Les Saintes of Guadeloupe - January 2005

The Saintes are a little group of islands just South of Guadeloupe. We'd missed them last season and were keen to go this time as everyone says they are lovely. And being part of France the food is of course excellent!

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	A fine view over the crowded harbour (it is deep and it took us 6 goes to find a decent spot).
	There's a fine old fort on the hilltop which has been turned into a lovely museum
	Big Ig - one of the many iguanas to be found in the fort grounds
	The charming little church
	It's scooter city here. You find surprisingly few scooters and motor bikes in the Caribbean - except on the French islands..
	The Royal Clipper came to visit. We found two lost souls trying to get back to the ship after all the shuttles had left and she was about to pull out. We offered them a lift in our dinghy. "Get them off!" I heard Leonie shouting, and found that our passenger was wearing $500 stiletto-heeled boots which could have punctured our tubes. She didn't seem to pleased to be roughing it in our dinghy but her much older companion was charming and unfazed by it all.
	Leaving Les Saintes we spent a couple of days at Point A Pitre, the capital of Guadeloupe, and then anchored at the south of the Rivière Salée for a dawn departure. At this hour two roadbridges open and can follow a narrow channel which takes you right through the centre of Guadeloupe. See link below for more.

Click here for Jeremy's article on passing through the Rivière Salée