Iles des Saintes & Guadeloupe
Last night we arrived into the lovely picturesque harbor of the main city in the Saints, “Bourg,” or in English simply the “City.” Talk about an economy of effort in naming the principle town. The archipelago consists of seven volcanic islands of which only two have year-round residents. These seven islands along with the much larger island of Guadeloupe comprise the “Départment of d’Outre Mer.” That is these islands are actually a part of France over the seas and have approximately the same relationship to the mother country as the Hawaiian Islands have to the continental United States. The inhabitants are French citizens, vote in all elections, and have all the perquisites of being French citizen and a member of the European Union. As such the official currency here is the Euro.
These islands are prosperous and benefit greatly from their close ties to France. The streets have lovely colorful and upscale shops, which cater to the tourist trade. As the main island has no large hotels the tourist industry from passing ships is principally that of day visits. The streets have typical French cafés and the restaurants are extremely good. The cost of living is also high as one might expect. For example, if you wish to have corn flakes for breakfast a box of Kellogg’s will cost you just under $6 and your coffee about $2 per cup. Everything has to be brought in by air and ship. Hence the cost.
We disembarked after breakfast and split into three groups: the snorklers led by Mike Greenfelder and the historically minded who went with Tom Heffernan up to the top of the closest mountain to visit Fort Napoleon, built between 1841 and 1867. Rocio, our wellness expert, took one group on a hike from the town to the fort. While it is not far, it takes about 30 minutes—it is mostly uphill. The faint of heart, yours truly among them, took the available taxis. The Fort is a wonderful place and today is chiefly a botanical garden with all the representative species of flowering trees on the Lesser Antilles represented. In addition to the trees there are wonderful cacti, euphorbia and aloes. We also visited the nesting areas of the very large land Iguanas. Today I spotted about five of these wonderful beasties, the largest of which was about 4’. The fort contains an ethnographic museum detailing the pre-Columbian history of the islands and a number of rooms devoted to the local craft of shipbuilding. After our visit to the Fort we took taxis down to the city and spent the rest of the morning freely wandering in and out of the colorful shops.
This afternoon, when we were in the lee of the French island of Guadeloupe, we took the opportunity to go out in the Zodiacs and take pictures of the Sea Cloud II under sail. It was a magnificent sight with nearly perfect conditions: low light, calm seas, and full sails! Tonight is always a bittersweet evening as it is the final evening together. The captain gave a splendid toast at the cocktail hour and we had a magnificent farewell dinner. We hugged our shipmates who we had come to know and whose company we enjoyed, and rushed off to bed… some to finish packing. This voyage will live in our memories for a long time. It is truly difficult to imagine how much we have done and shared in a week.
Last night we arrived into the lovely picturesque harbor of the main city in the Saints, “Bourg,” or in English simply the “City.” Talk about an economy of effort in naming the principle town. The archipelago consists of seven volcanic islands of which only two have year-round residents. These seven islands along with the much larger island of Guadeloupe comprise the “Départment of d’Outre Mer.” That is these islands are actually a part of France over the seas and have approximately the same relationship to the mother country as the Hawaiian Islands have to the continental United States. The inhabitants are French citizens, vote in all elections, and have all the perquisites of being French citizen and a member of the European Union. As such the official currency here is the Euro.
These islands are prosperous and benefit greatly from their close ties to France. The streets have lovely colorful and upscale shops, which cater to the tourist trade. As the main island has no large hotels the tourist industry from passing ships is principally that of day visits. The streets have typical French cafés and the restaurants are extremely good. The cost of living is also high as one might expect. For example, if you wish to have corn flakes for breakfast a box of Kellogg’s will cost you just under $6 and your coffee about $2 per cup. Everything has to be brought in by air and ship. Hence the cost.
We disembarked after breakfast and split into three groups: the snorklers led by Mike Greenfelder and the historically minded who went with Tom Heffernan up to the top of the closest mountain to visit Fort Napoleon, built between 1841 and 1867. Rocio, our wellness expert, took one group on a hike from the town to the fort. While it is not far, it takes about 30 minutes—it is mostly uphill. The faint of heart, yours truly among them, took the available taxis. The Fort is a wonderful place and today is chiefly a botanical garden with all the representative species of flowering trees on the Lesser Antilles represented. In addition to the trees there are wonderful cacti, euphorbia and aloes. We also visited the nesting areas of the very large land Iguanas. Today I spotted about five of these wonderful beasties, the largest of which was about 4’. The fort contains an ethnographic museum detailing the pre-Columbian history of the islands and a number of rooms devoted to the local craft of shipbuilding. After our visit to the Fort we took taxis down to the city and spent the rest of the morning freely wandering in and out of the colorful shops.
This afternoon, when we were in the lee of the French island of Guadeloupe, we took the opportunity to go out in the Zodiacs and take pictures of the Sea Cloud II under sail. It was a magnificent sight with nearly perfect conditions: low light, calm seas, and full sails! Tonight is always a bittersweet evening as it is the final evening together. The captain gave a splendid toast at the cocktail hour and we had a magnificent farewell dinner. We hugged our shipmates who we had come to know and whose company we enjoyed, and rushed off to bed… some to finish packing. This voyage will live in our memories for a long time. It is truly difficult to imagine how much we have done and shared in a week.
