Boat trip in the Saintes Archipelago

I’m back at the beginning of 2025 with a brand new article about Guadeloupe. At the end of 2024, between Christmas and New Year, we decided to spend a few days in the Saintes archipelago. I’ve already told you about it in two articles dedicated to the islands of Terre-de-Haut and Terre-de-Bas, the two main islands that make up the archipelago. Today, I’m going to tell you about a unique experience: a boat trip in the Saintes archipelago, organised by Mawaly Excursion.

If you’ve been following us around here for a while, you’ll know that we often use the Manawa website to book activities for our weekends in Guadeloupe or even our holidays. It really is a serious site that we can recommend 100%, with our eyes closed, to anyone who wants to book their activity before they leave.

In this context, in partnership with Manawa and Mawaly Excursion, we were able to discover a boat trip proposed by the company, which allowed us to discover all the islands and islets that make up the Les Saintes archipelago.

As we always point out, although this is a partnership, we are 100% autonomous and in control of everything that is written in this article. Let me take you on a tour of this beautiful cruise!

If you’re looking for another heavenly place to go boating and enjoy a bit of idleness, a nice aperitif and a beautiful crossing in the open sea, I invite you to read Mélanie’s account of her boat trip to the islands of Petite-Terre, off the coast of Grande-Terre.

If you’re looking for other activities to try in Guadeloupe, we also loved paddle boarding in the mangroves and, of course, flying over Pointe des Châteaux and La Désirade in a microlight!

In Terre-de-Haut, we did many activities with Loisirs aux Saintes and we’ll tell you all about them!

If you’re looking for more activity ideas, we’ve rounded up the best things to do in Guadeloupe!

As I said at the beginning of this article, we came for three days to try this boat trip, but also to do other activities with another company that I’ll tell you about in a future article (paddle, seabob, transparent kayak).

Having arrived the day before, we set off as planned at 09:30 from the pier next to Le Génois restaurant (although we could have left earlier!). It’s the little pontoon on the left when you arrive by boat. We say hello to Arnaud (from Voile Ô Saintes), with whom we’d set off a few months ago (see the link below to the article describing that trip). We met Estelle, who we’d spoken to on the phone the day before, and especially Rémy, our skipper for the day.

The weather is beautiful – we’re lucky, especially after the heavy rains of the last few weeks. The atmosphere is relaxed: we’re with a group of Marseillais on holiday. Everyone’s in a good mood and we think this is going to be a great morning!

Rémy starts by presenting the morning’s programme, and frankly, the guy seems really nice! We then head off towards what’s known as the Maison-Bateau. Rémy explains that it once belonged to a photographer who lived there. In 1955, it was bequeathed to the Terre-de-Haut community on the condition that it be used by doctors sent to the Saintes. The house was destined to become a museum, but was partially destroyed by cyclone Maria in 2017.

We continue along the coast to the famous Anse Mire, which has a nice little beach and restaurant (La Saladerie). Opposite the restaurant is a famous snorkelling spot. From the boat you can see iguanas sunning themselves in the trees! At the northern end of the bay you’ll find the oldest hotel on the island, the Kanaoa, named after the sea-going pirogues (“kanawa”) that were once made from white rubber trees. Rémy explains the geological formation of Guadeloupe and the differences between the limestone Grande-Terre and the volcanic Basse-Terre (and Les Saintes).

We continued to îlet à Cabrit, the largest island in the archipelago after Terre-de-Bas and Terre-de-Haut. We’d heard a lot about this island, but we’d never been there before. The views over the island of Guadeloupe are magnificent in this fine weather: you can even see the Vieux Fort lighthouse quite clearly. As we walk around the island, we enjoy the beautiful scenery and the turquoise water all around us. Rémy explains that it’s possible to be left on the island for several hours or even a day, with the possibility of organising transport and food. We’ll probably try that on our next visit. In fact, the small beaches around the island make you want to go for a swim!

We left the site and headed for Crawen Beach, a magnificent beach not far from the Bois Joli Hotel, where we had stayed on our previous visit. Arriving at this beach is magnificent, with turquoise waters and bright sunshine. Many divers are in the area to watch the large turtles. We were lucky enough to spot some from the boat. It’s always magical to see them rise to the surface!

