Provisioning on St. Martin

[lcdittmar]

My wife and I will be charter sailing out of St Martin for 2 weeks beginning on December 5th. and will be doing our own provisioning. Any suggestions on the best place to do this? We are chartering with Sunsail at Oyster Pond. Is St. Martin the best place for our major supplies or should we stock up on Anguilla or St. Barts?

[YOGAO]

Definitely provision in St. Martin. Anguilla and St Barts are too expensive and get much of their own supplies via St. Martin.

Since you will be on a charter vacation, take a bus adventure to Marigot (there's a nice American style grocery right by the canal leading from Marigot to to lagoon) and then get a cab back to Oyster Pond with your provisions.

Fair Winds,
Mike

[sailingaway221]

Cheapest provisioning in St. Martin is Cost U less.....don't shop in St. Barths or Anguilla or youll be wishing youd done more in St. MArtin.....of coiuse except for the croisants and coffe in St. Barths!

[Joli]

Ditto both comments. You may also want to rent a car for the day and see the island. Stop in Marigot for lunch at the Le Vien Rose (sp?)

[jerryprocter]

Provision in SXM, it's cheaper than St. Bart's or Anguilla. Plan on having a bit of a limited selection of meats compared to the US, but all in all not bad. Be mindful in pricing your beer that the Heinekens are the small bottles, so even though you pay $.50 a beer, you lose out on the baby beer. Taxis are zoned and you'll get dinged for stopping, so definitely rent a car. You'll pay less than $50 a day.

If you're into it, stop at the Royal Marche over the bridge just south of Marigot. There you'll find all sorts of French meat pies, sandwiches, wine and the like.

If yo find yourself having to pick up items in Anguilla, avoid Lakes in The Valley in favor of Procters. Price and selection are much better.

[Jeannius]

Grand Marche between Phillipsburg and Simpson Bay has by far the best choice on St Maarten. Probably the best in the whole Leewards and Windwards. Basic stuff right up to Wines and Spirits in the $100+ range.

You can get a taxi - or even the bus - there and have the supermarket deliver to your boat.

[imagine2frolic]

Originally Posted by Jeannius

Grand Marche between Phillipsburg and Simpson Bay has by far the best choice on St Maarten. Probably the best in the whole Leewards and Windwards. Basic stuff right up to Wines and Spirits in the $100+ range.

You can get a taxi - or even the bus - there and have the supermarket deliver to your boat.

DITTO...........i2f

[speciald@ocens.]

We are now living on St Maarten in Oyster Pond, across from SunSail CostULess is very similar to Costco - same brands of frozen stuff. Beer, Wine, alcohol are on the shelves. They have Angus beef. Across the street is Grand Marche; it is just like any American store except for the prices. The mega yachts use Mechants Market which is a restraunt provider. You can get anything there you could want. There is nothing within walking distance from Captain Oliver's (where SunSail is headquartered). A car rental is needed but if you get it at the airport, you may have to drop it off there. You can rent a car at Captain Oliver's or at the Oyster Bay Beach Resort. If Sunsail provides airport transfer that would be the best solution. Be sure to get a car reservation as your visit will be in peak season. My boat , Special Delivery, is currently docked at Captain Oliver's. Let me know if I can help you when you get here. Hey the 5th is this week; been here too long, I don't even know what month it is!

[Jeannius]

Resurrecting this very old thread as I am chartering out of Anse Marcel, St Martin next month. Back in 2009 I could provide the answer but, now, 15 years on I need some help.

What is the best way to provision on St Martin/Sint Maarten?

[Zanshin]

There's not much in Anse Marcel, but a short car ride/cab brings you to Hope Estate where you'll find Super U and also, a bit further, Leader Price. And by far and away the best specialty items are found at Bacchus - from wines to Pate to Caviar.

I left St. Martin yesterday and am in St. Barths; I do my shopping, when on the Dutch side, at Carrefour but also check out Prime Distributors and Divico. My freezer is full of meat and cheeses as I'm heading to Antigua in about 10 minutes.

While Cost-u-less has good prices, you do need transport to get to the location outside of Philipsburg.

[Jeannius]

Originally Posted by Zanshin

There's not much in Anse Marcel, but a short car ride/cab brings you to Hope Estate where you'll find Super U and also, a bit further, Leader Price. And by far and away the best specialty items are found at Bacchus - from wines to Pate to Caviar.

I left St. Martin yesterday and am in St. Barths; I do my shopping, when on the Dutch side, at Carrefour but also check out Prime Distributors and Divico. My freezer is full of meat and cheeses as I'm heading to Antigua in about 10 minutes.

While Cost-u-less has good prices, you do need transport to get to the location outside of Philipsburg.

Thanks Arnd. Was hoping to have delivery but Super U don't seem to offer that. Just checked out Carrefour but they don't list Anse Marcel as a delivery point. Will check out Prime and Divico.

[catalystcat]

If you can get into the lagoon and to the dinghy dock, you can get the Friday bus from Island Water World to the Cost U Less and the big Carrefour ($6/person). (They are pretty much across the street from each other). The bus drops you at the front door of the Carrefour and picks up around 1.5 hrs later (or as agreed). At Cost U Less you can get bulk stuff, meats, condiments, detergents, cleaning/paper goods, etc. Pretty much anything you'd expect at a Costco (even AC units and tools). The Carrefour has a nice selection of higher end items and regular groceries.

You could reproduce that trip with a taxi, of course.

You can also either cab or walk to the Prime from that same IWW area. They have some good bulk stuff. And, you can go back to the walk in cooling area and ask for items - e.g. several kg of frozen chicken, huge box of bacon (5kg?), some bulk vegetables, large scale roasts, hamburger, etc. Pretty solid deals and pretty good quality.
Prime also has a delivery option as a link from their Facebook site. https://ezshop.primesxm.com/ . I haven't used it. But, it says it does dock delivery.

Note that the IWW area has pretty much everything you need to provision non-food items. Electec, FKG, Budget Marine, IWW, North Sails, Ullman Sails, etc. are all within a few hundred meters. So, you can do that kind of shopping with basically the same trip.

[Zanshin]

@catalystcat - but the question here was regarding Anse Marcel - the opposite side of the island.
@Jeannius - I just arrived at Jolly Harbour, Antigua. Of course, I forgot some items, so tomorrow I go clear in and grocery shopping at the Epicurean; the only grocery store I've been in which has a security guard on every isle!

[catalystcat]

That's why I said, "if you can get into the lagoon and dinghy dock".

It's very doable for some dinghies (though the weather is pretty crappy right now). In fact, we are in Marigot now and went diving over at Creole Rock near Anse Marcel one afternoon last week in our dinghy. That the same day that we went to Budget and Electec over on the Dutch side in the morning.

Regardless, the information about the provisions still applies and you can take a taxi there pretty cheaply. There are some recommended drivers on the St Martin FBook site.

Divico does delivery. Their site says they charge $2.50.

[Zanshin]

Dinghy from Anse Marcel to Cole Bay? I've got a 20HP outboard and a good dinghy, but that is a long way (8.5 miles one-way to PDP) when buses exist. There's no reason to take a cab, the bus is US$1.50 and I've never waited more than 10 minutes for one. You need to take 2 to get from Grand Case/Anse Marcel. The first to Marigot, and from there to Cole Bay.

I'd be willing to bet that Divico won't deliver to Anse Marcel for US$2.50.