Bareboat charter Martinique or St. Martin

[Catharina_]

Hello all!

I've been scouring the forum for experience reports and recommendations. Thank you to everyone that has posted them! They are making the decision-making process more informed, though I still can't make up my mind.

We have sailed in the BVI so many times over the past decades and loved them though hated watching them turning into party central. We do appreciate a beach bar or restaurant every once in a while but love to find a secluded cove that we can anchor in and cook for ourselves. We do not love having party-boats surround us absolutely everywhere. And we never know where we want to go before noon so securing a spot in a crowded bay is not realistic. So we've been trying out new places. We liked sailing the Spanish Virgin Islands but don't feel like going back, Belize was quite an experience but maybe too off the beaten path even for us (we only found two restaurants in two weeks and no reprovisioning spots).

I don't remember my trips to the Grenadines (I was a baby when we went) and am saddened by the uptick in crime that makes us too nervous to go (we are a crew of two young women and my aging parents so don't see us fighting off any trouble). I see a lot of you say it's safe but the world is big enough for us to decide we'd rather avoid it!

So I'm looking at St. Martin or Martinique (heading north to Guadeloupe and Iles Saints) since those have good flight options from Europe. Any thoughts on whether either of those might hit the spot in looking for less crowds but a bit of on-shore options? Will we be terribly annoyed by immigration hassle?

Grateful for any advice!

[Zanshin]

Guadeloupe is a good flight destination as well, and there are good chartering options out of the marina at Fort-de-France. From there it is only a short sail to Maria Galante or the Îles des Saintes! And Portsmouth in Dominica is just a couple of hours away as well.

From the Martinique charter bases you do have just a short hop to St. Lucia (where my boat is currently in storage) and if you want to remain in France there are a lot of nice anchorages.

Immigration in St. Martin/Sint Maarten isn't that bad if you prepare and stick to the rules. St. Martin doesn't have that many cruising anchorages, but from there you can visit St. Barths with 2 great anchorages and perhaps even Saba if the conditions are good.

[TheOffice]

We have chartered from both St Martin and Martinique, and cruised our own boat from the US to Dominica. I agree with Zanshin that Guadeloupe or Martinique have more to offer in terms of diversity of anchorages. The Saints and Marie Gallant are great. Snorkel at the Jacque Cousteau reef off Ile de Pigeon. Dominica is unspoiled and beautiful.
Enjoy!

[Catharina_]

Oh no! Another gorgeous option! Guadeloupe sounds like a great possibility as well. How will I ever decide?

Thanks so much for your advice!

[Paramotorgreg]

Martinique is a much nicer option for cruising than St Martin. The French side of St Martin is still not fully restored from the last hurricane and the Dutch side is very American, which is not good!

Martinique has many safe and attractive anchorages; amazing snorkelling and diving; great beaches; decent supermarkets and many great restaurants. There are several rum distilleries to visit and lots of great hiking in the interior. Charter boats are plentiful the infrastructure on the island is good. It’s my favourite Caribbean island and you will have a lovely time there.

[Catharina_]

Thanks to you as well! We're leaning towards Guadeloupe at this point but nothing booked yet so keeping Martinique on my radar until we finalize everything. Or next time!

[CaribbeanBoy]

Though I do agree with analysis regarding anchorage locations, might be good to add that St. Martin is a great base for short trips to other islands - St Barths, Anguilla, Saba, Statia, St Kitts

[Jerry Woodward]

We chartered twice out of Martinique and used Regis Guillemot Charter. They specialize in catamarans. Had good experiences both times. We chartered Mahe 36s both times, very reasonable prices, but that was 8 years ago.