Iles des Saintes

Incredible sunset in The Saintes

The view from Fort Napoleon.

A french dog!


Lone chicken in the street

Iles de Saintes (the Saintes) is a tiny group of islands just south of Guadeloupe. They are a part of Guadeloupe, so they are still French islands. We had a great time sailing there in calm weather, and to approach the anchorage at the main town we had to weave our way around several small islands. All around these islands we could see boats anchored, some bays only had one boat. Awesome!

When we arrived at Terre d’en Haut, which is the largest island, we again saw our friends anchored in the bay, so we motored around and finally decided to anchor behind them. After settling in once again, a man approached our boat in a dinghy. Sure enough, he was taking our bread order for morning! Yipee….one baguette and two chocolate croissants please.

That night we were invited to meet on the sailing yacht Emerald Seas for drinks and munchies. There were 9 of us from 5 boats crammed into their cockpit! We had a great time as we shared sailing stories and lots of laughs. The next morning the rest of them were sailing on to Dominica and we wanted to stay a few more days to explore the island, so of course a party was in order!

The next morning the other 4 boats with our friends aboard sailed on to Dominica and we headed to shore to go exploring. We hiked up to Fort Napoleon which was built in 1867. The fort had been restored and includes beautiful gardens, iguanas, and magnificent views. After wandering around the fort we decided to go in search of a beach only visited by locals on the other side of the island called Baie De Pompierre. Yachts are banned from anchoring there to keep pollution away since this is a very popular beach with locals. After walking through tiny communities and weaving our way through streets with goats, cows, and chickens we reached the beach. We were excited to see some ladies there selling cold drinks and fish croquettes. The beach was lined with tall palm trees and it was crowded with people lazing away under the trees and in the water. We snorkeled around and sat in the water for quite awhile. Finally we decided to head back and as we were leaving found a FRESH water shower. Oh my gosh!!! Since we use a solar shower on our boat we were in heaven. We rinsed and rinsed, and then we rinsed some more. Then we rinsed our clothes and shoes and then, why not, we rinsed our towels! We walked all the way back to the other side of the island completely wet and loving it.

The Saintes are a great place to wander around. The main town, Bourg des Saintes, which is really a tiny, quaint seaside town, is clean and picturesque. Local people walk, ride bicycles or zip around on scooters. They gather at the bakery, on the church steps or in the square at the main dock and visit as their children play. Chickens are roaming through the streets, and local French dogs (which Carol cannot resist taking pictures of) lay around in front of homes and stores. Since the islands were never agricultural, no slaves were imported. They used to rely almost entirely on fishing. Now the residents make their living primarily on tourism. Many people visit the Saintes by ferries that arrive daily from Guadeloupe.

We could hang out in The Saintes for a long time, and with so many little anchorages around the islands, we could just keep moving around and trying them all. However, our desire to visit as many islands as possible by June kept us moving along. We will definitely visit longer next time.