Caribbean Compass Yachting Magazine - October 2021

DESTINATIONS
LES ILES DE LA PETIT-TERRE
by Chris Doyle
OCTOBER 2021 CARIBBEAN COMPASS PAGE 20
Insets from left: Moorings are in the deepest part of the lagoon.
West of the lighthouse, Terre de Bas is densely wooded. We got lost in the maze of old hunting trails.
It isn’t prettiest reef you will find, but it attracts abundant sea life. Main image: Terre de Haut is a valuable bird nesting site, so access is limited to a tiny beach.
W
hen I started writing The Cruising Guide to
the Leeward Islands a quarter of a century
ago, I heard about les Iles de la Petit-Terre. It
was portrayed as a magical place: two uninhabited
islands on the edge of the world, a palm-backed beach,
a good anchoring area with ten to 12 feet of water, and
a lovely reef. But — and it was big but — it was subject
to swells and you had to cross a hard dead-coral bar of
only seven or eight feet, making it, I was told, dangerous
to approach in a boat like mine, which in those days was
the CSY41 Helos, which had a six-and-a-half-foot draft.
I heeded the warnings for a year or two, but I was
intensely curious so when conditions were reasonably
calm and I had my good friend Paul on board, we
decided to investigate.
It is fun sailing to les Iles de la Petit-Terre because
they are very low lying, and the first thing you see is a
lighthouse sticking up in the middle of the ocean. Once
you get closer it is easy to make out the two islands. We
sailed towards the entrance till we were in water about
ten feet deep, and then dropped the anchor in the
gentle swell outside the bar. It is not often flat calm, but
there were no big or breaking waves. We launched the
dinghy and explored with a hand-held GPS and lead
line, and measured the depths on the bar. In this we
were pleasantly surprised — it looked like the best
approach had depths of at least eight feet.
We returned to Helos, raised the anchor, motored in,
and anchored in the lagoon. In those days it was less
visited and not yet an active marine park, though there
was already a small day-charter trade of catamarans
coming over from Guadeloupe. We walked all round the
smaller island, Terre de Haut, and up to the lighthouse
and the eastern cliffs on Terre de Bas. We snorkeled all
over, taking the dinghy to the outer part of the reef.
I have visited nearly every other year since then and
was happy to see it become an active marine park.
This has come with moorings, which are in the deepest
part of the lagoon. The ones for visitors are spaced in
an easterly line and close together so they can get the
most boats in. They have a few extra moorings for the
big day-charter boats, which get a bit more space.
As waves break over the outside reef they get
funneled into the narrower cut between the islands,
creating a constant current of about one knot flowing
east to west. I have, on at least one occasion, found
this challenging when trying to pick up a mooring
single-handed, and am happy that, when it was clear
that I was failing, a French yachtsman came over with
a dinghy to give me hand.
With the park came protective regulations. You can
explore all over Terre de Bas, but Terre de Haut is a
valuable bird nesting site, so access is limited to a tiny
beach opposite the moorings that you are allowed to
swim to (no dinghies, and good luck with the current).
But exploring further ashore is not permitted. Dinghy
use is now also restricted: you can only go from your
boat to the main beach in Terre de Bas, where you
should tie up to a mooring and wade ashore. When that
regulation first came in, I wondered how I could possibly
get out towards the entrance with all that current
flowing through. In the end it proved not to be that hard.
You swim out close to the land, which keeps you out of
the current, and then when ready to come back, you
head into the current and let it sweep you home.
The seabed includes old, dead coral beaten flat, large
areas of standing but mainly dead coral, with plenty of
holes and hiding spots for fish, some live coral, and
various seagrass beds. It is not the freshest and
prettiest reef you will find, but, being in the middle of
nowhere, with open sea pouring though, it attracts
amazing sea life including many turtles, rays, and
nurse sharks, and I know of nowhere else that has
such an abundance of interesting fish. Since the water
is both shallow and clear you find yourself getting up
close to these with ease. One night I put a light shining
on the water from the back of my boat and it soon
attracted some huge fish. I think they were probably
tarpon. The marine park does now sometimes restrict
snorkeling access in some areas with a line of buoys.
LEXI FISHER