Ferry Transfers to Anguilla and St. Barths

The thing to get right

Neither ferry leaves from the airport, and both involve immigration.

If you have a flight into SXM and a ferry the same day, the connection is the tight part of the journey, not the flight. We plan it backwards from the boat.

To Anguilla

The public ferry from Marigot is the cheap and frequent option. Marigot is about 30 minutes from the airport, longer if the Simpson Bay bridge is open. There is immigration at both ends and it is slow when a full boat unloads — allow thirty minutes at the terminal rather than fifteen.

Private charters run from points around Simpson Bay, 10 to 15 minutes from the airport, and are considerably faster and considerably more expensive. They also generally handle the formalities more smoothly.

Which one you have booked changes where we take you entirely, so tell us when you book. It is a half-hour difference and the wrong terminal is not recoverable in the time available.

To St. Barths

The ferry to Gustavia runs from Oyster Pond on the eastern side, which is 35 to 40 minutes from the airport, and from Philipsburg. Again, different departure points depending on the operator.

St. Barths is also reachable by a very short flight from SXM, which is a genuine alternative — see St. Barths for the honest comparison of the two.

Coming back

The return is the leg people underestimate. Ferries run to a timetable that thins out in the evening, immigration on arrival takes time, and the last thing you want after a day away is to land at Marigot at seven in the evening and start looking for a taxi.

We will be there. Give us the return sailing and we plan for it, including the delay that sailings sometimes run.

Luggage

Both ferries have real luggage limits and small boats. If you are moving between islands with everything you own, say so — it changes which vehicle we send and occasionally which crossing we would recommend.

Timing a same-day connection

This is where these bookings actually go wrong, so it is worth being specific.

Landing at SXM and catching a ferry the same day means clearing immigration, which on a busy afternoon can take an hour on its own. Then thirty minutes to Marigot, then thirty minutes of ferry formalities before boarding.

Working backwards from a sailing, that is a two-hour buffer minimum from the moment you leave the aircraft — and we would build in more if you are arriving in the mid-afternoon bank when several flights land together.

If the connection is genuinely tight we will tell you, and sometimes the honest advice is to take the later sailing rather than run for the earlier one with a family and luggage.

Which is worth doing

Anguilla for beaches. They are better than St. Maarten's, the island is quieter and flatter, and there is very little to do beyond eat and swim — which is the point.

St. Barths for a harbour town, shops and restaurants, and one of the more remarkable landings in commercial aviation if you fly instead.

Both work as day trips and both are better days out than most of what is available on this island. See the Anguilla ferry and St. Barths for the detail on each.