L'Express, as it is commonly called, has its home-base in Guadeloupe and has been in operation for the past 15 years. It first provided a fast ferry service between the islands of Guadeloupe, Martinique, Les Saintes and Marie Galante, all French International departments, but in 1987 extended its services to include Dominica, and in 1994 St Lucia.
Dominica
In 2005, rugged, jungle-filled Dominica became the first nation to be certified by Green Globe 21 for sustainable development. Nature-oriented visitors appreciate Dominica’s rich culture and history, and this locale has a great deal to offer travelers with a quest for adventure. Located between Guadeloupe and Martinique, Dominica’s mountains soar to nearly 5,000 feet, yielding a thriving rainforest, hundreds of rivers and waterfalls, rare orchids and colorful birds. Geothermal activity results in colorful hot springs, bubbling mud pools, small geysers and Boiling Lake, the second largest lake of its kind in the world. Many of the sites are found in Morne Trois Pitons National Park, the Eastern Caribbean's first a UNESCO World Heritage Site...
Hikers can trek to Victoria Falls, and Middleham Falls, a narrow plume of water falling 200 feet from a cliff notch. A strenuous excursion to Morne Diablotin (Devil’s Mountain) reaps glimpses of two endemic Amazona parrots, the jaco and the sisserou. Non-hikers can ride the Rainforest Aerial Tram, which offers a 70-minute journey through the treetop canopy. Mountain biking, horseback riding, river tubing and jeep safaris are other ways of enjoying Dominica’s natural gifts.
The offshore marine environment is equally fascinating, as healthy reefs and marine life, extraordinary formations and 100-foot visibility draw scuba divers. Dominica’s waters host 22 species of whales and dolphins, making it a prime whale-watching destination throughout the winter. Beaches are mostly black sand, with a few golden strands in the northeast. The Dominica Watersports Association has hosted a week-long watersports event called DIVE FEST in July every year sine 1983. Dive Fest is very popular with locals and visitors and is a great time to secure good deals on dives!
For history lovers, the capital, Roseau and Fort Shirley are fun to explore. At the Kalinago Barana Aute, visitors can watch as Kalinago Indians carve the trunk of a Gommier tree into a canoe. Cultural performances, storytelling and “spiritual cleansings” are part of the outing. Tours of a rum distillery and the Rosalie slave plantation estate are also popular. Local restaurants serve predominantly native Creole cuisine; mountain chicken (frog legs) is the national dish. The World Creole Music Festival takes place in October, and Mas Dominik, the island's carnival, features calypso and steel pan competitions, a soca music festival, jump-ups and a costume parade.
Guadeloupe
Part of the French West Indies, Guadeloupe has it all: rainforests, waterfalls, sandy beaches and charming villages. Guadeloupe is really two butterfly-shaped islands connected by a narrow channel. The left “wing” is Grande-Terre, and the right “wing” is Basse-Terre. Offshore, on smaller surrounding islands, you can step into societies that have changed little over the centuries. On Terre-de-Haut, part of the Iles des Saintes, you’ll find pristine beaches and families descended from Breton sailors. Marie-Galante in the southeast, has spectacular beaches and produces some of the Caribbean’s best rum - remnants of colonial sugar mills are quaint reminders of the island’s past as a sugar producer. To the northeast, La Désirade is a recommended day trip for its untouched landscape and beaches.
The more sophisticated Grande-Terre boasts white-sand beaches and rolling hills. The island’s biggest town, Pointe-à-Pitre, is a European-style shopping village offering goods with 'made in France' labels – and at savings of an estimated 20 to 30 percent. Museums abound here. Saint-John Perse and the Schoelcher Museum are housed in colonial manors. The Edgar Clerc archaeological museum enlightens visitors about Guadeloupe’s Amerindian ancestors. Culture buffs might seek out the zoological garden, the orchid garden, or coffee and cocoa plantations.
Basse-Terre is a draw for nature lovers. An astounding volcano, La Soufrière, which lies sleeping at its center, is the Eastern Caribbean’s highest point at 4,813 feet. Drive or hike through the nearby rain forests in the 74,100 acre Parc National de Guadeloupe, or spend a day on Grand Anse, one of the island’s best beaches, known for especially soft sand. The wildlife is awe-inspiring. In the air, you might spot sugar birds, cow herons, black woodpeckers, moor hen sand brown gannets.
French imports make dining on Guadeloupe a pleasure; the destination boasts more than 200 restaurants, some on the front porches of local homes. Lunch, or le déjeuner, is the main meal of the day. Start with a rum drink, then try creole creations such as stuffed land crabs, stewed conch and curry dishes. French wines are commonly served with the meal.
Martinique
Martinique is the definition of a refined French-Caribbean island – fashionable and elegant, with an abundance of flora. Filled with ruins and monuments, Martinique has been French, with few interruptions, since 1635, and offers gorgeous beaches, great food and a live volcano. Banana farming, cane raising, the rum business and tourism are all important to the island.
