St. Martin to Anguilla

Has anyone ever taken the ferry from St. Martin to Anguilla? If so, what did you do in Anguilla? This will be our fourth time to St. Martin and want to do something different.

So no one has gone to Anguilla from St Martin I guess.

I haven't been on Anguilla for probably 4 years. That being said, most times we flew into St. Martin and took a cab to Marigot and rode the ferry. The ferries ran frequently. You must have a passport to go to Anguilla. We took a day trip one year from St. Martin and there were taxis waiting and you could hire one for a tour. We drove around the island and spent time on Shoal Bay beach. You can hire chairs and get food there. I don't know how long you're in port, but I think it's a bit ambitious to go over time wise. Is there an organized tour available? Hope this helps.

Make sure you check the current ferry schedule.

I have been on a day trip to Anguilla. I took to ferry over, from Marigot. They leave every 30 minutes and the last one comes back pretty early unless they have changed the schedule, you will have to check. It does not cost alot and once there, get a cab and hire them for what you want to do.

I went to Scilly Cay for lunch, little island. Check the web for it. You either will like it or not. I thought it was over priced but it was a lovely day.

I also went (on another trip) to a hotel for the day and used there beach, restaurant, etc. I am sorry but I do forget which hotel it was but it was near the dolphin excursion. You could probably rent a car and explore yourself. It is a small island and pretty hard to get lost. I would hire a driver for the day, easier and less hassle. Plus helping a local. Read up on it first before you decide were you want to go and don't let them tell you what you want to do. Go were you want to go.

We're going in May since we have been to St. Maarten loads of times. We plan to hit Shoal Bay Beach, eat at Uncle Ernies for lunch and maybe do a little touring of some of the great resorts like Cap Juluca and Cuisnart, then head back. I'll be posting how it went for sure.

toonjie, Please let me know how your trip to Anguilla goes.

toonjie, Please let me know how your trip to Anguilla goes.

Will do. I'll be posting lots of little reviews and a big overall one as well.

We took a day trip over to Anguilla while we were on a landbased vacation on St Martin last February. Ferries were running every 1/2 hour out of Marigot. You're looking at 1 1/2 hour travel time minimum each way. 1/2 hour to Marigot, 1/2 hour ferry ride, 1/2 hour ride to East Shoal.

That's alot of travel time for a beach day but if you are up to it, East Shoal is awesome. Quite possibly the nicest beach I've ever seen. Don't think there is much else to do on Anguilla, very flat island. There was some decent snorkeling out a ways from Uncle Ernie's. Remember your passport and allow for extra time getting back to the ship, traffic is a bear getting into Phillipsburg from that direction at that time of the day.

We took a day trip over to Anguilla while we were on a landbased vacation on St Martin last February. Ferries were running every 1/2 hour out of Marigot. You're looking at 1 1/2 hour travel time minimum each way. 1/2 hour to Marigot, 1/2 hour ferry ride, 1/2 hour ride to East Shoal.

 

That's alot of travel time for a beach day but if you are up to it, East Shoal is awesome. Quite possibly the nicest beach I've ever seen. Don't think there is much else to do on Anguilla, very flat island. There was some decent snorkeling out a ways from Uncle Ernie's. Remember your passport and allow for extra time getting back to the ship, traffic is a bear getting into Phillipsburg from that direction at that time of the day.

Sounds great! We're up for the travel time since we've been to St. Maarten a few times. Looking to hit a new island and have heard the beaches in Anguilla are outstanding! I have experienced the traffic since the last few trips we went to Maho Beach for the afternoon.

toonjie, Well you leave in just a couple of days. Have a great cruise & don't forget to post a review on your trip to anguilla.

Thanks! Will do. Look for some major reviews coming! We have a 4 day post-cruise in Puerto Rico, so it may be longer than a week before I post, I'll try to do it from the hotel if I can. I can't believe the time has almost come, it's been almost a year that we have been planning this trip!

We took the ferry over when we stayed for a week on St. Maarten. When we got there we took a taxi from the pier to Shoal Bay. It was a beautiful beach and we just hung out for the day. The driver came back to get us at the prearranged time. If memory serves me correctly we had to pay a departure tax. I know we needed passports.

Has anyone ever taken the ferry from St. Martin to Anguilla? If so, what did you do in Anguilla? This will be our fourth time to St. Martin and want to do something different.

