My wife and I are heading to St Martin for our honeymoon in July. We do nearly all of our own cooking. Can we get chicken and beef in any of the markets on St Barth or Anguilla?

The plan is to hit St Martin for a few days, and do some day-tripping to Saba, St Barths, St Kitts and Anguilla. After exploring, the plan is to settle on either Anguilla or St Barths to relax for 5-7 days. Is supermarket food similar in cost on the 2 islands? Can we get beef, chicken and potatoes, or do we need to bring our own? We have a lot of food allergies, and have a very limited diet and those foods are our main staples.

Regards, Kenny

P.S. While on St Martin, is there any side of the island that has better weather (more wind) in July?

You can find beef, chicken and potatoes as well as many other food stuffs in the grocery stores on both Anguilla and St. Barths. No need to bring your own. Cost of food in the stores on Anguilla will be somewhat higher than on St. Barth's but no enough to be of any significance. You don't say where you are from but grocery costs on any of the islands you plan to visit will probably be higher than they are "back home".

The Atlantic (eastern) side of SXM island is the windward side but in July winds are not as strong as in winter.

FYI - you may find taking day trips to Saba and St. Kitts to be a bit of a challenge. You'll have to fly to/from both of those islands so when allowing for "airport check-in/waiting times" you may find you won't have too much actual "on island" visiting time unles you overnight.

On the other hand getting to Anguilla from SXM is a relatively quick 20 minute ferry ride. The ferry between SXM and SBH is longer and can be a bit rough. Consider taking the fast ferry "Rapid Explorer" which has recently restarted operations after a long hiatus. You other option is to take a short 10 minute flight to SBH - most people will tell yo to fly out of Grand Case rather than Princess Juliana.

I'm sure you could do a day-trip to St. Kitts from St. Martin, but it would be fairly expensive (you would absolutely have to fly). It's not even close at all.

You can get to Saba by ferry, but it's much the same situation as for St. Barths ... not a pleasant or always smooth ride.

You could take a quicker trip to St. Eustatius, but you'd also have to fly. There are no ferries there.

I would tend to disagree with RoamsAround in terms of food costs. I think it will be far more expensive to buy groceries (or anything, frankly) in St. Barths because the US dollar has declined in value so much. But you will be able to find food staples regardless of which island you choose.

I'm pretty sure you cannot bring either vegetables or meat from the U.S. to St. Maarten, but there are relatively large supermarkets on St. Maarten where you could buy food and, I believe, bring it over on the ferry to either St. Barths or Anguilla (though you should verify that to make sure their import regulations allow it).

Thanks for your quick reply!

Good news on the supermarkets having our main staples of beef/chicken/potatoes. If I had a choice, I would be eating the world has to offer!

Food price isn’t too much of an issue, I was just wanting to know if it was available. Last November, we went to Eleuthera and shipped a large cooler with 20 lbs of chicken! There was no problem there bringing meats, but it’s easier if we can get it on island and not schlep it.

Based on the villas we are looking at on St Barths and Anguilla, it looks like the costs are comparable if we cook our own food. I had heard horror stories about the price on St Barths!

We’re leaning to staying in Grand Case, and take flights/ferries to Saba and St Barths and after exploring, veg in Anguilla.

I hail from the US, but I’ve spent years overseas living in or visiting over 30 countries. I just haven’t over-nighted in SXM/AXA/SBH/Statia/Nevis etc – just shore visits while on a Windjammer Barefoot cruise.

Regards, Kenny

I like Grand Case, but much prefer Orient Beach. Alamanda and Esmeralda, sister hotels in St. Martin, are nice, clean and not over the top expensive. Many nice places to eat.
The ferries.....need a strong stomach.
We took the short flight from SXM to St. Barths last year. I think we paid $69 usd/ticket for the fun ride. We did go through Julianna, but now know that we could go through Grand Case more easily.
Food costs....Humm. With the euro/dollar issue, I would tend to think a bit about the cost. We LOVED St. Barths, but did find everything to be more...not as much as I had anticipated, but more for sure.
You do really need to consider the travel time and how much fun/appreciative time that you will be able to spend on each island vs. parking it on one or two islands during your stay.
St. Kitts and Nevis are my favorites, and easy to navigate between, but they don't seem to be your main places to stay.
Good luck!

Oh, groceries in St. Martin and St. Barths are well-stocked. Food was fresh and good.

Well-stocked groceries in Anguilla -- Best Buy on the east end has fresh meat daily; Proctor's & Lakes are also good and quite large.

We rented a villa in Anguilla 2 years ago, and we honestly did not think the food selection in Anguilla in the supermarkets was that's good. Meat was mostly frozen, and if I remember correctly, not available every day. Very limited selection of vegetables and fruits.
I would definitly stock up in St. Martin as the choices there (we stayed a few days on the French side) are much better.

But since your trip 2 years ago, Best Buy has doubled in size; added a deli counter; and gets fresh meat daily. Proctors now offers fresh fish at the store and the selections at ALbert Lake's have vastly improved.