Grande-Terre — La Saline (Le Gosier) to Le Moule Beach Park

La Saline (Le Gosier)Saint-François (Marina)Sainte-AnneLe Moule Beach Park

1. La Saline (Le Gosier)

   reef_lagoon

   La Saline, Les Salines to everyone local, is at Pointe de la Saline just east of Le Gosier, on the N4 toward Saint-Francois.

   intermediateadvancedtight rigging room

   In seasonDec to Jun

   The model here carries the month's average wind rather than a count of windy days: it reaches 12.1 kt in July, the strongest month it models for this spot.

   La Saline (Le Gosier): the long version, the launch and the rules

   More on La Saline (Le Gosier)

   Inside the reef the water is flat; outside it there are small waves. The wind is the alizes, E to NE, best from the east, and February is usually the most dependable month because that is when the easterly settles. The launch is the problem. The beach is narrow, coconut trees stand close to the water, and getting a kite up or down without a second pair of hands is unpleasant. That is why it reads as an intermediate spot for autonomous riders even though it is sometimes rated for beginners as well. The coral bank offshore can be shallow or uncover, so check your clearance before you ride far out. It is close enough to Pointe-a-Pitre that weekends fill the sand, and sargassum turns up on the beach.

   Getting on the water

   Narrow sandy beach off the N4 on the road to Saint-Francois, with trees at the waterline. Launching and landing among the coconut trees on a tight strip of sand is not easy.

   If it goes wrong

   No lifeguard post and no kite rescue on this beach. The school that teaches here works from a powerboat with a radio link to its instructors, but that covers its own lessons, not passing riders. For anything else, the rescue coordination centre for the Antilles sits in Fort-de-France and covers roughly three million square kilometres: 196 by phone, free and round the clock, or VHF 16.

   Rules and access

   2026: no kite-specific municipal rule is published; Conservatoire du littoral rules for Pointe de la Saline forbid fires, waste dumping and motor-vehicle circulation on Conservatoire land.

   Everything on La Saline (Le Gosier)

2. 

   Saint-François (Marina)

   mixed

   The kite spot at Saint-Francois is the lagoon by the harbour, on the far side of the golf course from town at the east tip of Grande-Terre.

   intermediateadvancedtight rigging room

   In seasonDec to Apr

   The model here carries the month's average wind rather than a count of windy days: it reaches 14 kt in July, the strongest month it models for this spot.

   Saint-François (Marina): the long version, the launch and the rules

   More on Saint-François (Marina)

   Inside the reef the water is flat. Outside it there is swell and bigger waves, so the same day can be a freeride session and a small wave session. Sailboats anchored about 50 m off make the first tacks awkward, and between them and the narrow beach this is an intermediate and expert launch rather than a teaching beach. The sand strip is short with palm trees right behind it, so walk into the water before you send the kite up. Alizes blow NE to E at 12-25 kt through the dry season, best December to April with the season running to July, and the regional average of about 15 kt is why people pack a 12 m. Water is 29 C in summer and 27 C in winter, shorts are enough, and there is no tide inside the bay. Squalls with heavy rain cross fast on days that otherwise look stable.

   Getting on the water

   A short strip of white sand by the harbour, on the far side of the golf course from town. It is narrow, with palm trees close behind and not much room, so move into the water before launching.

   If it goes wrong

   No lifeguard post is documented for this beach, and the boat cover the schools talk about is something arranged for downwinds rather than a boat sitting at the launch. Sea rescue is coordinated by CROSS Antilles-Guyane in Fort-de-France: 196, free from any landline or mobile, or VHF channel 16 if you carry a radio.

   Rules and access

   2026: no local bylaw found for this launch and nothing posted on the beach. The constraint is physical rather than legal, a small riding area with boats anchored in the middle of it, which is why beginners are sent elsewhere.

   Everything on Saint-François (Marina)

3. 

   Sainte-Anne

   mixed

   This is the town beach at Sainte-Anne, the public bathing strip in front of the bourg on the south coast of Grande-Terre, not the Bois Jolan or Anse du Belley lagoon where the schools teach.

   intermediateadvancedtight rigging room

   In seasonDec to Jul

   The model here carries the month's average wind rather than a count of windy days: it reaches 12.8 kt in July, the strongest month it models for this spot.

   Sainte-Anne: the long version, the launch and the rules

   More on Sainte-Anne

   Inside the reef the water is chop, with small to medium waves breaking out on the reef itself. Wind is the standard Grande-Terre pattern, NE to E at 12-25 kt through the December to June alize season, light enough that 11-12 m is the normal kite. Water sits at 29 C in summer and 27 C in winter, so shorts. The problem here is not the wind, it is the beach: small, busy with families, swimmers in the water you have to launch across, which rules out weekends and makes this an intermediate and expert spot by default. Best months are December and January through July, and late August to October is cyclone season. The name is also used online for Bois Jolan or La Caravelle, so check which stretch of sand you are being sent to before you drive out.

   Getting on the water

   A small sand beach on or beside the Sainte-Anne town bathing beach. The hazard at launch is people, not the water.

   If it goes wrong

   Nothing kite-specific on this beach. Sea rescue for Guadeloupe is coordinated by CROSS Antilles-Guyane at Fort-de-France, free and around the clock on 196 from a French line or mobile. The nearest on-water help is the jet-ski a school runs over its own lesson zone on the neighbouring Caravelle stretch, which is a private service for its clients and not cover you can count on.