Hey there - we're going on your cruise and we're wondering the same thing. Anguilla sounds wonderful but my husband is nixing the 3 hr. round trip. Maybe if we went with all our new friends he'd be more open to it??? He won't go to Orient again and my research on Tintemarre and Pinel Island aren't getting me excited. I'm looking at all the other beaches now. I really wanted a catamaran ride because we're doing the beach at all the other stops. Have you been to St. Barth's? It looks like it's only a 40 min. ride.

The ferry ride from Marigot St. Martin to Blowing Point Anguilla takes 25 minutes each way. The ferry ride to St. Barths is 75 minutes.

The ferry to Anguilla is 22.00 round trip and the ferry to St. Barths is 125.00 round trip.

Hey there - we're going on your cruise and we're wondering the same thing. Anguilla sounds wonderful but my husband is nixing the 3 hr. round trip. Maybe if we went with all our new friends he'd be more open to it??? He won't go to Orient again and my research on Tintemarre and Pinel Island aren't getting me excited. I'm looking at all the other beaches now. I really wanted a catamaran ride because we're doing the beach at all the other stops. Have you been to St. Barth's? It looks like it's only a 40 min. ride.

It is better to go to Anguilla for the day. Shorter distance and the cost will be much cheaper. Go to Shoal Bay, it is similar to the Orient Beach type atmosphere but on a much, much smaller scale. You will have your chairs, food and can get a ride back to the ferry pretty easy. Also hotels have day packages, check with the taxi driver, they may know of a good deal.

Since the ferry is in Marigot leave yourself lots of time to get back to the dock. You will need to get a cab back but they are lined up right at the dock where the ferry picks up and drops off. Have a great time.

I will be in Anguilla the end of June, staying in St. Maarten for 2 weeks. Love it there.

I'm still in the middle of writing my review, (so not to tell the whole story here), but just wanted to chime in that on our trip over to Anguilla we met a couple of girls who were staying in St. Maarten for the week and they had gone to St. Barts a few days before and said the ferry ride was actually longer than advertised and took around 90 minutes. They barely had any time on the island even within the constraints of just getting back to St. Maarten on the last ferry of the day, much less making a cruise ship. So don't even think about St. Barts as a possibility on a cruise! It would be best done off of a vacation to St. Maarten and then at least overnight at the end of your stay and fly back from there. I'll post a link when I have that part of the review done.

I agree with you. St Barths is too time consuming. They have faster boats but the time schedules are always subject to change and weather conditions. There are so many beaches on St. Maarten. On the french side, have you looked into Ance Marcel? Beautiful beach and pretty secluded. Then the locals like Friars Bay and Dawn Beach. Loterie Farms for a nice lunch up in the high country (for St. Maarten). Lunch at the Port Royale in Marigot. Swap meet shopping by the docks in Marigot. Watching the planes land in Maho Beach area. The list goes on.

Going to another island off a cruise ship may bring more stress than you care to deal with. Remember the traffic getting back to the ship is also time you need to figure in.

I was on a cruise ship and stopped at St. Maarten, I know the island very well and rented a car. When it was time to get back, I figured time for traffice. Little did I know that the traffic was so bad that day I almost missed the ship. I will never cut it that close again, too much stress. Afterwards we laughed but we did not laugh while it was happening.

I'm still in the middle of writing my review, (so not to tell the whole story here), but just wanted to chime in that on our trip over to Anguilla we met a couple of girls who were staying in St. Maarten for the week and they had gone to St. Barts a few days before and said the ferry ride was actually longer than advertised and took around 90 minutes. They barely had any time on the island even within the constraints of just getting back to St. Maarten on the last ferry of the day, much less making a cruise ship. So don't even think about St. Barts as a possibility on a cruise! It would be best done off of a vacation to St. Maarten and then at least overnight at the end of your stay and fly back from there. I'll post a link when I have that part of the review done.

Ahhhhh. Thanks everyone for the info. I realized after the input that I was looking at the length of time it took to get there on a catamaran excursion and forgot it didn't involve the ferry. So, St. Barts is out. I'll look at Anguilla again and look forward to your post on your trip.

Here's a copy of the St. Maarten part of our AOS cruise review and the long winded answer to your question:

“Tranquility Wrapped in Blue,” Leaving when You’ve Just Arrived

Friday, May 16th St. Maarten/St. Martin/Anguilla

When we awake at 6:45am, we are already in the harbor and beginning to turn, we are lucky, some days the AOS docks bow first, some days stern and so we get an awesome view of all the docking activities as we eat breakfast.

