Colours of Guadeloupe....

One of the things that really makes your day when you are in Guadeloupe are all the colours around! In the nature, in the houses, on the market: everything is cheerful and with tons of different colours! So you can not not smile:-) The typical creole houses are a real treat to look at, so are the flowers in the gardens and along the road...Enjoy and soak all the SUNSHINE hiding in theses pictures!

Turtle-Christmas-day in les Saintes, Guadeloupe

Underwater on the 25th of December one big and friendly hawksbill turtle decided to spend some 20 minutes with us. What a pleasure!!!!! After the turtle took some air from the surface she followed us and we could observe her closely while Claire, our amazing dive instructor and close turtle-friend, was giving her instructions on how to avoid the fishermen nets and to take care of her. A lot of turtles in the Caribbean sea find their death because of increased fishing activities. More than 60% of the turtles in les Saintes disappeared/ died in the last 3-4 years.

 

Caribbean sea movies...

Today I would like to share some underwater movies with you...One of a pretty hungry turtle...



Next one is a photo of a shy long nose seahorse and one showing how big aquarium Reserve Cousteau in Guadeloupe is....





Enjoy!

Marie Galante: about the beaches and the curious crabs...

As i had mentioned in my previous blog entry, the island Marie-Galante is famous for its beautiful and not at all crowded white-sand beaches. The beaches are coming of course in set with huge coconut palm trees and plenty of signs to watch yourself because of the falling down fruits

Another nice part of the beaches are the plenty of curious crabs running around. Have a look for yourself and enjoy!

Marie-Galante: the Caribbean sugar cane island...

There are several nicknames for the small Caribbean island between Guadeloupe and Dominique called Marie-Galante. Some people call it the island of the 100 windmills (" l'île aux cent moulins "), from which only 77 are left nowadays here. Others refer to it as "la Galette" (a round and flat French cake), having in mind its round shape of 15 km diameter.

 

The name Marie-Galante was given to it from Christophe Columbus in 1493, it was the name of his ship. This green piece of nature is known not only for having the best beaches of Guadeloupe-archipelago but also (on top of that) also for having the best rum-distilleries in the area. The huge fields of sugar cane are used for the production of sugar, rum and the famous local product called "sirop de batterie", a very thick concentrated extract of sugar cane juice.

 
One of the most common landscapes while driving around the island is the one below: cows and bulls with wide sugar cane fields behind or next to them. The island exports 13 tonnes sugar every year for further treating and it uses 1 tonne..

Fort Napoléon aux Saintes

Around 15 minutes pretty steep walk takes you to the fortress known as „Fort Napoléon" in Terre-de-Haut, les Saintes. The view (from around 114m) to the island and the rest of the archipelago is worth the effort. The fort, where Napoleon actually had never been too (even if the name might let you think so), replaced the "Fort Louis" (destroyed 1809 by the English) and its building was finished in 1867. An exotic cactus-garden decorates the top of the thick and wide stone walls of the fort. The inside of the building operates as a museum. There one may discover different items: from old pictures and exotic shells to typical items "santoises" like boats and the hat „salako"....

The local guide has a story to almost every one of them. So we learnt that the male iguana is much more beautiful than the female-because of the longer ale and the stripes on it. Also: some dead corals were used as building materials from the locals for hundred of years now. Personally I really enjoyed the map of Guadeloupe and les Saintes made with the sand of the different beaches around the islands...