   Rules and access

   2026: no municipal kite bylaw found for the town beach and no marked zone. The working rule is the obvious one, keep off it at weekends when the bathing beach fills up.

   Everything on Sainte-Anne

4. Le Moule Beach Park

   waves

   Le Moule Beach Park is the wave option on the north coast of Grande-Terre, about 1 km east of Le Moule along the Plage des Alizes and L'Autre Bord shoreline.

   intermediateadvancedsmall rigging room

   In seasonDec to Jul

   The model here carries the month's average wind rather than a count of windy days: it reaches 13.6 kt in July, the strongest month it models for this spot.

   Le Moule Beach Park: the long version, the launch and the rules

   More on Le Moule Beach Park

   One beach, two different pieces of water: a reef-protected lagoon straight off the sand, and an outer reef wave about 150 m out, Les Alizees, known locally as Mini Hookipa, reached through a narrow channel marked by two flags. Small to medium waves inside, 1-2 m usually on the outer reef and up to 4 m when it is big, with storm swell of 3 m or more. The wind is the Alizes trade wind, mainly NE to E; E is cross-shore on the wave, while ESE and SE turn it offshore. It is no place for a beginner: the launch zone is small, the exit is easy to miss, the reef is sharp, sea urchins and coral heads sit where you cannot see them, currents run hard, and surfers are already in the wave. December to April is the season you can defend, widened to December-June or July in other accounts, with January to March the recurring peak. Water is 29 C in summer and 27 C in winter. Treat the map pin with care, because descriptions of Le Moule Beach Park, Le Moule/Lagune and Les Alizees get mixed together.

   Getting on the water

   Small sandy launch at Le Moule Beach Park (Plage des Alizes), about 1 km east of Le Moule on the Alizes and L'Autre Bord coast. The same beach serves two water types: a reef-protected flat lagoon directly offshore, and the outer reef wave, Les Alizees, locally Mini Hookipa, about 150 m out through a narrow channel marked by two flags. The launch zone is small, the channel narrow, and where you enter and exit matters, because scattered reef slabs, coral heads and sea urchins are hard to see.

   If it goes wrong

   Nothing on the beach: no lifeguard post, club boat or organised cover was found at Plage des Alizes, so getting back in through the channel is your own problem and a good reason not to ride the last of the light. From shore, 196 is the free French sea-emergency number and reaches the rescue coordination centres; the Antilles are covered by CROSS Antilles-Guyane at Fort-de-France, and VHF 16 is the distress channel.

   Rules and access

   2025: no specific rules for Le Moule Beach Park. No municipal or federation bylaw covering kitesurfing at Le Moule is published.

   Everything on Le Moule Beach Park

• Pointe-à-Pitre Guadeloupe International Airport (PTP)
• Saint-François also has its own smaller airport

Kite bag rules for your airline

Type the carrier you are flying: what it charges for a kite bag, and the year of the policy that says so.

Every carrier, with limits and what riders report at the counter →

1. Which spot works is decided by the trade-wind angle, so a hire car stops being optional. E puts you at Sainte-Anne; NE pushes you along to Saint-François or Le Moule.

   consensus×4 riders

2. Le Moule is where the waves are, and once the swell is around three metres or more it stops being playful. The reef there is broken into scattered slabs covered in sea urchins, and the exit through it is hard to read from the water — the standing advice is to ask a local before going out.

   consensus×4 riders

3. The wind is lighter than the Caribbean reputation promises. Ten to fifteen knots is the number that keeps coming back, and week-long trips end with three or four sessions rather than seven.

   consensus×3 riders

4. Reef shapes every launch. At Saint-François you tack out through a cut and getting blown downwind outside it means a long grind back; Le Moule is a short lagoon behind reef; Sainte-Anne is shallow right off the sand and the launch there is small and boat-crossed.

   consensus×3 riders

5. Sargassum is the thing that ruins trips people remember losing. It fouls foils, it stinks, and it tends to arrive later in the spring.

   majority×2 riders

6. English-language information about the spots is thin. This is France, and the practical arrangements go easier if you can read a bit of French.

   majority×2 riders

7. Beach access has been argued over locally. A municipal ban landed on one of the Sainte-Anne beaches in 2013, and a rider was once told by a school owner that kiting was not allowed where he had rigged — which turned out to be about kite brands, not rules.

   majority×2 riders

8. Getting there got harder in 2024 when the direct service from the US was dropped; the ease of access had been half the appeal.

   majority×2 riders

9. The Le Gosier end of the string is the shallow-reef one: water that goes deep straight off the sand, flat inside the reef and waves outside it, and a small beach with trees right at the waterline that makes launching and landing awkward.

   contested×1 rider

• Le Moule was originally settled by the French in 1635 under the name 'Portland', later renamed after an 18th-century breakwater ('mole'); it became Guadeloupe's principal sugar-export port and was rebuilt after a devastating 1928 cyclone
• La Pointe des Châteaux near Saint-François draws roughly 500,000 visitors a year

What we could not settle. Ride here? These are the gaps worth filling.

• Is 'Grande-Terre — La Saline (Le Gosier) to Le Moule Beach Park' the name riders actually use for this area?
• No confirmed accommodation names or prices for any of the four towns
• No confirmed evening/nightlife venues specific to kiters
• What does a rental car cost per day on Grande-Terre?
• Which SIM should you buy in Guadeloupe, and what does the data cost?