St Barths

St Barths is eight square miles of volcanic rock, French bureaucracy, and concentrated luxury. The island sits 15 nautical miles south-east of Sint Maarten and is reached by most charter yachts on a close reach in the trade winds — a crossing that takes two to three hours and deposits you in Gustavia, a harbour town of Swedish-era warehouses now occupied by fashion boutiques and waterfront restaurants. Gustavia is the only harbour. It is small, steep-sided, and socially stratified: superyachts moor along the inner quay, charter boats and visiting yachts take stern-to berths on the outer wall or pick up mooring balls in the outer roadstead. In high season — Christmas through Easter — the harbour fills early, and advance communication with the capitainerie is advisable. The town wraps around three sides of the harbour, and the restaurants, bakeries, and wine shops reflect the island's permanent French population and its visiting clientele. Beyond Gustavia, St Barths has a handful of beaches — Colombier, at the island's north-west tip, is reachable only by boat or footpath and is the finest. The anchorage off Colombier is exposed to the north-west but tenable in settled trade-wind conditions. Anse de Grande Saline, on the south coast, has a wide beach and open-roadstead anchoring. Shell Beach, in Gustavia itself, is a pocket of coral fragments steps from the harbour. The island's appeal is social and culinary rather than nautical. The sailing to and from St Barths is engaging — the trade winds ensure that — but the destination itself is about eating well, drinking well, and watching the parade of wealth that the harbour provides. Restaurant reservations at the better establishments are necessary in season. The airport — Gustaf III, with a runway that descends a hillside toward the beach — accepts only small aircraft, making Sint Maarten the practical gateway for international arrivals. Provisioning on St Barths is possible but expensive; a French-standard supermarket in St Jean covers basics at premium prices. Fuel and water are available in Gustavia. For charterers based in Sint Maarten, St Barths works best as a two or three-night stop within a broader Leeward itinerary.