We awoke this morning in Caribbean France, anchored at the spectacular Isles des Saints. This sun-drenched archipelago is part of the French Maritime Department of Guadalupe and the townspeople use the euro as their unit of currency. Boarding the tenders, many of us made our way to land where we were able to stretch our legs and scale the hill to the well-preserved Fort Napoleon. This fortress, built to protect French interests in the area, was the site of the largest sea battle in the Caribbean—the Battle of the Saints, which was fought in 1782 between the English and the French. While the French lost the battle, they did manage to hold on to Guadeloupe and her neighboring islands and the French influence remains. The Fort here houses one of the best maritime museums in the Caribbean, including marine life displays as well as a succulent garden adorned with sunning iguanas. Best of all, it offered us beautiful breezy views of the red-roofed sleepy town below and the graceful Sea Cloud floating atop the aquamarine waters of the harbor.
In the afternoon, we boarded Zodiacs and had the chance to cool off at the nearby Cabrits Island, snorkeling among trunkfish, damselfish, trumpetfish, and searching for elusive invertebrates like flamingo tongues and fireworms. Our time in the water was a perfect prelude to our afternoon presentation by National Geographic Expert Dr. Tierney Thys, who chronicled the Rise of the Animal Kingdom—half a billion years of animal creativity condensed into 45 minutes. We continued on under sail and in the evening were treated to a hugely entertaining talk by expedition leader Tom O’Brien who regaled us with the colorful history of the Sea Cloud—a tale with lots of twists and turns that left us all even more in awe of this historic sailing vessel.
