Ile-a-Vache

Across the bay from Les Cayes, Ile-a-Vache runs to a different clock: an island of palm-backed coves - Abaka Bay's crescent the celebrated one - where fishing sloops under patched sail are the traffic, villages like Madame Bernard keep market days by pirogue arrival, and the hills between the beaches walk green and easy. History gives it flavour (pirate lore attaches to every Caribbean island this pretty, and a curious American colonisation scheme touched it in the 1860s), but the present is the point: hammocks, grilled lobster negotiated on the sand, and nights lit by lamps and stars in roughly equal measure.

History

Spain claimed the island in 1492 as part of Hispaniola and called it Isla Vaca, and after the Treaty of Ryswick of 1697 gave western Hispaniola to France it took its present name, Île-à-Vache. The buccaneer Henry Morgan often used it as a base: in January 1669 he gathered ten ships and 800 men here before a raid on Cartagena, and during the celebrations the gunpowder of his flagship, HMS Oxford, exploded and sank it, a wreck found in 2004; in 1675-1676 he was wrecked here again on his way to Jamaica as its Lieutenant Governor (Wikipedia, Île-à-Vache).

What you'll find

• Abaka Bay - the white crescent counted among the Caribbean's loveliest.
• The sail fleet - fishing sloops working the bay under canvas.
• Madame Bernard's market - island commerce by pirogue.
• The hill walks - green paths between coves and villages.

When to go

December to April is dry and settled for the crossing and the beaches; arrange boats and stays ahead through the island's small lodges. Mornings make the calmest water.

Before you go

Arrangements run best through trusted local contacts and lodges who know the day's picture. On the island itself, life is simple: limited power, cash only, and hospitality that outruns the infrastructure.

Nearby

Les Cayes, Port-Salut's beaches on the mainland and the Grotte Marie-Jeanne westward.

Key facts