Catamaran Tours In St Barts: What Exists And What It Costs

Catamaran searches for St Barts return a lot of pictures and very little inventory, so this guide starts with the inventory. Across the live listings tracked by St Barthelemy Tours, exactly one product is a catamaran: a private overnight trip run by the operator Zephyr, departing Grand Case on the French side of Saint Martin, carrying up to 4 guests and priced from $4,816.09 per group. The rest of the market is made of a sailboat charter, three motor charters and one group boat day, and pretending otherwise is how travellers end up booking the wrong hull.

That matters because the word "catamaran" is doing a lot of loose work in search results. People use it to mean any sailing trip, any boat with two hulls in the photos, or simply a day on the water around Gustavia and Colombier. The listings themselves are more specific, and this guide sticks to what they state: durations, departure points, group maximums, inclusions, exclusions and prices, printed exactly as each listing shows them. Where a listing is silent, we say so rather than filling the gap with an assumption dressed up as research.

One more constraint shapes everything on this page. The marine reserve around St Barts caps speed at 5 knots and bans jet skis, seabobs, electric surfboards and any thermal or electric propulsion device in its waters, which is part of why the quiet, slow, sail-and-anchor style of trip dominates what is actually for sale. The rules behind that are worth understanding before you spend four figures on a charter, and we cover them in full below.

What Catamaran Tours Actually Exist In St Barts?

Exactly one catamaran listing exists, and it is a private overnight trip rather than a day tour. The Zephyr catamaran takes up to 4 guests from Grand Case in Saint Martin for 2 days and 1 night, from $4,816.09 per group, with breakfast, lunch and dinner included and a full refund up to 6 days in advance. No shared or per-person catamaran day trip is currently listed anywhere around the island.

The honest inventory is six products, not six catamarans. Besides the overnight catamaran, there is a private sailboat charter from Paper Boat Charter, up to 8 guests, 7.5 hours, from $2,000 per group with an open bar and snacks. There is the same operator's motor charter, also up to 8 guests but running about 8 hours from $2,100 per group with unlimited beer, wine and soft drinks and a giant floating mat. There is the Love Boat Sxm full-day charter from Anse Marcel, up to 10 guests, about 8 hours, from $1,947.52 per group. There is the Seven Marine Nikki Beach charter from Cole Bay, up to 15 guests, 6 to 8 hours, from $2,120 per group. And there is the single per-person product: the Boomerang Boat Charters group day from Simpson Bay in Sint Maarten, about 7 hours, from $189 per person plus a US$20 government fee paid separately, limited to 40 guests and running only 12 May to 31 August 2027.

If a search result promises you a "shared catamaran day trip to St Barts with open bar", it is describing one of these listings loosely or describing nothing bookable. The group boat day from Simpson Bay is the closest thing to it, and it is a motor boat itinerary that visits Gustavia, Colombier Beach and Ile Fourchue, with lunch, alcoholic beverages, snorkelling equipment, paddle boards, life jackets in adult and child sizes, floating noodles and a lily pad on the listing. Gratuities, towels and private transportation are excluded.

Here is the full roster as the listings state it:

Read the table as a shape of the market rather than a ranking. Five of the six products are private and priced per group, which means the headline numbers are not comparable to the per-person price of the group day until you divide them by your own headcount. The listing details for each product are on its own page, and the sections below break out what matters for each decision.

How Does The Overnight Catamaran From St Martin Work?

The Zephyr catamaran departs from Quai 58 pontoon in Grand Case, Saint Martin, carries up to 4 guests, and runs 2 days with 1 night on board, from $4,816.09 per group. Breakfast, lunch and dinner are included; lunch in Gustavia and crew tips of 15 to 20 percent are excluded. The listing carries a full refund up to 6 days in advance, the strictest-cancellation comfort of any product here besides the free-cancellation day charters.

