Les Saintes
Daybreak at 6:15am. The light crept into my cabin and teased me out of bed. It was raining quite hard but I was lucky to see a rainbow off the port side. We had landed in the French Antilles and were about to disembark on the group of islands called Les Saintes.
Like many other islands we have visited, Columbus named these islands and he called them “the Holy” Islands. He came to Dominica on a Sunday and hence its name. The Saints are, politically, a department of the French overseas Department of Guadeloupe. They are equivalent to the State of Hawaii; that is, they have the same status as any region of France, e.g., Burgundy. They send both senators and representatives to the legislature in Paris. Most off the permanent inhabitants are French citizens. These islands are not heavily visited and retain much of their Gallic flavor.
Our arrival on the main island of Terre-de-Haut was undoubtedly a surprise to many of our guests. On first impressions, it was hard to imagine we were on an island in the Caribbean. The village Bourg des Saintes (or City of the Saints), nestled around the Anse Mire, is decidedly French in flavor and the people are mostly European. The total population of the village is slightly less than 4 thousand. The language of the inhabitants is not a local patois, as we found in Dominica, but a dialect of standard French as those of us who purchased items found out. The standard of living is substantially higher than the other islands we had visited owing to the close connection with France. The original Breton, who settled these islands as fisherman, did not inter-marry with the local Indian population. The islands were never large enough to warrant large plantations and so slavery was never a major factor in their settlement. As is quite apparent, there are few black citizens of the Saints. Sugar production played almost no part in their history. The eight islands which make up the archipelago are only 6 square miles. So, in truth, here we were nestled in "la belle France" thousands of miles from the old world.
Thirty-nine of us went to Fort Napoleon. It provides a stunning vista of the village below. The village was laid out along a beautiful crescent beach and most of chose to stroll its narrow streets and passageways. Les Saintes is a great place for shopping and I saw many taking advantage of this last opportunity. The Fort illustrates the strategic importance of these islands during the French and English conflict. After the French commander de Grasse was defeated by the British Admiral Rodney on April 12, 1782 in the great battle of “The Saints,” French expansion was limited in this area. Some of our guests went snorkeling with Roger off the beach.
Before returning to the Sea Cloud II for lunch, a number of us took the opportunity to rest ourselves along the quayside soaking up the ambiance and had a fresh squeezed tropical juice, cold beer and some of the best tropical flavored sorbet in the world.
We left for lunch on the Sea Cloud II and at 1:30 we sailed out of “The Saints.” Tom Heffernan gave a talk on “Sugar: The White Gold of the Antilles” which was followed by fresh made waffles and ice cream. We sailed south towards St. Lucia with Dominica on our port.
Tonight we had a fabulous barbecue and, after the wonderful meal, Roger and Tom introduced some wonderful nautical expressions. The finale of the evening was the shanties performance by the Sea Cloud II crew. It was a real treat and we went to our beds filled with the experiences of a most memorable day.
Daybreak at 6:15am. The light crept into my cabin and teased me out of bed. It was raining quite hard but I was lucky to see a rainbow off the port side. We had landed in the French Antilles and were about to disembark on the group of islands called Les Saintes.
Like many other islands we have visited, Columbus named these islands and he called them “the Holy” Islands. He came to Dominica on a Sunday and hence its name. The Saints are, politically, a department of the French overseas Department of Guadeloupe. They are equivalent to the State of Hawaii; that is, they have the same status as any region of France, e.g., Burgundy. They send both senators and representatives to the legislature in Paris. Most off the permanent inhabitants are French citizens. These islands are not heavily visited and retain much of their Gallic flavor.
Our arrival on the main island of Terre-de-Haut was undoubtedly a surprise to many of our guests. On first impressions, it was hard to imagine we were on an island in the Caribbean. The village Bourg des Saintes (or City of the Saints), nestled around the Anse Mire, is decidedly French in flavor and the people are mostly European. The total population of the village is slightly less than 4 thousand. The language of the inhabitants is not a local patois, as we found in Dominica, but a dialect of standard French as those of us who purchased items found out. The standard of living is substantially higher than the other islands we had visited owing to the close connection with France. The original Breton, who settled these islands as fisherman, did not inter-marry with the local Indian population. The islands were never large enough to warrant large plantations and so slavery was never a major factor in their settlement. As is quite apparent, there are few black citizens of the Saints. Sugar production played almost no part in their history. The eight islands which make up the archipelago are only 6 square miles. So, in truth, here we were nestled in "la belle France" thousands of miles from the old world.
Thirty-nine of us went to Fort Napoleon. It provides a stunning vista of the village below. The village was laid out along a beautiful crescent beach and most of chose to stroll its narrow streets and passageways. Les Saintes is a great place for shopping and I saw many taking advantage of this last opportunity. The Fort illustrates the strategic importance of these islands during the French and English conflict. After the French commander de Grasse was defeated by the British Admiral Rodney on April 12, 1782 in the great battle of “The Saints,” French expansion was limited in this area. Some of our guests went snorkeling with Roger off the beach.
Before returning to the Sea Cloud II for lunch, a number of us took the opportunity to rest ourselves along the quayside soaking up the ambiance and had a fresh squeezed tropical juice, cold beer and some of the best tropical flavored sorbet in the world.
We left for lunch on the Sea Cloud II and at 1:30 we sailed out of “The Saints.” Tom Heffernan gave a talk on “Sugar: The White Gold of the Antilles” which was followed by fresh made waffles and ice cream. We sailed south towards St. Lucia with Dominica on our port.
Tonight we had a fabulous barbecue and, after the wonderful meal, Roger and Tom introduced some wonderful nautical expressions. The finale of the evening was the shanties performance by the Sea Cloud II crew. It was a real treat and we went to our beds filled with the experiences of a most memorable day.
