Roume is the quietest and most picturesque of the three main islands -- a slender crescent of forest and beach with a small population, a couple of basic guesthouses, and clear water on the leeward side. Expats from Conakry come here for the weekend to disappear.
The island also has the heaviest history. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries it was used as a holding station for enslaved people awaiting shipment across the Atlantic, and traces of the old fortifications still survive in the bush. Today you can walk the whole length of the island in an hour, swim off any beach, and find no traffic louder than a generator.