Pointe Malendure

The point that faces Malendure — Pointe Malendure, positioned at the boundary between the Pigeon Islands reserve and the coastal waters of Basse-Terre's west coast — anchors the Jacques Cousteau Marine Reserve on its landward side. Malendure beach is the operational base for diving the Pigeon Islands, the departure point for the short boat ride to the reserve, and the site where dive operators have established themselves since the reserve's creation. Pointe Malendure, the underwater extension of this relationship between land and sea, offers beginner-level diving that embodies the reserve's values of accessibility, quality, and environmental care. The point itself extends from the coast of Basse-Terre into the reserve's waters, its submerged slopes colonized by the coral communities that have had decades of protection to develop their current richness. The proximity to the reserve's core zones on the Pigeon Islands means that fish populations here benefit from the same protection regulations that have made the reserve so exceptional — the no-fishing rules that have allowed grouper, angelfish, and other targeted species to reach natural population densities and the confidence in human presence that protected fish display. Beginner diving at Pointe Malendure begins in the shallower sections of the point's slope, where natural light illuminates the coral and invertebrate communities in the clear Caribbean water. Guadeloupe's west coast enjoys the calmer conditions typical of the leeward side of an island in the trade wind zone, and the diving at Malendure is generally accessible regardless of experience level on all but the most unsettled weather days. The moderate depth range of the beginner zone allows relaxed observation without the air management pressure of deeper dives. The coral community on Malendure's slopes includes the diverse mix of hard and soft corals that characterizes healthy Caribbean reefs in protected conditions. Star corals and brain corals form the large structural formations, brain coral surfaces providing attachment for Christmas tree worms in spectacular clusters of color. Sea fans spread their lacy branches perpendicular to the prevailing current, and sea plumes add vertical texture to the community. The encrusting invertebrates that occupy every available surface between the larger coral formations — sponges, tunicates, bryozoans — create a biological complexity that rewards close attention. Fish life at Pointe Malendure reflects the reserve's exceptional quality. The characteristic reserve experience — fish that approach divers rather than fleeing, large grouper drifting through the coral with the confidence of unpressured animals, angelfish at close range — is present here as throughout the Cousteau Reserve's diving. The great barracuda, for which nearby Pointe barracuda is named, makes occasional appearances at Malendure as well, hovering in its characteristic silver stillness before moving off on its patrol. For the many divers who begin their Cousteau Reserve experience at Pointe Malendure, this site establishes the quality standard that the entire reserve maintains. It is a site that demonstrates what Caribbean reef diving looks like under serious, long-term protection — the full expression of a healthy reef ecosystem in warm, clear water — and its beginner accessibility means that this standard is available to divers at the very beginning of their underwater journey. Few diving introductions, anywhere in the Caribbean, offer quite this combination of quality and accessibility.