**Big Adventures loves to feature real life travel stories from our friends. Following is an account from one of our BA Explorer's Club members and their experience in the French territory of Guadeloupe, located in the Caribbean.
Sailing on a catamaran in Guadeloupe was a wonderful and unique adventure! I have been on several similar trips in the Caribbean, but Guadeloupe is unique in that it is French and is actually an archipelago of 5 islands among the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean. It is a 3 hour direct flight from Miami. If you are interested in discovering all of Guadeloupe, but not by renting a sailboat, you can travel to the out islands by 20-45 minute ferries.
As we left port, I saw the beautiful rain forest and mountainous Basse-Terre to our right. Even though I was excited to be heading to our destination of Les Saintes Isles, I was longing to be able to explore Basse-Terre with it’s volcano, La Soufriere, and 2 long waterfalls that appeared as faint lines from our boat. (Maybe on another trip!)
After a 3 hour sail, we in Les Saintes, we anchored off of Pain de Sucre beach in Les Saintes Isles, which is formed by 9 small islands, with only 2 inhabited. We spent the afternoon snorkeling and paddleboarding. I actually went the first time on the board with it being backwards, and was wondering why the board kept trying to turn. The fin being in the front was the culprit! That evening, one of our 2 person crew took us by dingy over to another island to hike up to the remnant of a fort where Napoleon’s mistress lived when he would visit Les Saintes. The window is still standing where she stood for him to see her through a telescope from his fort on the adjacent island of Terre-de-Haut.
The window Napoleon used to see his mistress.
A definite must see in Les Saintes is Les Saintes Bay, listed as one of the most beautiful bays in the world by UNESCO. Three forts were built around the bay by the French, and it was the site of many battles between the French and English. We walked up to Napoleon’s fort and learned a little history in the museum there. Also, it was cool to see the window in the distance where his mistress stood on the adjacent island which I mentioned earlier. We also explored the quaint town of Terre-de-Haut with its French restaurants, cute shops, & narrow streets. I felt like I received a taste of France eating at a great restaurant that night. It also helped that the owner spoke English!
Another highlight was a 3 hour sail back up to the west coast of Basse-Terre to the Cousteau underwater reserve surrounding Pigeon Island for scuba diving and snorkeling. The reefs were in great shape with vibrant red, orange, & yellow coral compared to many places I’ve dove before where the coral is dead. Along with the usual colorful reef fish we saw sea eels and lots of sea turtles!
Our final 2 nights were spent anchored off the most beautiful beach on the island of Marie-Galante which is south of the main island of Guadeloupe. We had a blast tubing behind the dingy. Also, we found 2 old cannons in the water when we snorkeled around the point of the island. We are guessing that they were originally stationed on top of the bluff above the point. Of course, we decided we were the first to discover these cannons only to be told later by our crew that some other sailboat crew had also come upon them.
There are many other activities on Guadeloupe such as zip lining, rappelling, and going on a jeep safari on Basse-Terre, surfing and kite sailing on neighboring Basse-Grande, and touring a rum factory on Marie-Galante.
If you would like more information on planning a trip to Guadeloupe, send us an email at info@bigadventures.us.