Les Saintes, Guadalupe

Today we are visiting Les Saintes, which is an archipelago of 5 islands, only two of which are inhabited. This island group got its name from Columbus who discovered them on All Saints Day. Les Saintes are part of Guadeloupe, which is a Territory of France. The main island of Les Saintes, Terre-de-Haut is where we landed. There are only approximately 2000 inhabitants in mostly fishing villages in nooks and crannies of the island. The volcanic islands are surrounding a caldera of an extinct volcano and provide great harbours.

An interesting anomaly of this island is that Iguanas are abundant and we were warned not to approach them as they are seriously protected by the local constabulary.

The islands are historically sustained by fishing by primarily 3 different methods: fish traps, rods or netting. They use a technique of hanging nets between two boats and once enough fish are in the nets, the boats back up toward each other as they both pull up the nets. The younger generation is not really interested in fishing so the government is trying to broaden tourism on the islands. There is some agriculture – sugar cane and bananas, and they distill some local rum.

The history of Les Saintes is significant in the Caribbean as the largest naval battle of the Caribbean happened in Les Saintes and in the strait between Les Saintes and what is now Dominica in 1782. There were 17 British ships up against 35 French combined with the Spanish fleet of 12 in quite a small area. In the end the British defeated the French/Spanish alliance and the French suffered huge loss of life and ships. From what I can gather from what the guide told us today and my brief reading it was a huge and significant battle which may have influenced the outcome of the American Revolution. It reasserted the British dominance at sea and the Americans realized that they could no longer expect the support of the French in their battle with Britain. And the British were more assertive in their demands for the fishing banks of Newfoundland and Canada in the Peace negotiations in Paris. If you are a student of naval battles it sounds like it’s one that would be fascinating to study or perhaps you already have. Of local interest to my friends in Canada, is that one of the ships in the British fleet that was instrumental in their success was named Canada. As always I hope that in my limited research on it, that I have properly characterized the battle and its significance. Bobbing around in the middle of the islands today, it felt a bit like when we visited the battlefields of Hastings or the Plains of Abraham. Travel brings history to life.

Our Destination Manager told us a sad love story about Les Saintes last night at the Destination briefing about a fisherman’s wife who liked to bake and provide surprises to her husband when he went off fishing and one time she made a cocoanut and custard tart for him. He didn’t return when she expected him or on any of the days thereafter. Finally she was so distraught because she thought he was drown at sea that she killed herself. Shortly thereafter he did come back, having been delayed by a storm, and when he returned to find she had died, he killed himself also. So the tarts she made for him became known as “Tourment d’amour” or “Torments of love”. They are a popular treat on the island. The other story was told by our guide. But I’ll leave that to tell til tomorrow when I have more time.

Today I chose to go on….. you guessed it, a snorkel adventure. But today’s was a different experience in many ways.

First of all, we had the first real rain of the trip. It was a little cooler, about 22 and it was really rough on the water. It didn’t stop us from doing anything but it was a little less pleasant on the boat, especially because I was sitting at the back of the boat and got absolutely drenched within the first 30 minutes, including my dry clothes for after snorkelling and towel, so the return trip was a little chilly.

Secondly, we had a tour guide along for this trip and he was fabulous. He taught for 20 years in France and then moved to Les Saintes and taught here for another 20 years. He’s now retired and doing the tour guide duties because he loves people so much and it shows. He stopped at various places to show us points of interest.

He showed us a pelican colony amongst the trees on the slopes of one of the islands and some down on the rocks by the water. Dozens of them were watching us go by. And a family of iguanas in trees but I unfortunately wasn’t able to get a picture. There were some rock formations that he showed us, and I was amazed at the ability of our boat captain. There was a bit of a cave and even with substantial waves and swells, he took the power boat inside the opening so the guide could show it to us.

He told us about the importance of fishing for the island and when we came upon a fisherman spear fishing in the water, the captain asked him where his catch was and he pulled it up and showed it to us. Two fish and an octopus!

We passed by the Star Clipper who was in port today as well. It’s a beautiful wooden, 5 masted sailing ship. Absolutely beautiful vessel.

We had two snorkel sites, the first of which was to see if we could find any turtles. There are three species found here, Leatherbacks, Green and one other whose name I missed as the wind blew away the guide’s words. It was a grassy bottom and we were lucky to find one fairly large size one munching its way across the bay.

Then we were off to see a blow hole in the rocks, and it was in good form today given the waves out there. I wasn’t able to get a picture from where I was so one of the other passengers got a few shots away for me. We went passed what was supposed to be a nude beach, but from our distance it looked like everyone was clothed to us.

The second snorkelling spot was in a bay with a rock and coral outcropping that was great. There was lots of fish life, and corals. Lots of big fan, staghorn, split brain, and others for which I didn’t know the name. Many of the fish that I saw I haven’t seen elsewhere. One had a red belly and on the sides it had spots of different colours set out in rows and columns. It was spectacular. After about 30 minutes we headed back to town, and once again got soaked! But this time at least we were already wet.

It was almost 1 pm when we got back into town, so unfortunately most of the shops were closed and so there wasn’t much to be seen, so we headed back to the ship to grab some lunch. It rained off and on the rest of the afternoon, so I spent some time in the “Yacht Club”, a space on the top deck to the aft of the ship that serves tea, specialty coffees, and has snacks and desserts from 6 am to 6 pm. It’s got a library atmosphere and in fact has some books, but also jigsaw puzzles, board games, cribbage boards etc. A lovely space where I’ve done some of my reading and writing. And then the luxury of all luxuries, nap time.

After dinner this evening was the amazing staff talent show. There was everything from a demonstration of martial arts, to Indonesian flute players in traditional costume to a comedic act by the Entertainment Manager and a hilarious story telling about riding a donkey up to the top of Santorini by the Hotel Manager. The Maitre’D (he’s more than that but I’ve forgotten his title) has an amazing voice and did a couple of Rat Pack era songs including a couple of imitations. The deputy chef who does much of the planning of provisioning, figuring out how many potatoes they’re going to need, etc. did this amazing thing with numbers on paper on an easel where every column and row and diagonal and inner squares of a 4 x 4 box table added up to a number that one of the audience members had given him. It was unbelievable. He ended by saying that there were 119 staff members on board from x (I missed the number) countries, speaking 50 languages and they all lived harmoniously together on this little ship. He challenged the rest of the world to do the same. The final act was similar to one I saw on the South Pacific cruise I took before the pandemic, the Star Pride Men’s Synchronized Swim team. It is absolutely hilarious, and I can’t begin to describe how they do it, but it involved a blue waist high curtain, deck chairs, and mattresses. It appeared that they were in the water doing an synchro routine.A fun way to end the day.

Tomorrow is St Martin/St Maarten, and a rare, for me, land tour excursion. We are only in port until 2 pm so our tour starts early in the morning, so I’ll sign off now and get some sleep. I had trouble writing my blog today because every time I tried to work on it in the public areas, I got talking to someone. Not a bad thing. Such interesting conversations.

P.S. One last thing, part of the Entertainment Manager’s comedic sketch was about many passengers going home on Saturday. (I’m staying on for another week, but many are only on for one week or are finishing their two weeks). He said it much funnier than I can, but that we have some adjusting to do when we go home. He said at home we’re going to sit at our dining room table and wait and wait for someone to come along to provide us with a Chef James Beard quality meal. And after our shower we’re going to dry off with a towel and throw it on the floor, and when we come back several hours later the towel is still going to be there. And we’re going to hear the flushing sound of our toilet instead of the sucking sound we’ve come to expect. Yes it will be an adjustment.