2nd Day Terre-de-Haut, Les Saintes, Guadeloupe

Sunday

25/09/16

So, its second and our last day in Les Saintes. We woke up early since check out time is 10am and our ferry to get back to the mainland is at 3.45pm. We still have few beach to check and hope that we could check it all. 

Our first stop is Grande Anse beach, snap few pictures here and we off to the next beach since it is not safe for swimming. The waves was big but the view is nice. Well, its forbidden to swim here, its not that we didn't want to. :P

Not far from Grande Anse beach is Plage de Rodrigue. This beach is as good as empty and i didn't know why, maybe because there's not many coconut tree for people to take cover from the heat? The view is nice, the water is clear and its safe for swimming. We came over twice, first in the morning and later on after lunch. 

We went to Plage De Figuier after lunch and we dont even bother to take off our helmet. The beach is full with seaweed and its smells too. There's 2 people swimming and no one else here. I believe it wasn't that bad actually but we are not comfortable with the smells and the beach look abandoned. 

We then hop off to Plage De L'anse Mire, not far from city center and jetty. The water is clear, they have black sand which is ok but Nico doesnt like the seaweed which i finally found that i dont like them either, its feel funny on your feet. There's also few boats on the water and i think its weird to swim in between boats. But if you are ok with it, its actually not bad. So this is how we end up going back to Plage de Rodrigue to spend our afternoon before we go back to Lamentin. 

Our anniversary weekend at Les Saintes

Saturday 

24/09/16

We woke up early today in order to catch 8.30am ferry from Basse-Terre to Les Saintes. Since we moved here and Nico didnt have many days off yet, we decided to celebrate our anniversary close to home. 

Its only for 2D1N trip so Les Saintes is perfect for us, small island and we could see everything in 2 days. We got few tips beforehand from Nico colleague and its easier to plan our short getaway. For this first trip to Les Saintes, we choose to visit Terre-de-haut. 

There's still plenty of carpark (it was 10 euro for 2 days if im not mistaken) when we arrived and we go directly to ticket counter to get our ticket. I was panicked when she asked if we have any reservation since we didnt booked any and hoping our weekend plan wont get ruined. Fortunately, there's available ticket and so off we go with Ms. Caraibes to Les Saintes. We get our ticket from CTM DEHER so you can check and reserved your ticket from their website if you didnt want to get panic moment like us. 

Our ferry ride took 20mins and can get bumpy since they put the ferry in full power and just took off without slowing down. You are not allowed to go up on the open deck until the ferry already safely out in the water.  This is the view we get when we arrived in Les Saintes, the water was crystal clear and owh so clean. 

We rent scooter right at the jetty and it cost us 50 euro for 2 days. Other people rent an electric car since they came with group of people or kids and it easier to go around. 

Our first stop is Fort Napolean (5 euro entry fee) since we heard they only open half day on saturday and closed on sunday. Well, nothing much here, small museum on the history of les saintes and its all in french. They suggest that we go up on the 2nd floor first to the botanic garden and this is where you can get postcard picture of les saintes. 

After Fort Napolean, we went to our airbnb accommodation (Chez Gisele et Phillppe) to check in and for lunch. The place that we stay is walking distance to Plage de Pompierre. And has gorgeous view of the sea. The room is clean and come with attached bathroom and kitchen. 

We was so tired and decided to take a nap, The sea breeze was amazing and we fall asleep within minute. When we woke up it was already 2pm and feel bad that we spend our afternoon slept in. So we packed our things and went to Plage de Pompierre since its look like its going to rain and at least we wont be far from home. 

The water wasnt so clear at the main beach when we were there, So we decided to go to the right side of the beach where people do snorkeling. There's no tree to take shade here so when you come mid afternoon like us it can be very hot. Water is clearer and snorkeling is pretty ok with a lil bit of wave. 

(You can swim and climb up to the island infront.)

Snorkeling here wasn't so bad but the sea is wavy, i only did for a short while and Nico go around by himself. So all the snorkeling picture is coming from him. I make sure to asked him so i have pictures for this blog purposes...lol

i dont know what that white thing called, but it scares me, its everywhere here

Our next stop is Plage Anse Crawen, it was recommended by Giselle and she told us that this is nudist beach. We didn't try to become nudist or to see any nudist but she said the beach is nice. So we give it a chance and unfortunately didn't see any nudist here. lol 

(Gravel road to go in)

There's not many people at crawen beach, maybe because it was almost 4pm but the beach is as good as empty. Snorkeling is just so-so but clear water to swim with a lil wave. 

Before we heading home we made our last stop at Plage Du Pain De Sucre. This place is definitely the place if you want to do snorkeling. When we arrived there's not many people around. The beach was small with pretty much no cover from the sun when its start to goes down. 

Its easy to missed this beach judging by the small signage by the roadside (we missed it at first lol, thats why we went to Crawn first) but if you see a lot or e-car and scooter parked along the road, rest assured you are at Plage du Pain De Sucre. 

Its maybe 10mins walk to the beach from the main road but it felt like 20mins for me, But once down there we are so happy with the view and regret that we didnt make this beach our first choice for today. We didn't bother to setup our towel, just put everything on the sand, grab our snorkeling set and off we go. 

the view must be nicer in the morning

just see how clear the water is

We saw plenty of fish, sea cucumber and there's a big rock in the middle where you can stand. Unfortunately , there's not many picture from snorkeling, Nico didn't like to take picture but he will take all his camera when we go vacation, i dont know why. 

So, this is all for today and its time to go home and zzzzz, more beaches coming tomorrow.