St Barths

St Barths has a short, sharp season. December to April is dry and breezy, and the last ten days of December are the busiest and most expensive week in the Caribbean, with the fleet anchored off Gustavia and the island effectively full. If that is the point of the trip, we commit a year out. If it is not, January after the first week, or March and April, give the same weather with room to move.

May and June are quiet and still very good. Hurricane season runs June to November, and September is when most of the island closes.

The airport at St Jean takes only small aircraft, on a famously short runway with a hillside approach flown by specially certified crews. Members arriving on a large-cabin jet land at St Maarten and transfer by light aircraft or by boat. We plan that leg carefully, because it is where St Barths trips usually come apart.

Among our preferred hotel partners, Rosewood Le Guanahani occupies its own peninsula at Grand Cul-de-Sac with a beach on either side, and it is what we use for members who want a resort rather than a villa. For larger groups and for celebrations, villas are still the better structure on this island, and we book them alongside the hotel rather than instead of it.

St Barths closes the OUIJETS twelve-month calendar in December. Ask your advisor about New Year berths, villa buyouts, and the St Barth Bucket Regatta in March.