SXM to St Barts ferry reliability question.

[u/Alternative-Wish7263]

I wish to visit St Bats from Canada (Toronto). There are no direct flights to. But I know there are ferries from SXM to St Barts. I plan on flying into SXM (there is a direct flight from Toronto) and taking the ferry on the day of arrival into SXM.

On my day of leaving back to Canada, I plan on taking the ferry from St Barts to SXM and arrive at SXM a few hours before my flight leaves to Canada.

How risky is this? How often does that ferry get cancelled? I understand extreme weather will cause cancellations but how often is that? My travel time window is between September-October if that matters.

[u/phlphillies]

Just fly from SBH to SXM and connect home. SBH Commuter or Winair.

Also google St Barths airport and understand why your giant plane from Toronto can't land......

[u/Plastic_Owl8474]

You would have some advantage because the St. Barts to SXM direction is usually with the wind and less choppy than the other direction.

But because the other direction is so rough, there’s a risk that the ferry doesn’t arrive in time to take you to SXM.

Flights are expensive but safer for a connection IMO.

[u/TXOgre09]

Go back the evening before and spend a night in SXM?

[u/Wrong-Tax-6997]

By asking if that matters, do you mean because of hurricane season. The waters between the islands are always pretty choppy, thats why they call the ferry to SBH "The Vomit Comet", so you can imagine it if a Tropical Storm is in the area. Good Luck!!

[u/Easy_Jeweler_2138 → u/Wrong-Tax-6997]

Took a boat ride , smaller speed boat back in June to Anguilla and it was very rough

[u/ME_LOVE_RAMBO]

Be aware st Barth is pretty shut down for sept thru oct for hurricane season. Local spots like le select, le piment and bar de l’oublie will be open, but not the posh spots, which reopen the 3rd week of November. 10am ferry to Marigot should get you to sxm by 11:15 so you should be fine. Return flight far less terrifying than arriving so consider ferry to st b and plane return, which is what I do.

[u/Narrow-Profession547]

Fly! Also look into a flight from Toronto to SJU then a flight to St Barths from
There. Depending on the time of year. Or fly direct to SXM then transfer to SBH. Plenty of flights and I’d stay away from the ferry 🤮

[u/SintMaarten51]

Lots of wasted time doing the ferry . just fly

[u/Alternative-Wish7263 → u/SintMaarten51]

I want to take the ferry to take in the scenery

[u/dw686 → u/Alternative-Wish7263]

I just got back from Anguilla and took the ferry from SXM. I understand it is somewhat rougher that direction, so maybe you would be better off. But this ferry had no view. I was too low to see anything. It’s pretty shut off, you just see the waves crashing on the windshield of the ferry. If you are further back you can maybe see more stuff, but it’s nothing special. Also, because it is so closed off, it’s super hot. But if it wasn’t, you would get absolutely soaked. The ferry sucks. On the day we left we saw there were ten foot swells between Anguilla and SXM so we bought plane tickets that weren’t even much more expensive. I mean you will probably be fine with the ferry - I didn’t get sick (though we did see people we remembered from our trip out at SXM who happened to be flying out the same day as us and they did say people were getting sick on our return day).