Ava's Tropical Dreams- Guadeloupe (SPECIAL EDITION-Friendly Dolphins!)

Guadeloupe

 ANNOUNCEMENT!- We have officially been living on our boat for 6 whole months! Time has flown by so quickly! I love this life, as I have settled in so well and made so many new friends (including dolphins)! I hope we continue this incredible lifestyle as we explore our earth's ocean wonders!

 

Guadeloupe is a beautiful, luscious island north of Dominica. However, unlike Dominica, it is a French Caribbean island. Many of the tourists who seek the amazing features of Guadeloupe come from France as Guadeloupe is a French-speaking island. From trying out a new sport to swimming with dolphins, read on to hear about our great experience in Guadeloupe!

 

Les Saints!
Off of the south coast of Guadeloupe, there are a group of islands called Les Saints. We did a 4 hour sail to Les Saints to see our friends who were already there. Les Saints is a group of small islands 5 nautical miles south of the most southern tip of Guadeloupe. On one of the island, the one with the busiest anchorage, there is a lovely, small town. You can find nice bakeries, helpful supermarkets and cute clothes and souvenir shops in the little town! While being in Les Saints, my dad and I did wing foil lessons! It was nice for someone to help us to learn as we had the gear but were missing the knowledge. By the end of the lesson, my dad and I were both able to stand up! After a few days of swimming and having fun in Les Saints, we sailed back to the main city of Guadeloupe to pick up our grandparents who were coming out to visit!

 

Visitors!

2 weeks ago my grandparents came out to stay with us! It is really nice to see them and have them on the boat. We have done lots of amazing things with them! My grandma loves to swim and she even jumped in to play with some dolphins! My grandad loves to sail and watch our surroundings. He loves to jump off of the boat into the water and can even "dive" off the back swim step of the boat, most of the time ending in a hilarious bellyflop!

🌸Baby Chicks🌸

My parents have always said that if we could catch a baby chick, WE COULD KEEP IT! At one of the bays we went to, there was a mother hen and 4 cute, baby chicks on the beach! We got so excited and started trying to pick up the baby chicks. After we managed to pick them up, we ran straight to my parents asking if we could keep them on the boat! My parents changed their mind as soon as they realised that we were actually able to catch them😂. Even though we weren't able to keep them, we had lots of fun playing with them!

 

Dolphins!!!

While exploring the bays on the west coast of Guadeloupe, we have swam with so many dolphins. The first time we swam with dolphins, we were heading back to our boat when we saw a pod of 4 dolphins playing in the water! We had heard from our friends that there are many friendly dolphins around! At first, me and my sister were hesitant to jump in with 4 adult-sized dolphins. However, we had been looking out for dolphins that we could swim with so despite us being a little bit nervous my sister and I jumped in and played with them! They were so friendly and were circling us and playing!

 

In a another bay called Deshaies, we swam with another dolphin! We jumped in with our friends and were swimming with it. However, it was not very playful as it turns out it was asleep! We knew this because it was swimming in circles and was not acknowledging us.

 

The next day in that same bay, we went and swam with 2 really friendly and playful dolphins! When I first entered the water, I was a little bit nervous as the dolphins were huge and so excitable. However, at the same time I was really excited as I love swimming with dolphins! They were swimming around us and jumping really high out of the water! We had been told not to touch them but they were so friendly that they kept brushing up against us in a kind and fun manner! It was such an incredible experience to be playing with friendly dolphins that are wild!

To our surprise, we got one more very special experience with a solo dolphin! As we were driving our dinghy, it came up under us and was racing the dinghy in its wake. We spun in circles and it loved to play in the dinghy's slipstream. My family and I then all jumped in with it (abandoning our drifting dinghy!) and the dolphin was so delighted to interact with us.  At one point, she/he gently nuzzled and poked Thea and I in our bellies with her long nose! It was incredible! After my mum climbed out, she was tickling the water with her fingers and the dolphin really enjoyed that. It would surface and spray her blowhole into my mum's face before smiling at her. It really wanted to be pet, but my mum was a bit hesitant.

We really hope that this is not our last encounter with these magical ocean dwellers! 

Thank you for reading this blog post! Comments are encouraged, I love to hear from everyone at home! 

Speak soon, Ava 🐬