Two days is the whole point of this listing. Every other product on the roster returns you to a Saint Martin or Sint Maarten marina the same evening, which makes the crossing and the anchorages a single long day. The overnight format instead gives you an evening and a morning on the water, and it is the only listed way to be asleep near St Barts without booking a hotel on the island. Whether that suits you is a question our piece on whether St Barts is better as a day trip or overnight works through in more detail.

The provision list is unusually clear. The listing states breakfast, lunch and dinner are included, and names its exclusions directly: lunch in Gustavia and crew tips, with 15 to 20 percent described as customary. The review pool stands at 3 reviews at 5.0, which is too few to support any rating claim, and we print the count so you can weigh it yourself.

The catamaran is the most expensive product on the roster at $4,816.09 per group for up to 4 guests, and the listing prices it per group, never per person. Do the plain arithmetic yourself before you flinch at the headline: divide by your own headcount, and remember that with a smaller crew the per-guest figure climbs steeply, since the group price is fixed while the berths are not. Compared with the group boat day's $189 per person plus the US$20 government fee, you can see exactly what the premium buys: privacy, two days instead of seven hours, and dinner and breakfast on the water rather than a single lunch stop.

One planning note the listing does not spell out but the reserve rules do: overnight stays in the reserve's bays are bounded. Ecological mooring buoys in Colombier and Fourchue are advised for vessels up to 20 tonnes and 25 m, with stays capped at 96 consecutive hours, and a vessel must leave the reserve for at least 96 hours before returning. A 2 day, 1 night itinerary fits comfortably inside that, but it explains why these trips are structured the way they are rather than being stretched to three nights in one anchorage.

Catamaran Versus Sailboat And Motor Charter From St Martin

For a multi-day trip from St Martin, the catamaran is your only option; among day charters, the Paper Boat sailboat runs 7.5 hours from $2,000 per group for up to 8 guests with an open bar and snacks, while motor charters from Anse Marcel and Cole Bay cover similar water in 6 to 8 hours at $1,947.52 to $2,120 per group, differing mainly in duration, headcount and inclusions.

Be skeptical of any article that tells you catamarans are inherently steadier or drier than monohulls around St Barts. That may or may not be true in general, but no listing on this roster states it, and we only report what listings state. What the listings do state is concrete: the sailboat charter includes an open bar and snacks and offers pickup; the Paper Boat motor charter includes a fuel surcharge, unlimited beer, wine and soft drinks, a professional guide, snorkelling equipment and a giant floating mat, and excludes lunch and gratuities; the Love Boat Sxm charter from Anse Marcel includes soda, snorkelling equipment, fuel, a paddle board and a floating mat, and excludes dock fees at St Barthelemy of 40 EUR per boat plus 5 EUR per guest, plus the slide.

The two Paper Boat listings are easy to confuse because they share an operator and a group maximum of 8, so keep them distinct in your notes. The 8 hour motor charter is from $2,100 per group and is rated 5.0 across 17 reviews, the largest review pool on the roster and the only one large enough for a rating to mean much. The 7.5 hour sailboat charter is from $2,000 per group and is a new listing with no reviews yet. Same operator, different boats, different inclusions, $100 apart at the base price.

For groups above 8, the choice narrows to the Love Boat Sxm charter at up to 10 guests or the Nikki Beach charter at up to 15. The Nikki Beach listing is the most inclusive on paper: round-trip private transfer, a professional guide, an open bar, beers and sodas, snacks and bottled water, with gratuities and customs clearance fees excluded. It is also the only listing with a middling rating, 4.8 from 5 reviews, though that pool is too small to lean on.

Families weighing the sailboat against the group day may find our piece on whether kids can go on a St Barts catamaran tour useful, since the group day is the one listing that explicitly stocks life jackets in child sizes.

What Do St Barts Boat Trips Cost Per Group?

Most St Barts boat trips are private and priced per group, ranging from $1,947.52 for Love Boat Sxm (up to 10 guests) to $4,816.09 for the overnight catamaran (up to 4 guests). The one per-person option costs $189 plus a US$20 government fee and runs only 12 May to 31 August 2027. Extra charges apply on some charters, including dock fees and customs clearance fees.

