Île-à-Vache
Haiti · Sud · 10 m
Description
Île-à-Vache lies twelve kilometres off Les Cayes and has no cars, no paved road and no mains electricity, so everything moves by boat, donkey or foot along sand tracks between the villages. Around fifteen thousand people live on it by fishing and farming. Henry Morgan used the anchorage as a base before he sacked Panama. Abaka Bay on the north-west shore is a crescent of white sand with a small hotel behind it, and the mangroves and reefs around the island are snorkelled from a pirogue. Boats cross from Les Cayes in forty minutes. Lincoln settled several hundred freed Americans here in 1863 and the colony failed within a year.
Length of stay
Recommended length of stay: 2 to 5 days (optimal 3 days)
Travel season
Best time to visit: December – April
- Jan
- Feb
- Mar
- Apr
- May
- Jun
- Jul
- Aug
- Sep
- Oct
- Nov
- Dec
Highlights
- Abaka Bay beach
- Boat crossing from Les Cayes
- Island with no cars or roads
- Snorkelling on the reefs
- Mangrove channels by pirogue
- Fishing villages of Madame Bernard
- Walking the sand tracks between villages
- Anse Dufour and the quieter coves
- Sunset over the Caribbean from the north shore
Getting there
- Seaport:
- Reachable by ship or ferry