Deshaies, Guadeloupe AKA Honore, Sainte Marie

 And only fans of the British/French TV Series 'Death in Paradise' will understand that title. There have been so many British guests on the ship that we had thought they were all on the cruise just to see this port stop. That was partially true, as the many departures for the 'Death in Paradise' tour to a number of the series shooting locations were booked up and waitlisted, and so many people were talking about the series that the ship's TV was even showing some episodes. For those not 'in the know' the show is about a British detective inspector sent to head the investigations department on the French island of Sainte-Marie, and his team. Their cases are often quite ingenious, and always feature a lot of the island's beautiful scenery. The inspector, and they're into the fourth one over 11 seasons, always has a recurring back story or a quirky behaviour, and even the members of the team have developed, gotten promotions out of Sainte-Marie and been replaced over the years, so the dynamic never becomes stale. The show shoots in the Deshaies area for 6 months each year.

Deshaies is not the usual port stop for cruise ships. It is a very, very small town on the north-west coast of the largest island of Guadeloupe, Basse-Terre, and only has  small marina for docking facilities. Cruise ships usually go to the town at Point-a-Pitre which is actually on the island of Grande-Terre, across a very small channel that separates the two. I'm sure we've been there many, many years ago.

The view as we settled into our anchorage in the bay
at Deshaies. 

We were going to tour the Jardins Botanique de Deshaies, the local botanical garden, only a short bus ride out of town, and Mary Ellen even came on the tour with us. The 5 minute tender ride to the very, very tiny 'Port de Deshaies' as it shows on the map - really only a small marina -, and we had about a half hour to explore the town to see if I could find any of the 'Death in Paradise' sites for myself and Jane....yes, we do watch the series on Britbox.

The town - it truly only has two streets - Rue du Poissonier
at the waterfront going in one direction, and the N2,
island main road, in the back going in the other 
through town.

The church which is used quite a bit
in the show

The building of the Honore Police Department, obviously
one of the main sites. They don't even bother to take
down the sign at the door when they're not shooting....
but then, this has become a real tourist destination in
the past 10 years.

Blog update: April 21 - we just watched the final episode of Season 12, and this spot, the Paradise Kafe, played a central role as a crime scene, under another name, of course.

Here's my sketch of the Kafe from the beach:

After our short wander through town, we set off with the group on our tour to the botanical garden. The garden has its own interesting history. The land was originally owned by a French comedian named Coluche. He had made a deal with a friend, Michel Gaillard, to give him land for a palm tree nursery if he maintained the rest of the property for Coluche - Gaillard was an 'interior landscaper', the first one, actually, and needed an ongoing supply of palms - and this was done until Coluche's death not long afterward. Gaillard bought the property and turned it into the botanical garden, with species from all over the world, as well as a 4 bedroom villa for vacation rental (also used in at least 1 episode of DiP that I recall). The 5 hectare garden was built and is now staffed by people all from the Deshaies area and receives over 120,000 visitors each year.

The pool just inside the entrance

The pool when someone throws a little fish food in.

Because the island is a tropical rain forest, as well
as the diverse food sources in the gardens, there are
lots and lots of hummingbirds around

I caught one just as it took off from a
bird of paradise plant

There's also an aviary with lorikeets

...and a herd of flamingos

A lot of the flowers and plants were familiar houseplants to us, just not plants of the huge size they become in their native habitats, and some were a little different. The orchids growing naturally attached to tree trunks were especially lovely. 

Another type of bird of paradise plant

This is called 'Virgin's Tears'

Both of these Macaws are over 30 years
old

More of the flamingoes. There's a lovely
waterfall and pool just outside
the park's restaurant

One of the many palm tree species in the garden.

Our ship at anchor in the bay. That's the island of
Montserrat in the distance.

The moon was hiding behind a cloud as we sailed
out of Deshaies that evening.

We really had no idea what to expect of our day in 'Paradise', but we were very impressed with what we found. It is a beautiful and somewhat unspoiled area, even though it has become very well known due to the TV series. We hope it stays that way.