The Saintes
'Sarf & West mate, Sarf & West'
Pete Bernfeld
Tue 24 Mar 2009 18:12
Had a bit of a rolly night last night [no, it was a northerly swell] but the anchor held OK so I needn't have got up what seemed like every hour to check.
Anyway, had a wander around, the place is pretty much the same as it was 13 years ago, just more of it. More boutiques, more restaurants, more guesthouses, more places renting scooters & more cars. The tourists arrive about 0930, so all the shops open as the first ferry docks, then all hell breaks loose, with scooters everywhere.
I walked up the hill to Fort Napoleon [where they have a table-top model of the battle of the Saintes. Strangely enough, in this model it looks like the French won
). They wanted a €4 entrance fee and as no ATM machines are working on the island, it was a toss up between the entrance fee or a baguette and ice cream. I leave you to guess which side the coin came down.......correct!As you see below, the French habit of 'idiosyncratic' vehicles is alive & well.
The place is quite expensive, so probably lucky that no ATM machines were working. A case of beer=€28, large baguette[freshly baked] €0.90, a double scoop of ice cream €3.5 (just a guess of course, I saw the price list, honest
), scooters €25 per day and the boutique prices, well my dears, simply outrageous! Off back to Dominica tomorrow (Rouseau), overnight then on to Martinique, probably check in at St Pierre anchor for the night then hide in Trois Islets until monday when the forcast northerly swell should be gone (and find the light-fingered git who took my camera!). After that maybe Marin for some boaty bits, a day or so in St Lucia then down to Bequia. Well, it's a plan!
