Greeting the turtles at Plage de Malendure - Jacques Costeau reserve
Beertje had one clear goal when we went to Guadeloupe: he wanted to swim with turtles.
While I knew that Guadeloupe was bustling with dive locations and the sea was a big nature reserve, praised by the famous oceanographer Jacques Cousteau for its beauty. So I trusted there were plenty of turtles around, but I was a bit anxious that we'd not be able to fulfill his wish. Wild animals do not have an appointment calendar.
Plage de Malendure (we nicknamed it Turtle beach)
A few km south of Pointe-Noire or north of the town of Bouillante is a beach called the Plage de Malendure. When driving by, you are surprised with an unusual activity of a few km of parked cars along the coastal highway and near the beach several huts advertising boat trips, diving companies, kayak rentals etc. People are crossing the street in bathing suits or dive suits all over.
Indeed, this beach with a darker type of sand is part of the zone that is the Jacques Cousteau natural reserve and the access points for a lot of touristic activity towards the Iles de Pigeons visible at short distance from the coast. So it's the place to be for all the underwater lovers.
We learned the hard way that you need to be parked and at the beach between 8AM and 8.30AM if you want to find a parking spot. Later on, you just need pure luck of someone leaving while you pass or you'll march a few km from the town centre of Bouillante along the highway. But arriving around 8 or a bit earlier is good. It was quickly our favourite beach to hang out at...because we found turtles right away and consistently with each visit. Some famous pitoresque beaches in the north (eg the famous Grande Anse just north of Deshaies and the others there like plage de la Perle) have a very strong breaking point with the waves. Those beaches descend at a slope into the water and big waves break there and surge backwards. We've seen strong adults falling over in the water. So the few times we were at the other beaches, we actually forbid our children to go in the water. Hmm needless to say that these hot but gorgeous beaches were quickly boring for us all. But Plage de Malendure is not like that, it had much smaller feasible waves each time we were there, so it was our favourite beach where we spent most time. It was at a 15' drive from our house.
I also like that there were several food trucks or a beach hut restaurant BBQing delicious smells each noon, there is a sanitary block with showers and toilets (although paying 1 euro for each visit is expensive) etc... So we had all we needed to hang out here.
As stated before: it can be a busy beach. Not entirely because it lacks space: the available square meters and the number of people on the beach are very cool. There is plenty of space for everyone, if there are a lot of clouds throwing lots of shade. In the sun, however, you see everyone scrambling in the few square meters in the (moving!) shade of each palm tree.
On multiple days we also noticed school buses with school children getting dropped off and playing on the beach (and then doing an excursion with the glass boat towards the Ilets de Pigeons). Also cruise excursions etc are dropped off here, but most leave on boat trips.
We have not done any excursion to the Ilets de Pigeons although the dozens of kayaks leaving on the beach constantly were tempting. However we learned quickly how wind can turn and turn the see very choppy and we never dared to take the risk with the children yet. As a diver, I'm a bit reluctant not to have seen the underwater world near the famous islands, but one should always leave something for a future visit, right? Maybe in x years when maybe our children are ready for scuba diving as well?
However, we did snorkel a lot. At the sandy beach, there is quickly an area full of grasses. First it didn't look as if there was much to see, but we learned a spot with an anchor and some old cords that was frequented very regularly by a turtle and a lionfish.
Further towards the rocks in the north (just a little walk along the coastal road to redescend in between the trees) is the more famous "snorkelling" area where you can spot a lot more little fish and some corals near the rocks and where groups of snorkellers are deposited a lot to go and spot more turtles over there. We went there a few times as well.
The boys really had to learn how to breathe through their tuba etc, but after a while they really got the hang of it.
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