The plan today was for mom to stay on the ship, she had had 3 port days in a row and wanted a relaxing time in the Solarium pool. She’d been to St. Maarten twice before, so this was a good opportunity to rest and relax. DW and I decided that it would be nice to get in a new island and since I had been to St. Maarten 5 times, I thought, let’s go for it and go to Anguilla. I had always heard the beaches were just the greatest in the world and so I had always wanted to check it out in person. As we were finishing up breakfast, however, DW begins to doubt the plan. She was a little tired from all we had been doing and this was our first day without mom, why not just find a beach and relax. I was on a mission though, so many CCers had asked about going over to Anguilla and I had posted that we were going to do it and I’d let them know the results, so by golly we were going to do it! Fortunately DW is feeling better after breakfast and is up to the task! We get off the ship at 8:25am, I don’t know how we were running behind, maybe it was all the time it took discussing if we should actually go for it or not, but anyhow, the ship was docked from 8:00am until 5:30pm and I knew all we needed to do was to make the 9:00am ferry out of Marigot and that was the earliest possible one to make with our arrival time. DW has to go to the little girls room at the pier, okay, baby Josiah is not cooperating with my plan! There are bathrooms right by the taxi stand and so it doesn’t take long. We get a not-so-talkative taxi driver, but I did learn a short cut to Marigot. (Usually we rent a car.) The short cut follows the water out of Phillpsburg rather than going inland around the salt pond and we are in Marigot in less than 20 minutes, despite some traffic as we descend the big hill and in town. Cab fare was $15.

It’s around 8:45am and we arrive at the ferry terminal in Marigot, we pay a departure tax of $10 for the both of us and show our passports. Wow, its 8:45am and we have already been in 2 countries, The Netherlands and now France. It would be 3 before 9:45am since Anguilla is British. Everyone on St. Maarten is correctly pronouncing it Angwilla, so I am pysched to go back to our tablemates with a definite answer regarding the correct pronunciation of Anguilla. I’m still going to check on the island itself! We go into the terminal and there is a small waiting room and in about a minute the ferry is ready for boarding and so we don’t even have time to sit down.

The ferry leaves shortly after 9:00am and it is an interesting combination of locals and tourists. Some locals look like they work in hotels on Anguilla and there are 2 guys that are definitely in construction, we don’t see anyone from the ship and so assume all the tourists are going over from St. Maarten for the day. The locals settle in and read the paper just like they were on the train here in the States, guess it’s a nice commute! The ride is fairly smooth and takes just around 20 minutes. The man who helped everyone on the ferry functioned like a conductor on a train and collected the $15 fare from everyone. We arrived at the ferry terminal at Blowing Point in Anguilla shortly before 9:30am. A sign welcomes visitors with the island’s slogan, Tranquility Wrapped in Blue.”

We get off and go into a small terminal and a customs agent looks at our passports. We ask her to stamp it when she is finished. Yeah! We’ve officially been to Anguilla! We exit the terminal and there is a taxi stand with an agent that assists with taxi assignments just like at the airport in San Juan. We are about to get into a cab when 2 girls in their 20’s ask us to share a cab with them. The guy whose cab we were about to get in was not too happy, but we saved on cab fare and it was only around $12 for both of us to make the trek over to Shoal Bay Beach. The girls turn out to be from the New York City metro area just like us and the cab drive, Wendell, is super-talkative, a big contrast to our guy in St. Maarten. The girls tell us earlier in the week they went to St. Barts and that the ferry ride was well over an hour even though it is supposed to be 45 minutes. They didn’t think it was worth it to go over for the day and it would be ridiculous to do it within the time constraints of a cruise call. Our cabbie is Wendell Connor and he must be going for cabbie of the year because he goes through a wonderful tour pointing out all the sights and history of the island in verbiage that he must of memorized. Anguilla is flat, but is fairly scenic, I guess the closest island I’d describe it as is the rural parts of Grand Cayman. The girls need to stop at a bank atm on the way and we make a quick stop and Wendell keeps talking to us the whole time. We arrive at Uncle Ernie’s restaurant, which is supposed to be the place to eat on the beach, right at 10:00am. This is just what we calculated, just under and hour and a half transport time. We arrange for Wendell to pick us up at 1:15 so we could make the 2:00pm ferry back.

