From: SurffOhio
Newsgroups: alt.surfing
Subject: Re: Guadeloupe Surf ?
Date: 7 Nov 1996
My apologies if this subject has been brought up before. I have a friend who is going to Guadeloupe for next week, and he was wondering if there was any waves there or good spots to go to? One of the important questions to ask when you are packing for a vacation :-)
There is surfing on the NE section of the island. There is a surf club on the Island, but I forget the name of it. Check with the Holiday Inn there, they should have the name and phone number. It’s the phone number of a guy in the club.
There was a contest in progress when I was there. The surf was 8′ and it was in the summertime. He was very friendly and wanted me to come out there, but it would have been a long haul in a taxi.
I would have gotten into it, but I was too busy signing autographs (Ha!). I just ended up at the Holiday Inn. The surf was very small, but it was beautiful.
I’ve seen posts asking for info on the Caribbean before. As a tip, the major hotels normally have good leads on surfing and other water sports. It’s their job.
You can call them from the states and they will give you good info. Have fun. Surff
I’ve read that guadaloupe is deeply french, with very little english spoken; my spanish is solid, but french nearly nonexistant – is this true?
Yes, the islands are both very French, not many of the people speak English. Some of the surfers do, the traveling surfers from France. Some of the younger surfers can speak English from what they’ve learned in school.
Bring a dictionary!
It was nice on this visit to surf all the north coast spots in Guadeloupe. There’s a lot of breaks there, and if you want the surf to yourself, just get up early and it’s all yours!
I also surfed a spot that was new for me on Martinique, called Pelle-a-tarte, and it’s a great reef suck-up vertical takeoff right. Again, another spot that you can catch without anyone out if you get on it early (before 10!).
Sold both of my boards the morning that I left Martinique.
Air France was a pain this time concerning the surfboards. I had a 9’0″ longboard and a 7’0″ rounded pin with me. The boards didn’t make it on the flight from Miami to Guadeloupe (despite my cash tips!), luckily I scored a board the night I got there from the local shaper in Ste. Anne. My boards came in 2 days later. Then, flying from Guad to Martinique, they told me that the boards wouldn’t fit, but after about 20 minutes of confusion, they told me they could squeeze the boards on. The good part of this is that Air France has never charged for bringing boards although their official policy does charge extra.
Anyway, that’s why I’m finally thinking about a bisect. We want to surf a few other of the French islands and the planes there are smaller.
