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Les Saintes from Basse-Terre, Guadeloupe

A view of Les Saintes from Basse-Terre, Guadeloupe

LES SAINTES / General Description

Just 10 km (6 mi) south of Guadeloupe, these idyllic tropical jewels float like exotic dreams in the Caribbean sea. Of the eight little islands, only two are inhabited, and picturesque Terre-de-Haut is the one travelers visit first. In addition to superb beaches, gorgeous bays, exceptional snorkeling and fascinating historical sites, this romantic island offers a charming village with excellent restaurants, interesting shops and unique art galleries. The other populated island, peaceful Terre-de-Bas, is only a few minutes by boat from Terre-de-Haut and is definitely worth a visit.

Les Saintes (also known as Iles des Saintes) are perfect for the kind of traveler who relishes unspoiled tropical beauty and the serenity that comes from doing next to nothing on a vacation, but doing it à la française. While Guadeloupe's bustling epicenter, Pointe-à-Pitre, is just a l5-minute plane hop away, it seems continents apart from the eight pristine volcanic dots that comprise Les Saintes. There are about 3,000 inhabitants in the islands. About half of them live on Terre-de-Haut where only a few dozen four-wheeled vehicles travel its roads. There is just one doctor, and his home, designed to resemble a ship's bow, is something of a local landmark.

Terre-de-Haut is only three miles long and about two miles wide. The five-minute walk from the airstrip to Bourg, the island's only village, takes you down a bougainvillea-shaded lane lined with tiny brightly-painted houses and past a centuries-old cemetery. The names engraved upon the weathered headstones reflect the island's Breton and Norman ancestry; the conch shells decorating the graveyard honor its sailors lost at sea.

The men of Les Saintes are fishermen, reputedly the best in the West Indies, and watching them haul in their filets bleus (blue nets dotted with burnt-orange buoys) can fill an entire morning. On Bourg's main street you still occasionally see some of the men in an odd kind of headgear, a flat straw or bamboo platter covered with cloth called a salako. It is patterned after one said to have been brought here ages and ages ago by a seafarer from China or Indonesia. Whatever its origin, the salako is unique to the Iles des Saintes.

Les Saintes are dependency islands of Guadeloupe, which in turn is an Overseas Department and Region of France. A mayor and town council oversee the day-to-day operations of the island.

Guadeloupe and Les Saintes are on Atlantic Standard Time (Eastern Standard Time plus 1 hour or Greenwich Mean Time minus 4 hours). This island does not convert to daylight savings time. Time is indicated in the 24 hour format, in other words 1:15 p.m. is 13:15 or 13h15.

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