Dec 8th
We got off the ship and picked up a taxi to the airport – we rented a car for our stay here on Guadeloupe and we had to get it from the airport. Our car is a little tiny car, but we all squished into it with our bags.
We then stopped to get groceries and then we drove across the island to our apartment for the week.
Our apartment is a little orange and green house called Glougli. The apartment owners met us and welcomed us into their home. They went through lots of the things we could do while stayed here, giving us some local tips and best things to see and do.
After we got settled we went down to “Plage de la Perle” or Pearl Beach. We all played in the surf and sand for a few hours before it was time to head back for dinner. What a beautiful welcome to the island.
My dad and Brendan were in charge of dinner tonight. They cooked chicken for us on the BBQ.
Dec 9th
Today we got up very sweaty. It was a very hot night! There are mosquitoes here that come out at night and so we have to sleep under a bug net. But it still pretty hot here at night. At night
Today we got up and drove to a beach called Leroux beach. It was a quiet secluded beach and we had heard that there was good snorkeling there. There was also great swimming as it was a beautiful sandy beach that had two big cliffs at either end with coral around them. Dad and I put on our snorkel and masks and went out for a little swim to see what we could find. The waves were a bit rocky so it wasn’t the best snorkeling, but we did see lots of fish and a few really pretty coral.
When we got home we made some dinner of some local fruits and some sandwiches.
Then as it got dark we were treated to an awesome orchestra of tropical sounds. The frogs and crickets and all sorts of other creatures come out at light to call and sing. It is beautiful to hear.
Dec 10th
Today is my scuba diving course. I am doing it with a company called PPK Plongée Guadeloupe. The first dive you do is called baptême de plongée sous-marine. It is so exciting!!
Today I woke very early at 6:00am. I am very nervous for the day. It will be my first time swimming in the ocean without my dad. It will be very scary. My mom is in a refresher course with a bunch of people and I will be with two or three people who are also just learning. Our dive was scheduled for 12:00pm. We left the house at 10:35 and got there at 11:25. We signed in and my brother and my dad went to the beach. My mom and me waited for everybody to get there and then we got in the boat and went out to a little island that had a big coral reef and many fish.
It was warm water, but after awhile the water felt cold, my instructor said I needed a wet suit and he was right - it kept me nice and warm. My instructor sat us down and took the time to tell us what we would do in case of an emergency. He also explained to us what the hand signals meant. It was neat because I speak English and a bit of French, the other couple only spoke French, and our instructor spoke Portuguese and french. But underwater we only spoke with hand signals!
After I put on my wetsuit, flippers and mask I was asked to get into the water and my instructor put on my BCD and tank and got under the water. It was so beautiful. Here I am with my Instructor.
We went deeper then the pool at Laurentian University pool. It had so many different colors of fish and coral it was unbelievable. We swim through a big crack in the rock that the instructor said happens when all the rocks collapse into the middle and formed a huge crack. When we were swimming through a giant Barracuda came out of nowhere. The instructor told me to sit on a rock and wait until the Barracuda swam passed because if I made any sudden moved it would get scared and attack.
After I came up to the surface, the instructor took out the other new SCUBA divers and I got to swim around and snorkel.
It was neat because I could see my mom SCUBA diving underneath me! This is my mom diving with the blue fins way below me.
We both got out of the water and then went back to the shore.
We got a bukit sandwich. It is a fried bread with lots of yummy things inside. A specialty of Guadeloupe!
We stopped in a at the dive shop for my dad to arrange for his dives later in the week, and the lady presented me with my certificate of Discovery diving or in French: baptême de plongée.
My parents and I agreed that I could try one more dive on Thursday. My dad is going to do a dive on his own in the morning and then we will do one at the same time in the afternoon.
I really really loved diving, what an incredible day. I’m so proud of myself.
What a great day!
Dec 11th
Today we got up and made breakfast in our little outdoor kitchen, and we decided to got and do a hike up to a series of waterfalls. The people who own our apartment left instructions about how to get to the start of the hike. They listed it as a very easy hike, but that is might take us a while.
So off we went and we found the little road that would take us up to the hike. We parked on the side of the road and walked up to the end of the road and then started on the hike.
It started to rain a little bit so we made our own umbrellas out of Banana leaves!
The hike soon lead us to the first waterfall. It was actually part of a small dam. We weren’t sure where to go after that as there really wasn’t any path, so my dad scouted ahead and said that it was safe to continue up the stream bed and the trail continued up ahead.
We continued to walk up the river and on the trail that went up the side. We found the second and the third waterfall. They were really beautiful.
At the final waterfall there was a pool, that you could swim in, so my dad again scouted the pool first to make sure it was safe for us.
It was really cold water, but it was safe! Liam was the bravest and he went in first, then Brendan and after they went – I figured I better go to! So we all swam over to the waterfall and then jumped in off the cliff into the pool. It was fun, but cold!
What a beautiful spot. We hiked out and returned home, just in time for the sky to open up and it started to rain very very hard. It was a true tropical thunderstorm!
Dec 12
Today we got up early and traveled back to the beach to drop my dad and I at PPK diving again. My dad is going to do 2 dives and I am going to do a snorkel morning and my second ever dive in the afternoon.
This is a video of my dad going in for his first dive. He was showing me how to do a type of entry where you flip backwards over the edge of the boat. I asked my instructor if I could try it - he told me I definitely was not ready for that yet!