Because the private prices are per group, the honest comparison is per guest at your own headcount, and that arithmetic is yours to run: the listings themselves state only the group price and the group maximum. The roster itself notes that split across the stated group maximum, the private boats can work out to a per-guest figure sitting near the group day price. The table below lays out the listed prices and the extras each listing names, so you can do the division against your own party size.

Two things jump out of that table. First, because five of the six prices are per group, the private charters can sit nearer the group day's per-person price than their headlines suggest once you split them across a full crew; the largest boats carry the most guests, which is exactly why their group prices climb. Second, the catamaran is in its own tier entirely, a multiple of any day charter's cost, because you are buying two days and a night with three meals rather than seven hours on the water. If your interest in a "catamaran tour" is really an interest in a relaxed day of snorkelling and swimming stops, our guide to St Barts private boat charters covers the day formats in more depth.

Cancellation terms differ enough to matter at these prices. The overnight catamaran carries a full refund up to 6 days in advance. The sailboat charter lists free cancellation up to 24 hours before. The remaining four listings all show free cancellation, though none states how far ahead you must cancel. Check the operator's live booking page for the exact cutoff before you book rather than assuming.

Which Marine Reserve Rules Shape A St Barts Boat Day?

The Reserve Naturelle caps speed at 5 knots, bans jet skis, seabobs, electric surfboards and any thermal or electric propulsion device, and prohibits taking coral, plants, shells or crustaceans, wearing gloves in the water, dogs, dumping, feeding animals and touching protected species such as turtles or coral. Anchoring is only authorised in Colombier and Fourchue bays outside the buoy zones, and the 40 ecological buoys there serve vessels up to 20 tonnes and 25 m.

These rules are published by the reserve authority and are the reason the St Barts water inventory looks the way it does. There is no jet ski product around the island because jet skis are banned in reserve waters, full stop, and the same prohibition covers seabobs and electric surfboards. If you see one of those advertised for St Barts, treat the ad with suspicion. The reserve's own regulatory zones page sets out all five zones and their rules, and it is the primary source we would check against anything a tour description claims.

For guests on any of the six listings, the practical version is simple. Snorkel without gloves, look but never touch turtles or coral, leave shells where they lie, and do not feed anything. The group day hands you snorkelling equipment, paddle boards, noodles and a lily pad, and all of that is used within the reserve's rules; the motor charters hand you floating mats and snorkelling gear on the same basis. None of that constrains a normal swim, but it does constrain the temptation to pocket a shell as a souvenir.

Skippers work inside these rules daily, which is one quiet argument for booking any listed product over arranging something ad hoc: buoy discipline, the 96 hour stay cap and the anchoring limits in Colombier and Fourchue are operational facts for the operators, not trivia. The reserve also marks 23 dive sites with a red square crossed by a white diagonal, with their own stricter buoy and boat size limits, and vessels over 25 m are simply not authorised in Colombier or Fourchue. Our explainer on the St Barts marine reserve goes deeper if the zoning interests you.

When Is The Best Time For A St Barts Catamaran Trip?

There is no single best month, only trade-offs the numbers make plain. February is the driest month at 38.4 mm of rain; October the wettest at 135.6 mm. Hurricane season runs 1 June to 30 November, peaking mid-August to mid-October, and the group boat day only operates 12 May to 31 August 2027, a window that overlaps the season's start without predicting any particular week's weather.

The climate record comes from Meteo-France's 1991 to 2020 normals for the island's station, published in its station fiche, and it flattens most of the folklore. Average highs sit between 28.5 C in January and 31.7 C in September, and average lows between 23.3 C in February and 26.3 C in August, so warmth is never the variable; rain and storm risk are. The drier stretch runs January through April at roughly 38 to 52 mm per month, and the wetter stretch September through November at roughly 97 to 136 mm.

