Something’s Fishy on French Caribbean Island

TERRE DE HAUT, French West Indies —  Of all the French islands in the Caribbean, where the dollar has been chasing the French franc into the wild-blue stratosphere, Les Saintes, a string of eight droplets just seven miles from Guadeloupe, are still a heavenly haven.

Only two of the eight islands are inhabited, and only Terre de Haut, with 1,500 residents, has hotels.

Les Saintes, with its sprinkling of restaurants, bistros and lodgings, is about where St. Barts was a dozen or more years ago, where Marigot on the French side of St. Martin was a score of years ago and where parts of the Cote d’Azur were half a century ago.

Terre de Haut is barely three miles long and two miles wide, and issues license plates to fewer than two-dozen motorized vehicles. It has one doctor, who, fortunately for visitors and residents alike, is married to a dentist. They live in an unmistakable house shaped like the prow of a boat.

Other houses are tinted in bright colors and further enhanced by brilliant hues of bougainvillea.

They set off the somber tone of the cemetery, where conch shells are used to decorate the graves of Bretons and Normans who came here as sailors centuries ago.

Not sailors now, but more likely fishermen, the men of Les Saintes affect a flat straw hat called a salako , which is said to have originated in the Orient and brought here centuries ago by a seafarer.

The men fish now in the turquoise sea with blue netting, which makes a colorful setting when hung out to dry, dotted as they are with ocher-hued buoys.

What the fishermen net catches appears for lunch and dinner at 15 or so restaurants, where the menu is likely to accent Creole cooking.

Blaff de poissons , a fish stew, is popular throughout the French West Indies, as are stuffed land crabs called crabes farcis . Kingfish is called tazard in these parts, and tuna, called thon , is often served smoked.

Sitting on the bay at Anse Mire, Le Foyal has tables set at bayside terraces, where the fare might be stuffed with fillets, lobster rillettes or andouillettes grilled with bananas.

On the way to the Plage des Pompierre, a more formal restaurant called the Relais des Iles requires reservations, is more expensive and can serve fillet of duck, fish pates and marinated dorado, called mahi-mahi elsewhere around the world. The tab here might get close to $50 per person, with wine.

The restaurants of Les Saintes are also famed for Tourment d’Armour or “agony of love,” which turns out to be a coconut tart also peddled by barefoot kids on the piers.

The Village Creole has 22 housekeeping villas with kitchens, laundry, bath, dining room and two bedrooms. Figure on $125 a day for two looking at the water, and $100 a day for two facing the garden. After mid-April the rates drop about 40%. Write to Village Creole, 97137 Terre de Haut, Les Saintes.

The mayor has a hotel, too, the Auberge des Anacardiers, a 10-room inn where two meals a day are included in the price.

If all you get is a view of a mango tree, the cost is about $100 a day for two, but better locations cost $125. Dark and homey is the tone, although the mayor’s name, Robert Joyeux, translates to “Bob the Happy One.” Write to Auberge des Anacardiers, 97137 Terre de Haut, Les Saintes.

If you’re lodging with the mayor, you can cool off in his pool. The beach called the Plage des Pompierre may be topless, but a prominent sign announces, “Nudism is not permitted on Les Saintes.”

No matter, because another beach over the hill at Anse Crawen is set apart for nude sunbathers.

Up on the hill, the Bois Joli Hotel, with its view of harbor and yachts, will put you up in one of five bungalows at $93 single, or $117 for two with two meals, down to $86 single and $110 for two after mid-April. Write to Bois Joli Hotel, 97137 Terre de Haut, Les Saintes.

The yacht people usually congregate at the Cafe de la Marine at sunset. Drinks and classical music go on until about 10 p.m.

The Cha-cha disco is not named for the dance but for a bait fish. That is as far as night life goes--no casinos and no movie theaters. For those, one has to go to Guadeloupe, 15 minutes away by air, a little longer by ferry. For more information on the French West Indies, contact the French Government Tourist Office, 9454 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 303, Los Angeles 90212, or call (213) 271-6665.