This is our last and final post. The trip has come to an end. After 3 years of planning and saving, 165 days of travel, 1 family of very tired, but proud and satisfied travelers will be coming home. Thank you for journeying with us. We love this big, incredibly beautiful world and hope that, as we learned so many new things and saw so many new places, you got to as well.
Much love:
Mari, Tim , Tia, Liam and Brendan Kingshott
Dec 15th
Today was a moving day. We packed up all of our things from the little cottage in Rifflet and drove over from Basseterre to Grandterre, the other half of Guadeloupe. We were a little early to get into our next, and last, home. We found a beautiful little beach to swim at for a few hours. It was called Plage de la Petite Havre. And it was a little beautiful haven, secluded from the big waves and peaceful enough to swim around in.
We made our way over to St. Anne and found our apartment. It was a crazy little drive up to the apartment, but like so many of the places we have stayed - don't judge a book by its cover. The apartment is big, clean and lovely inside.
Dec 16th
Today we drove out to the most south easterly point on the island of Grandterre, Guadeloupe. There is a hike up to a place called the Pointe des Chateaux.
It is a special and protected place full of rocky cliffs and little sandy coves. Sea turtles have been known to nest in the coves here and the cliffs are very beautiful. Full of nesting seabirds like terns, frigate birds and even some pelicans.
We hiked all the way up to the top of the cliffs and were able to look out over the Caribbean ocean. The rocks themselves were so full of fossils you could see all of the sea shells and the coral in the rocks it was amazing. Brendan found the old shell of a crab.
After we stopped at a little beach for a quick swim. What a beautiful place this is. Every beach is so pretty.
When we got back we tried a fresh coconut. Brendan and Liam have been bugging my mom to get them one since we got here - but once they tried it, they weren't impressed.
Dec 17th
Today was a slow day for us, but a great day for my dad. Today my Dad drove back over to Basseterre and went SCUBA diving on the wreck, the Franjack. It was a Danish cargo ship that was built in 1958 and was brought to the Caribbean in 1983. It was heavily damaged by hurricane Hugo in 1989 and was sunk as an artificial reef in 1996, and sits in 24m of water. He was able to swim both around it and then swim through it. I can't wait until I get try out my first wreck dive!
My dad made this awesome video of swimming through the Franjack. It is so cool to see the ship and to see all of the new coral that has grown on the outside of the ship.
We stayed home and finished all of our school work for the year! It was really exciting to be finally done everything that our teachers left for us!!
Woo Hoo! NO MORE HOMESCHOOLING!! (I think my mom is the most excited...)
Dec 18th
Today we got up and drove into the town of Pointe a Pitre. It is the largest town in Grandterre and we visited the Aquarium de la Guadeloupe.
Our whole family Loves aquariums - we have been to so many. We just love seeing the different species up close. We love learning about all the work that the aquarium does to improve the local ecology and work to increase education about preserving the environment.
This aquarium wasn't huge, but it had some really beautiful specimens that we could see up close. Above you can see lion fish.
Here I am with my favourite: a porcupine fish. Everytime I sat down the fish kept coming up to my face and looking at me. Also here is a big crayfish, my dad saw one of these on the Franjack, but he couldn't get a good picture of it.
Here is Brendan and a damselfish. Brendan spent a long time trying to count all the fish in the tank. I think he got about 65 in total.
Liam was measuring himself against the Nurse Sharks in the big shark tank. He was almost the same length! Also everywhere in Guadeloupe we have been spotting these land crabs. They dig into the banks alongside the rivers.
My brothers and I have such a love for the ocean and for the fish and creatures that live there, and I know that without seeing these incredible animals in aquariums and then seeing them again in the ocean I would never have understood how beautiful they truly are. Thank you for all these opportunities.
Dec 19th
Today we drove up to the North end of Grand Terre and found the beautiful beach at Plage Du Soufleur. It was a fabulous beach with a coral reef right out in front of us.
It was a great day to sit under the trees and and rest between snorkels. When my dad, Liam and I were out snorkeling we found a starfish.
This is one of the best beaches in Guadeloupe. We all loved this one. Liam is getting really good at snorkeling, he loves it a lot.
Dec 20th
The last few days of our trip we have been discovering new beaches around the island. Today was our last day to pick up souvenirs as well. We got some great things, as well as some Christmas presents for our family as well.
We did our last day of snorkeling as well at Plage de Bois Jolan. There were some pretty little fish at this beach and we chased them around for most of the afternoon.
Dec 21st
Today is our last day to explore the island. My mom has washed and organized our clothes, we have packed up our souvenirs and now we are getting ready to go home. We are all sort of mixed up. We have lots of sad feelings, but we are so excited to go home.
We decided to go on one final trip to the beach and one final swim in the ocean!
We did it. Kingshott family adventure 2019 is complete! Only thing left to do is get on the plane and then drive home. Can't wait to see you all. Much love!
Today we sat around and talked about all the awesome things that we liked on the trip. Here we are having a little chat about the trip.
Dec 22nd
Today we fly home to Canada. What an incredible adventure this has been. 166 days, 23 Countries, approximately 34,500 km by plane, train, ferry, cruise ship, cable car, funicular, taxi, rental car, bus, tram, subway, streetcar, vaporetto, gondola, mini van, raft, kayak, boat, hydrofoil, bike, horse and most definitely by foot.
“LIKE ALL GREAT TRAVELERS, I HAVE SEEN MORE THAN I REMEMBER AND REMEMBER MORE THAN I HAVE SEEN.”
~ BENJAMIN DISRAELI
Tim and I have traveled for years. We love traveling and love the stress, the emotion, the excitement and the wonder of it all. We wanted to pass that onto our children. We wanted to show them that the world is bigger than where we live. That people do things differently, not wrong, not right, just different and that is not only okay, but it is how it should be. The world is different in different places, and equality looks different in many places. We live in an amazing country. Canada is incredible, but it is one version of how the world works. We want to show our children that many other ways are not only possible, but exciting, interesting and valuable.
When we first began our own travels as adults, we felt a huge change in ourselves. We wanted to show our children that as well. Our lives were never the same. We never came all the way back, we have left a piece of ourselves around the world and we wouldn't have it any other way.
Much love from the world travelers...
Mari, Tim, Tia, Liam and Brendan
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