Between 2010 and 2012, Parc National de la Guadeloupe, Office National des Forêts, and Université des Antilles et de la Guyane established 9 permanent 1-ha plots in tropical rain forest of Basse-Terre Island (Guadeloupe). These plots comprise the Guadeloupian Forest Observatory, and are specifically designed for long-term tree-growth measurements and forest-dynamics surveys. We marked more than 8000 trees with a diameter at breast height >10 cm and equipped them with tape dendrometers for measurement at 5-y intervals. We describe our field protocols for plot establishment and tree-growth data collection, and present preliminary results from analyses of the first data recorded in these plots.