French West Indies

Report from Les Saintes of Guadeloupe – Part I

C'est Merveilleux

On January 13, 2013 we arrived at Les Iles de Les Saintes, Guadeloupe after a short broad reach from Gosier. This is a lovely archipelago of four major, and numerous smaller, islands located about 15 nm south of the big island of Guadeloupe. Check it out on Google Earth at 15 52'N 061 35'W.

Click on the video below for a panoramic of the brilliant tropical sky over Terre de Haut.

The largest island, Terre de Haut, is about 14 square km with some 2000 permanent residents, most of whom are descendents of fishermen colonizers from Brittany, France. There is an active local fish market, but most of the product goes to local restaurants (“Je suis desole, c'est reserve pour le restaurant”). When fresh fish was available, it was soon on our BBQ.

Our visiting crew, David and Marion, of St Augustine, Florida, arrived on January 21 by ferry from Pointe a Pitre, Guadeloupe.

Dining out is an important part of the local culture, for tourists and locals alike. We participated enthusiastically with our visiting crew! We relished the Creole menus (boudin, accras, fricassee chatrou, ouassou).

And there was the French Haut Cuisine (feroce d'avocat, crab farci, court bouillion, poisson fume, etc), enhanced with French beer and wine and finished off, of course, with espresso and local vieux rhum (Lait de Tigresse).

At midi there is one seating for dejeuner, promptly at noon. Every diner remains leisurely at table with digestifs until 2:30pm when the restaurants close until 7pm. Conversely, the shops are closed when the restaurants are serving and the former reopen apres dejeuner. The apotheosis of civilization!

We wander widely about the islands, enjoying the neighbourhoods, the waterfront and the beaches, swimming in the ocean every day.

There were birthday celebrations for two crew members during the week that David and Marion were aboard, so during a bacchanalian lunch we sang,

“Happy Birthday to you.

Smashed tomatoes and stew,

Bread and butter in the gutter,

Happy Birthday to you.”

Many shrubs are in bloom at this the end of wet season.

Naturally, the ladies made use of the blooms to decorate themselves, further enhancing their supreme radiance.

Catherine had an unexpected adventure when the latch on a lavatory door jammed, so two maintenance men cudgelled their brains to free her, while, to keep up her spirits, we sang,

''Oh Dear, what can the matter be?

One Old Lady locked in the lavatory.

She was there from Thursday to Saturday,

And nobody knew she was there!”

We patronized the outdoor markets for vegetables and fresh spices.

Only smaller cruise ships come to the Saintes, usually of the tall ship style. These clippers are so attractive that we have no objection to sharing the anchorage with them!

With extra hands aboard Peter had a secure ride up the mast for routine inspection and tweaking.

There are two favourite places for Happy Hour. One style is to put the drinks in the dinghy and stand around it in the warm sea. The other favourite is “under the almond tree”.













Of course, at sunset we did not fail to give the proper salute. Click on the video below to see how well our visiting crew learned to “play” the conch.

The museum at Fort Napoleon has interesting historical exhibits.

The weather has been spectacular!  Warm and sunny, with only occasional brief squalls.

We are not finished with Les Saintes, so look for another posting from this lovely place!

Peter and Catherine, aboard S/V Charlotte D, still in Les Saintes

“If thou ivver does owt for nowt, do it for thissen” Yorshireman's Motto