We pay $10 for 2 lounge chairs, a table and an umbrella to the guy who works for Uncle Ernies and we get settled in. One of the girls asks if she can take a picture of DW and me before she gets “settled in” a few loungers down the beach. We were about to learn what that meant! We take some pics and the beach is just so phenomenally gorgeous it is unbelievable. The only beach I have been to that I think could compete with this one is Grand Anse in Guadeloupe, but it’s been a long time since I’ve been there so it’s hard to compare. You feel like you’re in a Corona commercial that just doesn’t end I guess is the best way to describe it.

I’m in total relaxation mode when I notice a look of horror on DW’s face. I ask what’s wrong and she kind of points with her face and I see the 2 girls have “settled in” by taking off their tops! This is DW’s first close encounter with topless bathing even though we saw some nudists at Orient Point on last year’s cruise, none of them were near us. I strike out in true “guy” fashion in all attempts to assuage DW’s insecurities at having 2 topless 20 somethings in such close proximity: 1. Recount all my tales of topless women I’ve seen on beaches that well, let’s be polite and say, shouldn’t have been topless! (Mildly effective) 2. Tell her how common it is around these parts and make light of it, (even though I’m fudging because it’s common in St. Maarten, but in Anguilla it’s strongly frowned upon- No sex please, we’re British!) (Esoteric British play reference warning) (again, mildly effective, especially since the girls are from NY) Then I strike out with number 3. Tell her these girls are nothing, I’ve been on beaches in Aruba and in South Beach in Miami and seen girls topless whose bodies Cindy Crawford would kill to have. (True, but Strike out!) I finally get it with, even at 24 weeks pregnant, you’re still the hottest girl on the beach. (Winner every time!)

The surf was fairly rough for Anguilla, which has reefs around it offshore which serve to break the big waves. I go in for a while and DW decides to go in and I help her past the breakers and we enjoy a half an hour just floating in paradise. The beach is so white and the water so blue, I think you’d go blind if you didn’t have sunglasses! On our way in our timing isn’t so good. I see a set of waves coming and yell to DW to book it for the shore, but she panics and hesitates and the waves are bearing down on her. I step right in front to break it as much as possible, but we both get swept off our feet and our sunglasses get washed to the beach. I help DW up and we get to the beach and I get my sunglasses, but all attempts to find DW’s were in vain. Oh well, now we have something to shop for in Phillipsburg. The important thing was DW and Josiah were okay! We relax a bit and around 11:30 have lunch at Uncle Ernies. DW, not being in an adventurous mood, has grilled cheese, I go for the ribs and fries, which were delicious. They also have $3 Pina Coladas, can’t beat that and they were fairly decent!

The view from Uncle Ernies can't be beat!

Unfortunately, Uncle Ernie past away last year, but his family is continuing the tradition of laid back atmosphere and great food. We relax a bit after lunch and then make a second and much better attempt at swimming a couple of hundred yards up the beach where it was much calmer.

We head back to the loungers and shortly after 1:00pm Wendell comes over to let us know he’s there any time we want to leave. The girls yell over that they have changed their minds about staying there all day and want to once again split a cab with us and go visit one of the resorts on the island. DW is just glad they are putting their tops back on! Wendell agrees, but tells them he has to take us first to make sure we get there in time for the ferry. (You need to be there around 20 minutes early to get put on the manifest and go through customs.) I suddenly remember this is a new island and we need t-shirts so I ask if Wendell knows a shop and he takes us to one on the way and we make a 5 minute stop for t-shirts and some postcards, etc.

We arrive back at Blowing Point shortly after 1:40pm, say farewell to Wendell and our now formerly topless friends and pay the $10 departure tax and $30 ferry tickets and go through customs. We sit in a small waiting room watching the French Open on TV for a few minutes before the man comes and gets everyone. The ferry left shortly after 2:00pm and we were back in Marigot before 2:30pm. We catch a cab and this time get a great driver who is extremely talkative and friendly. We tell him we want to go to the Belgian chocolate store in Phillipsburg, (which the RCCL shore excursion lady said was great. That caught DW’s pregnant ear!) Our driver tells us there’s also a French shop in Marigot that is great as well and he takes us there. The chocolate was unbelievable! Each piece looked like a work of art and if it didn’t taste so good, you’d be sorry you ate it. It was extremely expensive, but worth it for a splurge. We have a great trip back munching on indescribably delicious chocolate with the cabbie telling us of all his adventures serving in the St. Martin military in France. It’s great to hear islanders’ stories of the first time they experience cold and snow. He said he had to buy clothes in France since he didn’t even own a coat! He really appreciated being back in St. Martin and said he never wanted to leave. He recounted many of the holiday traditions and the sense of family and knowing just about everyone you have on a small island.

