Unlike St Barts, where restaurants are predominantly French , most of Guadeloupe and Martinique's sit-down meals are creole in origin and seafood -based. The exceptions are breakfast , which usually consists of a short espresso, croissant and fruit juice, and beachfare , mostly filling ham and cheese baguettes, crepes and pastries.

Lunch is the meal of the day - and the lengthy shop closures around the noon hour reflect this custom. The only French traces you'll see here are the common use of the prix-fixe menu that usually includes at least a starter and a main course and good selection of French wines to wash down the spicy creole food. Dishes like crabes farçi (stuffed land crabs), boudin (blood pudding), accras (cod fritters) and the various colombos , a curry using cabri (goat), poulet (chicken), lambi (conch) and ouassous (crayfish), are the spiciest of all, though some resort areas tend to tone them down. Most main courses come with rice or beans.

The most expensive item on any menu is langoustine . Other dishes, like féroce d'avocat (a zesty avocado and cod purée), calalou (a spinach-like soup), and grilled fish like vivanneau (red snapper), marlin and requin (shark) tend to be less filling.

Individual islands have their specialities too. Guadeloupe's offshore Marie-Galante is known for a hearty bébélé , a thick "everything in the pot" soup of African origin made only on Saturdays, while Martiniquan chefs make coq colombo , a rich rooster curry.

French wine availability notwithstanding, the most popular drink on Martinique and Guadeloupe is ti-punch , a boozy rum, sugar and lime concoction. A diluted version, Planter's Punch , mixes the booze with fruit juice. Both islands also produce their own local beers : Guadeloupe's Corsair is a light brew that goes down nicely with rich creole fare, ditto for Martinique's Lorraine.

The tap water on Martinique and Guadeloupe is safe to drink; St Barts is more touch-and-go, as the island lacks a fresh-water source. The finer hotels all provide potable water, but the budget places may get theirs from unreliable rain-catchment systems; if you're staying at the latter, you're better off buying bottled water, which is widely available on all islands.