Pinel Island in St. Martin: 5 Top Things to Do

→   Ferry

The fastest and easiest way to get to Pinel Island is by ferry.

It runs daily every half hour starting at 9:30 am until 5 pm during high season (Dec 1- April 31) and 4 pm during low season (May 1- Nov 30).

No reservations are needed. First come, first served. $12 USD per person round trip. Pay at the dock. The boat ride is about 10 minutes.

Parking is plentiful. You may even be greeted by a welcoming party.  

→   Kayak/Paddleboard

If you are looking to throw in some exercise after eating all of that amazing French food, consider renting a kayak or paddleboard.

The well-rated company Caribbean Paddling offers kayak rentals from 49€ and up and paddleboards from 59€ and up. Weekly rentals are also offered.

It will take around 20 minutes by kayak and 30 minutes by paddleboard to get to Pinel Island.

→   Private Boat 

This is the option we chose because of a little insider secret.

If you stay at the Karibuni Boutique Hotel (which is one of our all-time favorite boutique hotels we have stayed at!), they include a private boat transfer to Pinel Island for free!

Because Karibuni also owns one of the 2 restaurants on the island, they include beach chairs and an umbrella … for free!

So if you want to feel like a VIP and have the most amazing incredible service, book a room at the Karibuni Boutique Hotel.

See my map above to get oriented on all the fun things to do on Pinel Island! 

Pinel Island offers some fantastic walking trails around the island.

You will not get lost.

If you are facing the Karibuni Restaurant, walk to the left past the Karibuni Restaurant and up the hill past the outdoor bathroom. The well-marked trodden paths will be on the right.

We walked around and explored some of the remote beaches on the northern and northeastern ends of the island.

You get some fantastic views the higher you go.

If you love hiking, don’t miss the hike to St. Martin’s highest peak!

We actually made two days out of exploring Pinel Island.

One day we took the private boat.

On the second day, we took a kayak out to Petite Clef to snorkel, which is the island right in front of Pinel Island.

Before you get to Petite Clef, you will encounter a large sandbar after 10 minutes of paddling. The water is super shallow, and you can actually stand out in the middle of the water!

See the map I included earlier in the blog post for orientation. 

The water is so clear!

You could also continue past Petite Clef and kayak straight to Pinel Island.

The Karibuni Boutique Hotel provides its guests with solo and tandem kayaks FREE of charge.   

Go early if you want a tandem kayak.

When we went to retrieve a kayak around 11 am, all the tandem ones were already in use.

My husband and I enjoy kayaking and canoeing, but we always rent a 2-seater. That means he does most of the rowing, and I tend to splash around thinking I am helping.

The Karibuni staff reassured me it was easy to kayak the waters in a solo kayak.

I trusted them, and they were right. My husband and I dragged the solo kayaks out into the water, and I rowed out with ease!

St. Martin is not known for amazing snorkeling, but if you know where to look you will find a few good sites.

One is around Pinel Island, and the other is around Petite Clef.

You could snorkel right in front of Karibuni Restaurant. However, there is a ton of boat traffic and people. Not ideal, so we looked for an alternative site.

After hiking around the walking trails, we found a great spot on the northeastern end of Pinel Island right off the beach.

We saw lobsters, blue tang, shrimp, and a large pufferfish. Read my Pinel Island Snorkeling Guide for more details!

Alright, so here is the MAIN reason everyone wants to come to Pinel Island … the gorgeous pristine beach with super calm turquoise waters.

It is stunning and lives up to its reputation! Everyone wants to be here, so it gets busy quickly.

If you want a primo spot on the beach, GO EARLY!

I can’t emphasize this enough. Because we had access to Karibuni’s private boat, we arrived around 9:15 am BEFORE the first ferry of people arrived.

This means we could choose the first row of chairs directly facing the beach closest to the restaurant. We set our stuff down and went for a quick hike and snorkel. 

By the time we came back around 11 am, the beach was PACKED. 

We went during Christmas, so that might be the reason for the higher crowds. Not sure what Pinel Island looks like in the low season.

Pinel Island really is beautiful and totally worth the crowds.

You have two options for dining: Karibuni and Yellow Beach Restaurant. Of course, we stayed on the Karibuni side since we were staying with them.

However, even if we had not stayed at the Karibuni Boutique Hotel, I would still have picked to set up shop on the Karibuni side based on their food and drink menu alone.

They have a fantastic selection.

The staff was kind enough to set up a lunch reservation for us (which is hard to come by during the Christmas holiday!).

We kept it light and shared a fresh Mahi burger. We had a dinner reservation later that night at La Villa Hibiscus, so we didn’t want to be over-stuffed.

And of course, we had to pair lunch with Champagne and Ti’ punches. After all, we are in St. Martin.

The Karibuni Restaurant is known for their delicious fresh lobster. While we were lounging on our beach chairs, we watched as the boats came in with the lobster traps.

Talk about fresh!

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Questions about our Pinel Island experience?

Let me know in the comments below!