25.12. - Guadeloupe 🇬🇵

It was still not quite light when I opened my eyes. In the distance, land was already visible and it was already dawning. We quickly grabbed the camera and took photos of the dawn with light clouds and the arrival at the harbor. The butterfly shape of Guadeloupe was faintly visible and the relatively flat island caught our interest with its many green leaves and the small marina. But before we head to a cozy beach, it's time for breakfast. However, it was rather disappointing. There was hardly any selection of cheese and the rest didn't convince me either. But we didn't come here for the food. Afterward, we decided to visit the city of Pointe-à-Pitre and then take a taxi to the beach of the fishing village of St. Anne. Unfortunately, today is a holiday and the street seemed like a ghost town to us as no shops were open and the streets were empty. In the town center, we visited the tourist information office, but they couldn't help us much. Hardly anyone could or wanted to understand English and the brochures were in French. We encountered these communication problems again in the taxi. A family of three drove us to our desired destination. Their daughter, who was about 8 years old, was surely taken along because of the holiday. So, the six of us drove from the deserted capital to St. Anne, which took about 40 minutes, passing by the aquarium, the fortress, a university, and a school. There we found a white sandy beach that attracts quite a few visitors, but still maintains its charm. We spread out our towels under a palm tree and enjoyed the atmosphere of the beach and the sea. Some families even had picnics and celebrated the holiday together on the beach. Merry Christmas in a completely different way. Only the Santa hats hinted at the holiday. So that we could also have a bit of Christmas feeling for our photos, we borrowed two hats from a lovely family. Then we rushed into the water and splashed around in the pleasantly warm turquoise water, teasingly thinking about the people back home with a little smile. Our sunny swimming trip was interrupted by a short shower that felt like tiny needle pricks. However, we hardly got wet from it. We spent the rest of the afternoon in the water and building a 'snowman' out of sand. At four o'clock sharp, we were picked up by our taxi driver family. On the way back, we were once again surprised by a shower, which this time was stronger and produced two gigantic rainbows. When we arrived back at the ship, we rested for a bit and prepared for the Christmas feast. Even Santa Claus came for the children and brought gifts. We watched the photo session with Santa Claus with the moet that Danny ordered and happily sang Christmas songs together. Danny was also able to fulfill a childhood wish and was the only adult to take a picture with Santa Claus. That evening, we dressed up and went to dinner for the first time. There were already many people waiting to be let in at the entrance. After a while and with a growling stomach, we reached our table, which we shared with a German couple. The waiter served us the menu and despite ordering, everyone received a different number of courses and dishes, which tasted very good. Afterwards, we exchanged gifts and ended the evening with a bottle of rosé and champagne.