St. Martin, Anguilla & St. Barts Frequently Asked Questions

We recommend a week. The cruising ground covers three distinct islands — French and Dutch St. Martin, Anguilla, and St. Barts (St. Barths) — and seven days gives you time to settle into the Northern Leewards instead of rushing through them. A typical week pairs an embarkation in Simpson Bay with a few days in St. Barts (Gustavia, Colombier, Île Fourchue), an Anguilla beach day or two (Shoal Bay, Sandy Island, Maundays Bay), and a French-side dinner in Grand Case before disembarking. Shorter trips (4-5 days) work too. For those we typically focus on either St. Barts and Anguilla as a tight loop, or St. Martin and one of the two — the inter-island runs are short enough that even a long weekend covers real ground.

Included: a professional crew (typically captain, chef, and stewardess), all meals and a standard bar (beer, wine, and spirits), water sports equipment, fuel for normal cruising, customary mooring fees, linens, and towels. Not included: crew gratuities (15-20% of the base charter rate), marina dockage in Gustavia (which spikes in peak season and is paid separately), customs and immigration fees at each of the three islands, premium drinks or specialty provisions, onshore dining (Grand Case, Gustavia restaurants, etc.), and transfers to and from the yacht.

APA stands for Advance Provisioning Allowance — a pre-paid fund (typically 25-35% of the base charter rate) that covers food, beverages, fuel, mooring and marina fees, customs fees, and other running costs during your trip. Your captain keeps an itemized account, and any unused funds are refunded at the end of your charter. Most catamarans across St. Martin, Anguilla, and St. Barts charter all-inclusive. APA pricing is more common on larger motor yachts and select sailing yachts. In this cruising ground specifically, APA also covers Gustavia dockage (which can rise to several thousand dollars per night during peak holiday weeks), per-island customs clearance fees, and any one-way relocation cost if your itinerary ends at a different marina from where it started.

For peak season (December through April), book 6-12 months ahead — the best yachts and crews go first. The New Year holiday is the highest-demand week of the year in St. Barts; many guests book it 12+ months in advance, and the Gustavia quay fills with megayachts side-tied for the week. For late-April through June (the best-value window), 4-6 months is typically enough. Last-minute availability comes up too, especially when a charter cancels — we can always check what's open.

Yes. Your chef can accommodate virtually any dietary need — vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, kosher, allergies, kids menus, and more. Before your charter, you will complete a preference sheet detailing every guest's dietary requirements, favorite foods, and anything to avoid. Your chef builds the menu around it. In the Northern Leewards specifically, expect French ingredients alongside your preferences — the chef provisions out of Marigot's Saturday market before departure, which means French cheeses, charcuterie, fresh-caught Caribbean fish, and the kind of pâtisseries you'd expect in a French Caribbean kitchen. It's part of what makes a St. Martin charter feel different from a charter elsewhere in the Caribbean.

Both work, and the right call depends on your trip length and how you're traveling. St. Martin (SXM) is the more common starting point — direct flights from most US East Coast cities and major European hubs, a five-minute taxi to IGY Simpson Bay Marina, and large enough infrastructure for any yacht size. The trade-off is a two- to three-hour sail to reach St. Barts on the first day. St. Barts (SBH) starts you in the most exclusive part of the cruising ground from the moment you step on board, but the airport is short-runway STOL only — guests fly in either on a 10-minute Tradewind hop from SXM or direct on a private aircraft. There is sometimes a relocation fee to position the yacht to St. Barts at the start of the charter. For most guests, embarking in St. Martin and sailing to St. Barts on day one is the right balance. For private-aircraft guests on a shorter trip, starting direct in St. Barts is hard to beat.