Poachers at Jacque Cousteau Underwater Park	Quarry near Basse Terre, Guadeloupe

Iles des Saintes -- Terre de Haut

Five miles south of Guadeloupe lie Iles des Saintes.  This is a charming group of islands, small, very dry, steep, and very very French.   Since the island Terre de Haute was never agricultural, no slaves were ever imported, and so most of the inhabitants are white.  If St. Martin or St. Bart can be compared to Paris or St. Tropez, perhaps the Saintes can be compared to Brittany.   The only small town is Bourg des Saintes, on the island Terre de Haut. The town is clean and picturesque, with red roofs and balconies and gingerbread trim.  Flowers everywhere, and quiet little parks with lots of benches for unhurried sitting.  Locals on quiet walks in the early evening.  Small fishing boats line the shore.  But if you expect me to say that the island is "undiscovered", you would be wrong.   Every day there is a massive influx of tourists arriving by ferry boat.   Not a ferry boat, but many many ferry boats.  Some big, some small. What do they do when they get here?   We are not sure.   We walked up to Ft. Napoleon one day, and there were scads of elderly tourists there.  We cannot speak enough French to be certain, but we had the distinct impression that many (most?) of them were retired folks from France.  And then there are the beaches, all within walking or scooter distance.  At least one of us is happy to report that the apparel at the beaches is also delightfully French.  There are also a number of interesting shops in the Bourg, as well as a number of good restaurants.   Somehow, the zillions of ferry passengers get dispersed, so that, with the exception of the fort, the density is never too large.  The fort is an interesting place.  In addition to the diverse displays in the many rooms of the large central building (but alas, many are only in French), the grounds host an "exotic garden".

We have stayed longer than we anticipated -- the seas are rough and the wind has been blowing harder than we like.  But we haven't felt restless -- the island is too charming.   We have taken a number of walks on the rugged-but-well-marked trails that zigzag up to the tops of the hills -- frequently the sites of old fortresses.   The views down to the beaches have been breathtaking.  Our ability to look out to the other Leeward islands has been greatly hindered, however, by the return of the haze that comes to us courtesy of the Sahara.   The desert sands get swept up by the winds and carried all the way across the ocean -- not something we learned as school children in the Dakotas.

The island has few cars.  There are a number of vans, but they all are used to transport the many tourists to the hotels or up the mountain to Ft. Napoleon.  In the morning the vans are all parked in a certain spot in the village, right at the end of the pedestrian-only street that flows past the ferry docks.  At night, the vans disappear and are replaced by scooters -- presumably owned by locals that are visiting the shopping district in the heart of the village at the docks.  Yes, scooters.   The island is full of scooters.  Everyone uses scooters.  The locals use scooters, and there are many shops that rent scooters.

Oh -- an update on Leeward Islanders' apparel.  Earlier, we said that locals never wear shorts.  Oops.  Here on Terre de Haut, many, maybe most, of the men wear shorts.  Many men and women also go barefoot.   A surprising number of men also wear dreadlocks, even though they have the features and the dark olive skin of folks from the Mediterranean.  We have so much to learn about the Caribbean -- we may never get back to the USA!

Bourg bay -- TT II is the only trawler!	Ferry arriving with tourists -- note TT II in the right background	Bay at Bourg as seen from Fort Napoleon	Plaque concerning the exotic garden at the fort	Thorny bush on top of the wall
Parched plants along the top of wall	View out from the top of the wall at the fort -- note the exotic plants	Barb near inner entrance	Chuck on an overlook	French tourists just past the ticket booth
Note how dry the grass is	The dry moat at Fort Napoleon	Plant with an interesting runner	Close-up of the runner	South wall of the fort -- note plants on top
Iguana in the exotic garden	Another iguana	Poison tree on the way up to the fort	Sign on the poisonwood tree	Cactus flower in the village
Another cactus flower in the village	Close-up of flowers in the village	Dive boat loading w/ divers -- not interesting building to the right	Another view of the building -- top floor is a doctor's office	Mannequin at a shop near the ferry dock
Statue in the village park dedicated to mariners	Plaque at the statue	Gingerbread trim on a village house	Downtown is a mix of dwellings and businesses -- all close to the road	A view of the bay from the south
The goats are seldom tethered!	Happy family on the trail	Cliff near Plage de Crawen -- note windmills on Terre de Bas	Plage de Pompierre	Plage de Pompierre
Barb lunch -- before	Barb lunch -- after	Chuck and Yves Cohen, owner of the elegant shop Maogany	Custom-painted shirt by Yves Cohen

Scooters

Scooters, scooters, scooters, everywhere!

Trailer used with a scooter

Another hike -- another set of photos

Plage de Pompierre	Sign along the trail up toward Ft. Caroline	Ft. Caroline -- small potatoes compared to Ft. Napoleon, but the view was great	Looking down on Plage de Pompierre	At another fortification of Ft. Caroline
Steeper than it looks in the photo	Looking down a straight cliff to Baie de Marigot	Cactus and flower-bearing tree on the edge of the cliff	Baie de Marigot -- looking toward Le Bourg	Roofers near Bourg -- note the hat on the man kneeling! (The same style is on a statue in town.)

Flag courtesy of ITA's Flags of All Countries used with permission.