Iles des Saintes & Guadeloupe
Last night we arrived about 7PM into the lovely picturesque harbor of the main city in the Iles des Saintes (“The Saints”). The town is called “Bourg,” or in English the “City.” The French apparently believe that economy is a virtue! The archipelago consists of seven volcanic islands only two have all year residents. These seven islands along with the much larger island of Guadeloupe comprise the “Départment of d’Outre Mer.” These islands are a part of France 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. After dinner a number of us went ashore to experience the uniquely Gallic flavor of Bourg. A delight. The prosperity of the island was evident in the architecture.
These islands benefit greatly from their close ties to France. The streets have lovely colorful and upscale shops, which today cater to the tourist trade. The originally the original French sellers were indentured servants and then after having secured their freedom from debt became fisherman. Most of the original inhabitants came from Brittany. 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 café’s 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.
We disembarked after breakfast and split into three groups: the snorklers led by Berit and the historically mined who went with Tom Heffernan up to the top of the closest mountain to visit the Fort Napoleon, built between 1841 and 1867. Rocio, our wellness expert, went for a short snorkel but then 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 is today 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 spend the rest of the morning freely wandering in and out of the colorful shops shopping. At 4PM David Steadman, the Chef de Cuisine, gave an introduction to the food and how it is prepared followed by crepes!
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 and 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 about 7PM into the lovely picturesque harbor of the main city in the Iles des Saintes (“The Saints”). The town is called “Bourg,” or in English the “City.” The French apparently believe that economy is a virtue! The archipelago consists of seven volcanic islands only two have all year residents. These seven islands along with the much larger island of Guadeloupe comprise the “Départment of d’Outre Mer.” These islands are a part of France 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. After dinner a number of us went ashore to experience the uniquely Gallic flavor of Bourg. A delight. The prosperity of the island was evident in the architecture.
These islands benefit greatly from their close ties to France. The streets have lovely colorful and upscale shops, which today cater to the tourist trade. The originally the original French sellers were indentured servants and then after having secured their freedom from debt became fisherman. Most of the original inhabitants came from Brittany. 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 café’s 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.
We disembarked after breakfast and split into three groups: the snorklers led by Berit and the historically mined who went with Tom Heffernan up to the top of the closest mountain to visit the Fort Napoleon, built between 1841 and 1867. Rocio, our wellness expert, went for a short snorkel but then 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 is today 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 spend the rest of the morning freely wandering in and out of the colorful shops shopping. At 4PM David Steadman, the Chef de Cuisine, gave an introduction to the food and how it is prepared followed by crepes!
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 and 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.
