Cruise Port Spotlight: Basse-Terre, Pointe-a-Pitre and Iles Des Saintes, Guadeloupe

A French isle, less visited than Martinique, Guadeloupe is sometimes called "the butterfly island" due to its shape that loosely resembles that beautiful insect --the two "wings" of the butterfly are Grand-Terre (on the eastern side with rolling hills and sugar plantations) and Basse-Terre (on the western side dotted with banana plantations and mountainous landscapes that are dominated by the 4,104-foot peak of still-active, La Soufriere Volcano). A drawbridge over a river, the Riviere Salee (the Salt River) that flows between the Caribbean from the Atlantic connects both sides of the island.

By Georgina Cruz

November 22, 2010