else you anchor, mostly in sand with good holding.
The passages
St. Martin to St. Barths is 12 to 15 miles, usually to windward on the way out and a fast reach back. Anguilla is a shorter hop from Marigot but up to 20 miles from the south coast. It is all open water with ocean swell and nowhere to duck into halfway.
Security
Lock the dinghy, always, on both sides of the island. Lift it at night.
When to go
December to April brings north-east trades of 15 to 22 knots, with 25 to 30 in the Christmas winds. Winter north swells make the north and west facing bays uncomfortable: Grand Case, Marigot, Road Bay and Gustavia all roll. Late April to June is the sweet spot. Hurricane season runs June to November and some bases shut in September.
How St. Martin compares with the BVI
| BVI | St. Martin | |
|---|---|---|
| Longest normal leg | About 8 nm, in sheltered water | 15 to 20 nm, open ocean |
| Clearances in a week | None | 4 to 7 |
| Overnight moorings | In most anchorages | Only in the St. Barths reserve |
| Shelter when it blows | Close by, almost everywhere | Few all-weather anchorages |
| Food ashore | Beach bars and a few good restaurants | The best in the Caribbean |
New to all of this? Start with the BVI bareboat basics and see why most people start in the BVI.
St. Martin charter questions
Is St. Martin harder than the BVI for a bareboat charter?
Yes. The big fleets rate it one level above the BVI and ask for roughly 10 days or 200 miles as skipper. The sailing is open water, you anchor most nights, and you clear customs several times in a week.
How many times do you clear customs on a St. Martin charter?
A full loop of St. Martin, St. Barths and Anguilla means clearing in and out of three or four jurisdictions, so four to seven visits to an office or a clearance computer in one week.
Are there mooring balls in St. Barths and Anguilla?
St. Barths has free buoys in its marine reserve at Anse de Colombier and Ile Fourchue. Anguilla’s marine park moorings are for day use only. Everywhere else you anchor.
Can you sail from the BVI to St. Martin on a bareboat?
Not on a normal one-week charter. It is about 80 miles of open water to windward across the Anegada Passage, usually overnight, and most BVI fleets do not allow it.
Thinking about St. Martin?
Tell us your dates, crew and experience and we will tell you straight whether it suits you, or whether another island would suit you better. Same price as booking direct.