SFR

Saint-François

PTR

Petite Terre

Nature reserve, iguanas and a turtle lagoon

Tour

€92

Crossing

45 min

Operator

AWAK

After 3 days in Guadeloupe, we set sail for Petite Terre, an archipelago about twenty kilometres off Saint-François. A real favourite.

✓ Booking ahead is essential

✎ What makes Petite Terre unique in the world: its iguanas. The archipelago is home to more than 10,000 Lesser Antillean iguanas — around a third of the world population of this threatened species. Unlike the common iguana, it's grey rather than green. Its biggest threat is hybridisation with the green iguana introduced elsewhere in the Antilles: when the two cross, green always wins. It now survives in pure form on only a handful of islands, Petite Terre and La Désirade among them.

The archipelago is made up of two uninhabited islets, Terre-de-Haut and Terre-de-Bas, separated by a 150-metre channel that forms the lagoon. They've been a national nature reserve since 1998, managed by France's National Forests Office. Terre-de-Haut is entirely closed to the public, guides included, to protect the species nesting there. Terre-de-Bas only takes a limited number of visitors a day, with around twenty licensed boats — book at least ten days ahead.

7:45am

Saint-François marina

Boarding with AWAK

≈ 45 min

Crossing

A pod of dolphins along the way

All day

Terre-de-Bas

Exploring the island, snorkelling in the lagoon, barbecue

5:00pm

Back at the marina

A glass-bottom boat ride to spot the harder-to-reach seabed

AWAK tour / adult (2022)€92

AWAK tour / child 5-11 (2022)€58

Current range across operators≈ €78 - €148

✎ Included in our tour: glass-bottom boat, snorkelling and gear, aperitif, barbecue and dessert with ti-punch, guided visit.

01On Terre-de-Bas

Once ashore, you discover incredible wildlife and plants — iguanas above all, everywhere and surprisingly unbothered, some over a metre long, and hermit crabs all over the sand.

With a mask and snorkel, the turquoise lagoon reveals turtles, rays and brightly coloured fish among the coral, sometimes in less than a metre of water.

✎ The lagoon is also a lemon shark nursery. These are juveniles, completely harmless, often seen in very shallow water: a real privilege, not a cause for alarm.

The lighthouse at the end of the world

Built in 1840, it's Guadeloupe's first lighthouse and the island's only building. At 23 metres tall, it rises from the dry scrub of Terre-de-Bas and now houses a small information space about the reserve.

02The reserve's rules

Feed nothing

No species at all, however insistent — and the iguanas know how to be around the barbecues.

Touch nothing, take nothing

Not the turtles, not the coral, not the shells, which shelter the hermit crabs.

Stay on the paths

The vegetation is fragile, and part of the island is a laying and nesting area.

✎ On site, there's nothing: no snack bar, no shower, no drinking water. Your operator generally provides the meal, but bring plenty of water, a hat and sun protection — the island has very little shade beyond the sea grape trees along the beach.

On the way back, as we left this little paradise, we were lucky enough to spot whales.

✎ They were most likely humpback whales, which come to breed in the warm waters of the Antilles and pass off Guadeloupe from January to April. In February, like us, you're right in the season.