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St Martin bareboat yacht charter & sailing holidays
Good winds and medium seas allow sailors to enjoy exhilarating open-water sailing in this stunning yachting haven. Rivaling the BVI as the Carribbean’s most popular destination, St. Martin provides a good mix of island hopping and open blue water cruising. St. Martin is divided between two principalities: French in the North and Dutch in the South, which makes for a perfect combination of Caribbean style with European food and flair.
Saint Maarten is the smaller, Dutch part of the island shared peacefully with France’s St. Martin. It’s the world’s smallest island on which two separate nations, with two very different characters and sets of laws and customs, co-exist on either side of a border marked only by welcome signs.
The Dutch section of the island, only 17 square miles, has become one of the Caribbean’s most popular holiday and shopping destinations. Not only can visitors hop across the invisible border to get a taste of French Caribbean life, they can also enjoy the advantages of shopping in one of the world’s few completely tax-free ports.
In the capital Philipsburg there are more than 500 stores in pastel-coloured, clapboard Dutch-style buildings selling luxury goods at 25% to 50% below normal prices. For truly local shopping with a Caribbean flavour, don’t miss Philipsburg’s Saturday market.
The sporting highlight of Sint Maarten is the March Heineken Regatta which draws yacht crews from across the world providing an excuse for parties and steel bands shows on both the Dutch and French sides of the island. The annual carnival, after Easter, is an extravaganza of calypso competitions, costume and dance, as is the official holiday celebration marking Queen Juliana’s birthday on April 30. If that isn’t enough partying, islanders and visitors can pop across the border to the French side to enjoy the festivities on Bastille Day – June 14. Another advantage of this one-island, two-nation destination.
St. Martin is 21 square miles of French territory with a strikingly French way of life. The currency, the language, the goods in the shops, the escargot and frog legs in the restaurants and the pastries and breads in the bakeries, the cars, the fashions and the sheer style – it’s all unashamedly French, with the added Caribbean attraction of superb beaches on which to spend the hot, sunny days.
Grand Case, known as the dining capital of the Caribbean, has the greatest concentration of restaurants, including French, Italian, Vietnamese and West Indian and away from the busy towns, visitors will find a wide choice of breathtakingly beautiful beaches and bays, some of them popular and lively, others quiet and secluded. Entertainment comes in the form of organised parties at some of the larger resorts and discos at some of the restaurants, but mostly you’ll find music, in the shape of reggae bands and piano players, in the bars and bistros.
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The air holidays and flights shown are ATOL Protected by the Civil Aviation Authority. Our ATOL number is 987. The price of your holiday includes the amount of £1 per person as part of the ATOL Protection Contribution (APC) we pay to the CAA.
ATOL protection does not apply to all holiday and travel services shown.
Please ask us to confirm what protection may apply to your booking.
