Things to Do in Île de Roume

Île de Roume drifts in the Atlantic like a green comma. Its slopes are quilted with coconut palms and kapok trees that hiss when the sea breeze threads through them. You'll smell fermenting cacao pods long before you spot the tiny plantations tucked between weather-softened colonial walls. The morning air carries a salty tang that sticks to your lips all day. The island keeps time with cockerels and the squeak of pirogues being hauled over sand. There are no cars, so the loudest thing after dark is usually the thud of ripe breadfruit hitting packed earth. Paths are red laterite that stains your ankles and narrows to nothing where lianas arch overhead, so you walk half-crouched through shafts of hot green light. What surprises most visitors is the hush: even the fishermen mending nets under the almond trees speak in low voices, as if loud words might tip the island back into the ocean.