I took a picture of my dad while he was diving and I was snorkeling on the top of the water. It was neat to see him way down there. He is wearing dark blue fins on the lower right.
I got a great picture of my dad as he was doing his decompression stop just below me. I kind of scared him, as he didn't know I was there and I swam up and touched him on the head! He thought it was a fish!
Here I am diving underwater on my second dive with my Diving Instructor. We were swimming along and I saw lots of Parrot fish, they were so colourful. There were ones that were rainbow coloured an others that had red and white spots.
I loved being underwater, I felt so free and I felt like I was meant to be underwater. I can't wait to take my full course and learn so much more about the underwater world.
Under the water it was so beautiful. My dad was able to get some great videos and pictures of the coral, sponges and of the beautiful fish that live in the waters around Guadeloupe.
This area, just south of the town of Pointe Noire on the west side of Basseterre in Guadeloupe is the Jacques Cousteau Marine Reserve. The history of the Jacques Cousteau underwater reserve in Guadeloupe is a story of passion. Today, in fact, this reserve has become an essential site for scuba diving, and owes its origin to the passion of a man for the seabed: Jean-Yves Cousteau, an officer in the French Navy and French oceanographic explorer. Nicknamed "Commander Cousteau", he was a true sea enthusiast.
During my Dad's dive he was lucky enough to get to see the underwater tribute to the legend himself. This is the statue of Jacques Cousteau with the dive guide.
Here are some pictures of the beautiful fish that swim in the underwater reserve. In order, from top to bottom left to right: A trumpetfish, a blue doctorfish, a french angel fish, a porcupine fish, and a huge sponge, which the dive guide said was over 100 years old.
Mom, Liam and Brendan’s morning: Told by Liam
Tia was going to go diving again with dad, so we were going to go to the Zoo with Mom.
When we got to the zoo, they gave us a map, we were looking on the map to see where was the different animals and where the paths went.
When we went in the zoo we saw a pen with a family of mongoose in it. They are cute little small furry creatures, but they are special, they are the only animals that can catch the cobra snake. They are really fast. They also had a pen of raccoons. Raccoons are not native to this island, but are a pest here. They were brought by people from Florida and now they are wild here. We also saw some amazing monkeys.
Next we saw the parrots and toucans. The toucan had a long colourful beak. It was a rainbow of colours. It had red, then orange, then yellow.
My favourite thing about the zoo was that we saw an ocelot. An ocelot is a small wild cat that looks like a small cheetah. But very cute.
We were walking and walking and then we saw a snake. It was a boa constrictor, but in the tank beside it was a tagu. A tagu is like a snake with legs. We also saw beautiful lizards and Iguanas.
I asked Brendan what his favourite animal was at the zoo was and he said it was the black panther. It was hard to get a good picture of him but you can see him behind Brendan in the photo.
When we were walking we saw a bridge above us in the trees. We wanted to try it out. So my mom , Brendan and I climbed up to the tree top trekking and walked through the canopy of the rainforest, above the zoo on 14 different rope bridges through the trees.
I loved it, but I was a bit scared because I was worried that I might fall. Brendan and I took turns going first. One person went in front of Mom and one went behind. Some of the rules were that we had to wear shoes, no jumping, no dogs, and only three people on each bridge at a time. We were lucky because we were the only ones there. In my picture on the bridge, you can see the Giant tortoises from the Galapagos Islands underneath me! They probably look so small, but really they were huge!
I loved the zoo. It was so good.
Dec 13
Today was a quiet day, we looked up the weather on the computer and it said that there was a chance of afternoon showers. Well they weren't kidding! Look at the rainstorm!
So we took some time today to do some homework and get caught up on the blog.
We did get about one hour of no rain so we took the opportunity to go out for a bit. We found a beautiful hike that started from the end of the beach and walked over the hills to another beach where we played in the surf and sand.
Dec 14th
Today we got up and played with are playmobil until my mom and dad got up. We were going to go to on a car trip all the way around the island of Basseterre. We first stopped at the town of Basseterre, which is the capital city of Guadeloupe.
We made it to southern most tip of the island of Basseterre to the Lighthouse of Vieux-Fort. It was built in 1955 after a sailboat shipwrecked on the rocks near by.
On the point of land at Vieux-fort there are old fortifications that protected this colony from the British during the various attacks.
From the lighthouse looking south you can see the group of islands known as Les Saints.
We also stopped at a fruit market and picked up some oranges and the local Guadeloupe pineapple, it is a really pale yellow in colour and really really sweet. Delicious!
On our way back home we drove through fields and fields of Banana plantations and Sugar cane fields. The sugar cane here is made primarily in to Rum. The Bananas are exported to 70% to France and 30% out to the rest of the world. You can see the Bananas coved in the blue plastic bags for protection wile they grow.
On our drive home we were driving past a cemetery and we saw that most of the people have above ground graves in cement boxes. But then we saw some really special ones. There are many Conch shells in the waters off of Guadeloupe and the Conch is really special to people here.
This is the end of our time on Basseterre. Tomorrow we are driving over to the other side of the country to Grandterre. We are staying at St. Anne beach. That will be our very last stop before coming home. We are all looking forward to coming back home to Canada.
Tia and Mari
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