Sandbar islets with a few palms and nothing else, mangrove channels full of juvenile fish, reef on the barrier and the…Sandbar islets with a few palms and nothing else, mangrove channels full of juvenile fish, reef on the barrier and the Basse-Terre volcano behind you. It is the shallow-water half of Guadeloupe that most charters never enter. Guadeloupe is two islands joined by mangrove, and the Rivière Salée channel between them made the lagoon a working waterway. The reserve was created in the 1980s and the national park now covers the reef, the mangrove and the volcano together. Anchorage: A lagoon of 15,000 hectares behind a barrier reef, scattered with sand and mangrove islets, Îlet Caret, Îlet Blanc, Îlet Fajou, Îlet la Biche. French guides call it one of the finest natural reserves in the Antilles, and it is flat water inside. Hazards: Reef passes need daylight and a chart; the Rivière Salée through to Pointe-à-Pitre has a fixed bridge with limited opening times and shoal depths. More