Back in 2008 there wasn't much to La Baie. It was more of a restaurant that offered a day pass for people like us that were on the island just to visit for the day. In 2008 we were traveling on a dime and went hungry for the day, avoiding La Baie all together. However, this time around, it was the only thing on my to-do list.
I have only ever visited Gabon in the summer months, which is great for whale watching (you can read more about that here on this blog post!). But from January-March, sea turtles lay their eggs on the shores of Point Denis and you can go on walks, hoping to catch sea turtles hatching. Obviously, in order to do this, we'd need to stay overnight at La Baie, which is now a sprawling luxury hotel with bungalows, bars, a pool and lots of beach access.
In order to get to Point Denis, we had to meet the boat at the marina at 9:15 on New Year's Day. Needless to say, our New Year's Eve was quiet at home and we were in bed by 12:10. But what a way to start of 2020! We took a speedboat out to the island and were greeted with fresh juice upon arrival at reception.
Our room wasn't ready yet as they'd been full the night before for New Year's Eve, so we wandered over to the pool, got the kids changed, and let them play for a few hours. The sea air and sun hit them both hard. By noon, Saye was snoozing on a lounge chair and a few hours later Amare was sound asleep taking a nap. For those of you who know Amare, this NEVER happens.
 |
| This kid is living his best life and he's not even 2 yet! |
After the pool we were asked to find our way to the restaurant for lunch. A buffet lunch of several different types of salads, rice, plantains, veggies, chicken, shrimp, beef and fish plus dessert after, it satisfied all. At that point our room was finally ready and pretty much everyone was ready for a nap. We stayed in Bungalow 7, right behind reception, which was a great location for proximity to activities and the restaurant. Our room had two queen size beds and bunk beds, with a shower and sink and a separate room for the toilet.
 |
| Le petit prince |
 |
| Our bungalow |
I dozed for a bit while the kids watched a movie and then got up to wash my face. Thirty seconds later I came out of the bathroom and everyone was sound asleep! At that point I wasn't feeling super tired anymore, so I took a walk around and sat on our front porch looking out on the ocean and reading.
When everyone woke up we wandered down to the beach for a bit. At this point the sun was on its way down and the temperature was more tolerable. Amare played for a bit while Saye lounged in a chair. He's not much for the beach at this point. Still doesn't like the sand on his feet. Then we took the kids over to the playground so they could run out a little energy before showering and heading to dinner.
 |
| This kid is my beach bum soul mate! |
Dinner was a sit down meal where we had ordered in advance. The food was excellent and again, SO MUCH. I had a mozzarella, tomato and pesto salad for an app and fish kabobs with rice and plantains for dinner. Landry ordered the crab farci as an app, which is a very typical dish here. It's crab meat mixed with seasoning, served back in the top shell of the crab. Dessert was chocolate mousse for me, creme caramel for Landry, and chocolate ice cream for Amare.
After dinner, we met up with our turtle guide, Jores, who took us on a very long walk down the beach. We were told it would be about an hour out and an hour back, but an hour and forty minutes in we were still walking away from the hotel. Amare was a rockstar about walking all that time, but he was getting tired and we didn't want the kids up half the night. After several parents voiced similar concerns, one of the guides flagged down an ATV which took him back to the hotel and he returned with ATVs to give us all a ride back.
 |
| This is one of the nests. The tip of the tallest mound is where the eggs are buried. |
 |
| These are sea turtle tracks |
 |
| The dead baby turtle we found :-( |
Sadly, we never did get to see the turtles hatching. It's definitely something I want to come back for another time. We did see several nests, lots of momma sea turtle tracks, and we found one dead baby turtle, evidence of how hard it is for them to actually make it to the sea. Our guide told us that of all the eggs the turtle lays only one or two will survive to the sea. Many times animals pillage the nests before the eggs even hatch. Or they attack the turtles on their way to the sea. And some simply get lost and die before they find the ocean.
Thursday morning I woke up first (I know, twilight zone) and walked over to reception bar where I got milk for Saye and a cafe au lait for myself. The coffee was brought to me at our bungalow where I sipped on it with my feet up listening to the sounds of the beach in front of me and the jungle behind. There really is no other way to start a day!
Once Landry was up we walked over to the breakfast buffet, made some plates for ourselves and the kids and took them back to our room to eat on the porch while the kids began to stir. First on Amare's list of things to do for the day was to jump on the trampoline bungees they had set up. Landry also really wanted to go out on the jet ski and I was hoping we could take an ATV out to see some elephants for Amare. But that was a lot to do with a nap in the middle for Saye and our boat leaving at 5pm.
I went to the office desk to discuss tours and pricing. The man running the desk, presumably the owner?, offered us to stay an extra night and just pay for our food and drinks so that we could do an ATV tour for elephants after 5pm. I explained that I had a flight to catch the following day and asked if it was possible to take a boat after 5pm. He agreed without hesitation and booked us a tour for 5pm. I was surprised and so grateful for the opportunity.
We first went over to the pool where we waiting for the staff person who works the trampolines to arrive. He was the same person doing turtle tours the night before and told me he'd taken another group out until 5am. The people at La Baie work long and hard!
After the trampoline we hung out at the pool for a while. Saye was already down for a nap by the time we headed to lunch. There are peacocks hanging all around the grounds of the property, so after he finished his lunch, Amare went out and about to explore the lizards and the peacocks. When Landry went back to the room to check on Saye Amare went with him and said he was tired. He actually asked to nap, again. Are pigs flying somewhere???
 |
| There are even peacocks on roofs! |
 |
| Proof of the requested nap |
While the kids were napping we enjoyed the one precious hour we had to eat together and walk along the beach sans kids. It was really cool to be back in a place 11 years later. The first time I came to Gabon, we'd only been dating for 2 years. I hadn't gone back for my MSW yet, much less thought about a PhD. We weren't married, kids weren't even a consideration. I've been watching everyone do their decade reviews on Facebook this week and our two day mini-vacation in Point Denis was really a full circle kind of live action decade review.
 |
| Jungle background selfie |
 |
| Ocean background selfie! |
When we got back to the room we woke up the kids and packed up our bag. It was time to jet ski! Landry took Amare out and he loved it. We went straight from that to the ATV ride. I was so hopeful we would see elephants for Amare, but no dice :-( We did see some buffalo and got to ride through the jungle, which he thought was pretty cool.
 |
| Several buffalo cooling in marsh water |
The ATV returned us to the resort and our boat was waiting for us on the dock. I'm sad that the time is over, but so grateful that I had the opportunity to come here with my kids and do all of these amazing, fun things with them. Landry and I often marvel at the experiences and opportunities they're having a bi-cultural, bilingual kids that we didn't have growing up and how it's going to have such a huge impact on their worldview. I love it!
Today I head off to Kenya for work for two weeks. Once there I'll probably switch between the two blogs, posting pics I get from Landry about what they're doing here, as well as posting about my work in Kenya.
No comments:
Post a Comment