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From
Pointe-à-Pitre, flights depart
via Air Caraibes (tel. 0820/825-825) two
or three times a day for the 15-minute
ride to Terre-de-Haut, on the Iles des
Saintes. The airport is a truncated landing
strip that accommodates nothing larger
than small propeller planes such as a
20-seat Twin Otter.
Since
air connections from Grande-Terre to Terre-de-Haut
are scheduled only three days a week ,
most islanders reach Terre-de-Haut by
ferryboat, for which there are two distinctly
different departure points. Every Monday
and Thursday at 8am, boats leave Pointe-à-Pitre's
Gare Maritime de Bergevin, Centreville,
across the street from the city's biggest
open-air market, arriving an hour later
on Terre-de-Haut. Returns from Terre-de-Haut
for Pointe-à-Pitre are scheduled
those same days (Monday to Thursday) at
4pm. For transit information, contact
Exprès des Iles at tel. 590/91-52-15).
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Other
ferryboats, operated by a different carrier,
depart twice a day from Guadeloupe's port at
Trois-Rivieres (near the southern of Basse-Terre)
at 6:45am and 3:45pm, taking 25 or 30 minutes
for the transit to the quays at Bourg, on Terre-de-Haut.
Boats return to Trois-Rivieres from Terre-de-Haut
every day at 8:30am and 6:30pm. For transit
information, contact the Compagnie des Iles
du Sud (tel. 590/98-30-08).
Visitor Information
In the center of town and easy
to spot is the Office du Tourisme, 39 rue de
la Grand Anse, Bourg, 97137 Terre-de-Haut (tel.
590/99-58-60). Its information, for the most
part, is in French, but a map of the island
might come in handy.
On an island that doesn't have
a single car-rental agency, you get about by
walking or riding a bike or motor scooter, which
can be rented at hotels and in town near the
pier. Localizé, at Route Aerodrome in
Terre-de-Haut (tel. 590/99-51-99), rents both
motorboats and scooters.
There
are also minibuses called taxis de l'Ile (eight
in all), which take six to eight passengers.
Two
wheel Transportation
Scooters
are available for rent in various locations
near the pier and in the small town of Bourg.
A credit card deposit is usually required as
damage insurance. Although the scooters can
carry two passengers, we recommend only one
person per vehicle on the hilly, twisting island
roads unless the driver is experienced. Scooter
riding is prohibited in town from 9:00 to noon
and from 14:00 to 16:00. Standard bicycles and
mountain bikes are also available for visitors
in good physical condition.
For
a small fee, shuttle boats (navettes) make round-trips
between Terre-de-Haut and Terre-de-Bas five
times per day.
Links
& Sources:
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