St. Martin Yacht Charter

Almost every charter in these islands begins in St. Martin. Of the departures recorded in this cruising ground, 95.9 percent started here, a higher concentration than any other Caribbean ground we track. The island is the hub, and the week runs outward from it.

Geography is what makes that work. St. Barts lies roughly 17 nautical miles southeast of St. Martin, and Anguilla roughly 13 nautical miles northwest. Both are a morning’s sail rather than a passage, so a seven night charter can take in all three without a single long day at sea.

How the week usually falls

• Days one and two, St. Martin. Board on the Dutch side, provision in Simpson Bay, then move round to Grand Case for dinner ashore.
• Days three and four, St. Barts. Gustavia harbour, Colombier for the anchorage, Shell Beach at the end of the afternoon.
• Days five and six, Anguilla. Road Bay to clear in, then Sandy Island and Prickly Pear for the water your crew will photograph.
• Day seven, back to St. Martin in good time for the flight out of SXM.

Three flags in seven days, French, Dutch and British, with no leg longer than a morning. Very few cruising grounds offer that range over so little water. Each island is its own jurisdiction, so the yacht clears in and out of St. Barts and Anguilla separately. Your crew handles the paperwork, and it costs you an hour at anchor rather than a day.

Three sample routes for the week are laid out day by day further down this page.

St. Martin is one island with two countries on it. The southern half is Sint Maarten, part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The northern half is Saint-Martin, an overseas collectivity of France. The border is open, you cross it by road without stopping, and most guests only notice because the road signs and the groceries change.

For a charter, the practical difference is where you board and where you eat.

The Dutch side

Princess Juliana airport is on the Dutch side, and so is Simpson Bay Lagoon, which holds the largest concentration of marine infrastructure in the Leeward Islands. Provisioning, chandlery, fuel, repair and the berths that larger yachts need are all here, along with the nightlife and the casinos. Most crewed charters board on this side for the simple reason that it is the shortest distance from the aircraft to the yacht.

The French side

Marigot is the French capital, and its harbour and market are worth a morning. Grand Case, a short run up the coast, is the reason the island has its dining reputation: a single street of restaurants ending in the open air lolo grills. Anse Marcel and Orient Bay are quieter anchorages. The currency is the euro, though dollars are taken almost everywhere.

What we usually suggest

Board Dutch and sleep French. Take the logistics of the southern side on the first morning, then spend the evenings on the northern half where the food is. On a yacht that choice costs you nothing, because you are moving anyway.

On the spelling: St. Maarten is the Dutch name and St. Martin the French. They are the same island, and a charter here uses both halves of it whichever one you searched for.

Catamarans make up 63.6 percent of the crewed fleet working these islands. That is a majority, but a smaller one than the British Virgin Islands at 80 percent, and the gap tells you something real about the cruising ground.

The Leewards ask more of a boat. The hops between St. Martin, St. Barts and Anguilla cross open water rather than a sheltered channel, and the fleet here runs larger, with a median length of 67 feet against 59 in the Virgin Islands. That leaves more room for monohulls and motor yachts than a flat water ground would.

When a catamaran is the right answer

• Shallow water. Anguilla’s sandbars, Tintamarre and the cays off Prickly Pear reward a boat that can lie close in.
• Two families, or two couples. Cabins sit in separate hulls, which buys a kind of privacy a single hull cannot.
• Guests who are new to sailing. Level decks and less motion at anchor make the difference on a first charter.
• Living outside. The bridge deck and foredeck give you more usable outdoor space per foot than any monohull.

When it is not

A monohull sails better and heels, which some guests come for. A motor yacht compresses the crossings, which matters if you want both St. Barts and Anguilla in the same week without giving your mornings to the passage. Both are better represented here than they are further west.

Whichever hull you choose, ask your broker about the layout rather than the length. Two boats of the same size can suit very different groups.

Gustavia is the reason a good many charters come to these islands at all. The harbour fills through the winter with yachts on show, the town behind it is small and expensive and very good at what it does, and the anchorages outside it, Colombier above all, are quiet within half an hour of leaving the dock.

The island is small and the places to lie are few, so most guests take it as two or three days inside a Leeward week rather than a base of its own. That is how our routes treat it, and it is why the departure figures show the week starting in St. Martin almost every time.

We have written the island up properly, day by day, in our 7-day St. Barts itinerary.