Napoleon's empress Josephine hailed from Martinique, as did Aimée Dubuc de Rivery, who was kidnapped at sea and made Sultana Validé, mother of Turkey’s Sultan Mahmoud II. Its many small museums focus on curiosities such as dolls, banana farming and ancient island civilizations. Hikers and horseback riders will find plenty of guided adventures among the steep, lush hillsides. Windsurfers and board surfers will welcome the challenges of the choppy Atlantic side of the island.
The capital, Fort-de-France, offers chic shops, the flowered Park Savanne, the Bibliothèque Schoelcher, and the Saint-Louis Cathedral, built in 1895. Restaurants are among the best in the islands. Pointe du Bout is the island’s main resort area, offering hotels, golf, shopping and casino nightlife. North along the coast is St. Pierre, which was destroyed, along with its 30,000 residents, in 1902 when Mont Pelée erupted. The Museum of Vulcanology there displays chilling lava-coated mementoes. Carbet, a quaint fishing village, was briefly home for French painter Paul Gauguin, and inland is Morne Rouge, site of MacIntosh Plantation, cultivator of Martinique’s well-known flower, the anthurium. Be sure to tour one of Martinique’s 12 fine rum distilleries. The island boasts France’s official appellation for producing agricultural Rhum (a label like Cognac or Champagne).
Les Saintes
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.
The history of Les Saintes is as rich as their cuisine. Columbus spied these islands on November 4, 1493, three days after the Feast of All Saints. He named the archipelago Los Santos which was later revised by the French to Les Saintes. (Every November 1, Les Saintois observe All Saints Day (Toussaint) by illuminating their cemeteries with a profusion of candles.)
The first French settlers ventured here in the mid-l7th century, and the neighboring seas subsequently served as the battleground for many a skirmish with the British. One of the most famous, the great naval battle of l782 between Admirals Rodney and de Grasse, was fought in the channel of Les Saintes, and resulted in three decades of British rule. The Saints were returned to the French through the Treaty of Paris in 1815.
Some of the history is recalled in Terre-de-Haut's most important annual event, La Fête des Saintes, a two-day affair celebrated every August. On August 15, it commemorates the first expulsion of British invaders in l666 and on August 16, it honors the Virgin Mary and all local sailors ever lost at sea. There are speeches and parades, a blessing of boats and ribbon-cutting for various enterprises related to fishing and the sea, which support the bulk of the island's economy. It is also, of course, a time for wining, dining, and dancing. But because Terre-de-Haut is so small and its festival so popular, these two days in August are best left for the homefolk to enjoy by themselves, or with visiting relatives and yachtsmen from nearby islands.
Marie-Galante
This enchanting island has long been the best-kept secret in the Caribbean. Located about 30 km (18 mi) south of Guadeloupe, fortunate visitors to Marie-Galante will discover rolling green hills, turquoise lagoons, picturesque villages and magnificent beaches. The magic of the true Caribbean awaits within its circular coastline.
The white sand beaches of Marie-Galante are considered to be among the most beautiful in the entire Caribbean. But they are only the beginning of the island's wonders. Visitors will feel they have moved back in time to an era of charming architecture, nineteenth century windmills and colorful markets. Traditional oxcarts are seen bringing in crops from the cane fields. This is a place of mystical beauty with lush greenery and fascinating historical sites such as the 18th century Château Murat. There are unique natural attractions to explore as well, such as the breathtaking Gueule Grand Gouffre (the Mouth of the Giant) and the Trou à Diable (the Devil's Hole) with its subterranean lake. Marie-Galante is a perfect island to explore by car, scooter, mountain-bike or hiking.
The gentle inhabitants of this extraordinary island have, in their wisdom, preserved the timeless quality of Marie-Galante. It remains untouched by mass tourism. About half of the island's population of 13,000 lives in the main town of Grand-Bourg. Most of the others are divided between the coastal villages of Saint-Louis and Capesterre. With an area of about 164 sq km (63 sq mi), Marie-Galante is one of the larger islands in the French West Indies and offers a fascinating new world to explore.
Marie-Galante is 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.
Politically, Marie-Galante is one of several dependency islands of Guadeloupe, which in turn is an Overseas Department and Region of France.
Originally called "Kalina" by the Arawak Indians, the island was "discovered" by Columbus on November 3, 1493 and renamed after his flagship Santa Maria La Galante. For more than three centuries, Carib Indians, French, English and Dutch fought for its treasures. In the 19th century, it finally became French and began to focus its economy on the cultivation of sugar cane. At its zenith, there were over one hundred windmills in operation on the island. Today, sugar production remains as the principal industry while the island's distilleries produce a potent, high quality rum that is famous throughout the Caribbean. Fishing and tourism are secondary factors in the local economy.
