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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)
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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