TransientChef

Port provisioning guides for yacht chefs.

You just got the itinerary. The boat is in Antigua Thursday and you have never provisioned there. This is the page you open on the way to the airport.

Each guide: who to call first, what to order before you land, where the trucks can get to, proteins, seafood, produce, pantry, bread, beverage, crew food, the one-day ground run, and what goes wrong.

Written by Tory Aunspach. Thirty years in kitchens, five of them on yachts and estates. More about that.

Port
Region
Status
Fort LauderdaleThe staging port. Buy deep here, it is the last place that has everything.
Florida
Checked November 2026
St ThomasUS supply chain in the Caribbean. Charter show in November.
US Virgin Islands
Checked November 2026
St MaartenDutch side for volume, French side for the dairy. Build the St Barths load here.
Northern Leewards
Checked November 2026
St BarthsArrive provisioned. Pay French prices for what you forgot.
French West Indies
Checked November 2026
AntiguaEnglish Harbour and Falmouth. Charter show the first week of December.
Leeward Islands
Checked November 2026
AntibesThe Riviera supply spine. Marche Provencal and the Rungis air bridge.
Cote d'Azur
Checked November 2026
MonacoEverything is available and everything costs double. Buy crew food up the coast.
Cote d'Azur
Checked November 2026
Saint TropezPlace des Lices on Tuesday and Saturday. Peak August is a knife fight.
Var
Checked November 2026
NewportSummer base. Farm stands, the fish pier, and a one-month housing minimum.
Rhode Island
Checked November 2026
Next in line: Palma, the Bahamas, the BVI, Croatia, Greece, the Pacific Northwest. Work a port that is not here? Say so.

Certifications

ENG1, STCW, the Ship's Cook Certificate, what each flag state wants, and where to get them done fast.

Placement agencies

Every yacht crew and estate agency still placing chefs, by hub, with the ones that closed since 2016 so you stop applying to them.

Crew housing

Where chefs actually sleep between boats in Fort Lauderdale, West Palm, Newport, Antibes, Palma and St Maarten.

Something changed?

Every guide is re-checked every 90 days. If you are in a port and a name, number or hour is wrong, email it with the port in the subject. Fixed the same week, credited to you if you want.