About Pinel
Many stories have been told about the history of Pinel island. The word “Pinel” means crazy in Portuguese. The story goes that many, many years ago they used the island to house the islands lunatics. For that reason a Portuguese captain called it “Crazy Island”. Others claim to be an ancestor of a certain Mr. Pinel who gave it’s name to the island. As far as we know, no proof carrying documentation is available which tells us the real origin. Pinel Island is used for many years to bring tourists over. In fact the late ferryman Freddie used to row his people over in the seventies. However in those days Pinel was used a lot by local fisherman for their fishing activities, cleaning conq shells, repairing nets etc. No tourist like business was found in those days on the island. Also the island was dirty, full of debris, lots of empty beer bottles. One had to really be careful walking one bare feet. Goats were the main population, used for milk and meat by the locals. When the businesses came a lot changed. The owners started to take good care of the beach, the animals and nature.
Thanks to the 2 restaurants and especially the giftshop, Pinel became a popular daytrip for tourists and people from the cruise ships (for snorkelling trips).
The French government owns the island, although local families claim it’s theirs. The beach area is a commercial zone, the rest of the island is exclaimed to be a ‘green zone’. It is not allowed to build in any way in the Green zone. It is allowed to walk to the other side of the island, where you find a couple more beaches however they are very rough and rocky and it is nearly impossible to swim due to the corral reefs.
To go to Pinel island you drive to French Cul the Cac. Follow the road till you arrive at the seaside / big sandy parking lot. From there ferryboats go over. They charge you $6.- roundtrip. First boat leaves at 09.00 am and last boat brings you back at 16.00 pm. (on Sundays from 09.00 am to 17.00 pm)