We continue to sail towards the islands in front of us: Augustins, Coche and Grand-îlet. Rémy explains that these islands correspond to the edge of an ancient crater that has now collapsed. The weather is as good as ever and, frankly, it’s a pleasure. Rémy also takes us to a beautiful spot on Grand-îlet where water gushes out of the rocks, the “Souffleur” spot. Although the weather is fine and the sea very calm, we do get a few splashes! We pass between the îles Augustins and Grand-îlet, gently skirting the rocky îles Augustins. The water is amazingly clear here, wow! We get very close to the cliffs and even come across a group who have come to snorkel!

We head back towards Terre-de-Bas and the famous Grande Baie. We had stopped to sail with Arnaud in this very calm bay. We had a snorkelling break and I have to admit that I’m frankly reluctant to go in the water. It might make you smile, but we’re in the coolest part of the year and the water temperature is clearly not in my favour, haha. To please the children, I jumped in with Téo and Louis. Téo, who was afraid of the water until recently, is making incredible progress, so much so that he’ll swim with me all the way to the island of Terre-de-Bas, thanks to a fish fry. But on the way back he’ll be fine without it, swimming out to sea for a minute like an adult before clinging to the boat. The bay is famous for its turtles, but unfortunately I won’t have the chance to see any during this break.

We finish the morning by heading to the famous Sugar Loaf beach, the most famous. It’s not exactly my favourite beach, although I know it will be packed with people when we’re there, as it was last time. In my opinion, there are better and quieter beaches on the island! Anyway, we use this second stop on the island to have a drink with Rémy and the rest of the boat! The choice is endless: coconut punch, maracuja punch, planteur, juice! It’s all great! We spend half an hour in this beautiful setting and call it a day at 12:30!

Without wishing to sound pretentious, we’ve been on many lagoon cruises, whether in Mayotte, Polynesia, New Caledonia or Guadeloupe. And I have to say, it was a great half-day! The weather was fine, the water was beautiful, there were some great snorkelling spots and, above all, this trip allowed you to discover the islands in the south of the archipelago, which are rarely seen! The atmosphere on the boat was great and the skipper (Rémy) very cool, so for me it’s a no-brainer! We recommend it 100%, nothing to complain about!

We’d like to say a few words about Mawaly Excursions. It’s worth noting that we set off from the island of Terre-de-Haut, but this excursion can also be done from the town of Trois-Rivières, on Basse-Terre! Admittedly, the price is a little higher, but if you hadn’t planned to stay overnight in Les Saintes, it’s a great way to discover the archipelago in one day, and it’s much easier to organise as they take care of everything!

They also organise trips to Marie-Galante and private tours on request.

Finally, Mawaly also offers a transport service between Terre-de-Haut and Terre-de-Bas, which is very interesting if you’re planning to discover both islands and spend some time there (which we highly recommend).

As always, a few words on the practical side!

I won’t go into all the details in the Terre-de-Haut or Terre-de-Bas articles, as we explain all the options for getting to Les Saintes. But to summarise, there are several companies offering transport services from the towns of Basse-Terre, Pointe-à-Pitre and Trois-Rivières. The average cost is €25 for one adult. For the four of us from Trois-Rivières it was €85.

It all depends on how much time you have to visit Les Saintes, but we’d definitely recommend spending several days here to get the most out of the place! If you need to hire a car for your stay in Guadeloupe, we recommend you take a look at the Discovercars comparison site, which offers very competitive prices! On the island of Terre-de-Haut, you’ll need to rent a scooter, an electric bike or a small cart. It all depends on the number of people in your party and your budget!

If you’re planning to stay in the area to discover the countryside, flora and fauna, here are a few good places to stay:

• Hôtel Bois Joli: a lovely hotel with a swimming pool and a beautiful beach! There’s plenty to do on site and you can even hire a boat to explore the local seabed.
• Résidence hôtelière Hurlevent: close to the town centre, this is an excellent place with flattering reviews (we’d like to try it next time, I think).
• Village Le Pré: another very good address with a good reputation on the island.

By the way, we’ve put together a complete guide to where to stay in Les Saintes (including Terre-de-Haut and Terre-de-Bas).

I’m coming to the end of this article about cruising around the Saintes archipelago. I’m repeating myself, but we had a great time with Mawaly Excursion, which we recommend 100%! We don’t think you’ll be disappointed, especially if you’re a catamaran sailor who likes to discover beautiful places.

In a completely different style, we’ve already done a sailing trip to Les Saintes, between Terre-de-Bas and Terre-de-Haut, for a few hours. It was very different, but just as interesting.

See you soon for a new discovery!

Written by Sylvain PONS

Since 2021, I've been living in the Guadeloupe archipelago with Mélanie and our two children. We are exploring these beautiful islands and discovering the treasures that we are happy to share with you!

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