LA DESIRADE

A cliffy tableland, Désirade sits E of Guadeloupe like a forward sentry post. Short of water and desperately hoping for landfall during his second voyage, Columbus named the island Désirada in November 1493. It wasn’t a very suitable name for an island destined to have a sad future. From the beginning of the 18th century it became a place of exile for lepers and, a few decades later, for the sons of delinquent families. Some noble family names from France, hardly changed, can still be found amongst the island’s surnames. The arid soil was only able to support small-scale cotton farming, and that soon disappeared when slavery was abolished. Thereafter the Désiradiens made their meagre subsistence from market gardening, fishing or, for those who were bold enough, as crew on the merchantmen.

The leprosarium was closed in 1954. Since then the more or less mixed race population of 1700, smallholders and fishermen rubbing along on their 22 sq km of limestone pebble, have rarely known better days. From time to time a hurricane, like Hugo in 1989, devastates the island’s fragile economy, leaving in its wake just a few shattered cottages. For a while now, attracted by the austere and wild beauty of the wave-beaten cliffs where one can imagine oneself on the prow of a ship, a few tourists have started to arrive. Others are happy with the quiet, sandy beaches like Anse Petite Rivière and Plage du Souffleur. The two main settlements are little more than villages. Grande Anse (or Beauséjour) in the W and Baie Mahault in the E are joined by the island’s only road. Places to stay are few and simple with prices to match. The restaurants, simple ‘lolos’, serve Creole dishes, plain and unpretentious. On top of that you can expect kindness and a warm welcome. Regular small ferries from Désirade’s little fishing harbour to St François on Guadeloupe take less than an hour.

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