We arrive in Phillipsburg around 3:15 and quickly locate the Belgian chocolate store, DW being in chocolate mode fueled even more now by the French delights we had just savored. We have a blast shopping and work our way towards the ship. Around 5:15 we check out the water taxi dock, but it doesn’t look like there is one there so we hop in a cab and arrive at the pier at around 5:20. We go through the gate and there are people handing out free samples of rum so I sample some delicious coconut rum and we get on the ship around 5:25pm, mission accomplished!

So, the big question is, is it worth it to go to Anguilla for the day? My answer is a definite maybe! It all depends on what you want to do and what you have done. First, the cost. It was $15 for the cab rides, 2 in St. Maarten & 2 in Anguilla, $15 departure tax on both islands and $60 for roundtrip ferry tickets, throw in $10 for taxi driver tips for a grand total of $160. Since the cost of loungers and food on the beach is roughly the same, subtract the cost of a normal beach day on St. Maarten, say at Orient Beach, $20 cab each way and $5 tip and you come out with around $125 extra cost to go to the beach in Anguilla compared to St. Maarten. For us it was worth it. We wanted to get in a new island and we had heard so much about Anguilla and wanted a little adventure and the trip over was sightseeing in my mind not just transport time. We would have done the Loterie Farm zip line had DW not been pregnant, and there is plenty to do on St. Maarten even for those who have been multiple times-I could sit on Maho Beach and watch the planes every time I go there! If you are the kind that doesn’t like the stress of cabs and ferries and if you worry about missing the ship, then it’s definitely not for you. The beaches in Anguilla are definitely better than anything on St. Maarten, Shoal Bay East Beach is arguably the best in the Caribbean and certainly top 10 in the world, the sand is blindingly white and the ocean such a shade of Robin’s egg blue blue it looks Photoshoped! That being said, the beaches on St. Maarten are also gorgeous and if you stay, you have $125 extra dollars to spend on a fine French restaurant in Marigot for instance or for shopping in Phillipsburg. It’s up to you just what shade of blue you want your tranquility wrapped up in.

Back on the ship we hit the Promenade Café for snacks, which has become our custom upon return. We then pick up some sunglasses for DW and have a good laugh at the sight of us sprawled out on the beach after being hit by that wave and fumbling around in the foam for our sunglasses. We do some more shopping in the promenade and head back to the cabin. Sailaway was great, as we left port, you could see St. Barts and then Anguilla and, far to the South, Saba seems to rise out of the ocean with its huge volcanic mountain. This sailaway is what aft cabins are all about, side cabins would only have a view of one of the 3 islands. After dinner, we hit the casino where we use the rest of our coupons for a chance to win $5000 slots. We win a few RCCL key chains to go along with our other ones we won at the Meet & Mingle. These had a little slot machine on it and the others were the regular RCCL logo one and a few of the new Vitality program ones. (The Shipshape program is now called Vitality) I also get clobbered at the Black Jack table using the $5 coupon to double a $5 bet. We hit the hay early since tomorrow mom and I have an early wake up call for some early morning scuba diving.

A 20 minute cab ride brings you to the ferry terminal in Marigot:

Boarding ferry:

Ferry docked in Blowing Point, Anguilla: (Looking back at St. Martin)

Uncle Ernies:

Our loungers just before the girls dropped top:

Corona Moment:

View from our loungers:

Toonjie hits the surf, which was rough for Anguilla:

Loved this umbrella! Wonder who Ray is?

Excellent report. To add, there are a number of good beach bars/restauarants on Shoal Bay East, including Gwen's Reggae at the very end (north) of Upper Shoal Bay. Easy 15-minute walk on a magnificent beach.

Thank you so much for posting your review and the photos. My DH and I will be going in March, and I really want to go to Anguilla. It is so good to read your experiences and know that it is possible. Our ship won't leave until 11 pm, but we need to go to Maho beach and watch some of the larger planes land. This is a must for my DH.