All of the caribbean islands we had visited to date were similar to those in the Bahamas, in that their primary populations were descendants of slaves, which had been imported to provide agricultural labor. The culture of these other Islands generally all runs together without a distinguishable flavor that significantly differentiates one from another.
The Town of Le Bourg and the Island of Terre de Haut are French in most every respect. Les Saintes have been French since shortly after they were colonized. With agriculturally poor soil the French who settled on Terre de Haut relied on fishing for a living. The majority of the population on Terre de Haut today are Breton fisherman and Norman sailors or their descendants. Many have blue eyes. All speak French and few we found were bilingual. Most of the tourist and boaters we saw were also French speaking.
Le Bourg has no large resorts to compete with the architecture of the town. The town's architectural style of red metal roofs with white or pastel colored walls was Caribbean. Most other Caribbean towns only have a spattering of style. The architecture of almost all of Le Bourg's buildings are of this style creating a picturesque Caribbean village, with the charm of a Mediterranean seaside town.
There is no marina or docks, except for passenger ferry docks and a dingy dock. There is a mooring field in the bay in front of the Le Bourg and on the south side Cabrit Island, or you can anchor behind the large 200 ft. high rock with vertical fissures known as Pain de Sucre, to the south west of town. In addition larger boats can anchor behind the mooring fields but the water is 70 ft. deep. All the moorings were taken and the anchorage behind Pain de Sucre was full. We anchored behind and to the west of the Cabrit island moorings. This was the calmest of the three possible locations.
We had dinner in town near the dingy dock. The other patrons were mostly young couples that arrived on motor scooters.
Mooring at LeBourg
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