For the private charters and the catamaran, which run year round as listed products, the calendar question is mostly about crowds and events rather than availability. Mid-March 2027 brings the St Barth Bucket Regatta, and the regatta's official site is the place to confirm exact dates, since it has shown two different March start windows. The Music Festival's 43rd edition runs 8 to 18 January 2027. Harbour weeks mean fuller anchorages and busier marinas, which cuts both ways for a boat trip.

For the group boat day the question answers itself: it does not exist outside 12 May to 31 August 2027 on the listing, so a February traveller simply cannot take it, and a July traveller can. That window overlaps the opening of hurricane season, which is a fact worth stating plainly and not a reason to panic about any given week; the season's peak is mid-August to mid-October. Our month-by-month St Barts weather guide unpacks the trade-offs further.

How Do You Choose Between The Six St Barts Boat Listings?

Choose by headcount, budget and duration, in that order. One to 4 guests wanting the water overnight take the catamaran; up to 8 wanting a day under sail take the sailboat charter; up to 10 or 15 wanting a private day take the Love Boat Sxm or Nikki Beach charter; smaller budgets take the group day at $189 per person. Every listing shows free cancellation except the catamaran's full refund up to 6 days and the sailboat's 24 hour window.

The decision matrix below compresses everything the previous sections covered. It is built only from listing data, and where a listing does not state something the cell says so.

A word on ratings, since this site prints review counts beside every rating and so should your expectations. Only one listing has enough reviews for a rating to carry weight: the Paper Boat motor charter at 5.0 across 17 reviews. The group day has 8 reviews at 5.0, the Nikki Beach charter 5 reviews at 4.8, and the catamaran and Love Boat Sxm charter 3 reviews each at 5.0. The sailboat charter has no reviews yet. Small pools are not disqualifying, but a 5.0 from three people is a data point, not a verdict, and we will not dress it up as one.

Practical departure logistics close the decision. The group day meets at the Dinghy Dock Bar in Simpson Bay, Sint Maarten. The Love Boat Sxm charter leaves Marina de l'Anse Marcel on Saint Martin, with stops listed at St Jean Beach and Gustavia. The Paper Boat listings leave Marina Anse-Marcel. The Nikki Beach charter leaves Cole Bay, Sint Maarten. The catamaran leaves Quai 58 pontoon in Grand Case. If you are staying on one side of Saint Martin or Sint Maarten rather than the other, the departure point may decide your shortlist before price does, and the Nikki Beach listing is the one that softens that problem with its included round-trip private transfer.

Which Included And Excluded Items Should You Check Before Booking?

Food and drink coverage varies more than price does. The catamaran includes breakfast, lunch and dinner; the group day includes lunch and alcoholic beverages; the Nikki Beach charter includes an open bar, beers, sodas, snacks and bottled water; the sailboat charter lists an open bar and snacks only. The two Paper Boat and Love Boat Sxm day charters exclude lunch, and towels are excluded on the group day, so pack your own.

This is the section to read with your own habits in mind, because the exclusions are where surprise costs live. Dock fees on the Love Boat Sxm charter run 40 EUR per boat plus 5 EUR per guest, paid separately from the charter price. The US$20 per person government fee on the group day is likewise paid separately. Crew tips of 15 to 20 percent are described as customary on the catamaran, and gratuities are excluded on four other listings. None of these are hidden, they are printed on the listings, but they belong in your budget line, not in a footnote you read on the dock.

Water toys follow a similar pattern. The group day stacks the deck: snorkelling equipment, paddle boards, life jackets in adult and child sizes, floating noodles and a lily pad. The motor charters carry snorkelling equipment plus a floating mat or paddle board. The listing for the sailboat charter states only an open bar and snacks, so if toys matter to your group, ask the operator directly what is on board before booking. For what to pack around all of this, our boat tour packing guide has the full list.

The last check is the simplest one: dates. Confirm your travel window against the group day's 12 May to 31 August 2027 operating season, and re-read the cancellation window on whichever listing you choose. The live listing on the operator's page is always the final word on price, inclusions and terms, and this guide's figures are the record of what those listings stated when we read them.

Common Questions About St Barts Catamaran Tours