We were up much earlier this morning so we were able to sit
at one of the tables on the back deck of the ship and watch the final approach
into the bay and dock in Dominica. The
island is 29 miles long so we passed a fair amount of land – mostly high hills/low
mountains (the tallest is around 4700 feet) with pockets of homes and other
buildings clustered in the lowest sections near the ocean. The buildings were all quite colorful and
many had balconies providing views of the water.
Before we left the ship for a tour, we attended an
interdenominational worship service led by the Cruise Director, Lisa. It was a simple service but a wonderful
chance to worship with some of our fellow passengers and sing some wonderful
old hymns.
Hurricane Erica came through here in mid-August and caused a
fair amount of damage primarily due to the 12 inches of rain that fell in 6
hours causing huge rivers of rushing waters flowing down the mountain sides and
triggering some major mud slides as well smashing buildings and causing twelve
deaths. We could see some of the damage
as we traveled the very steep hilly roads on our way up to Trafalgar Falls in
the Morne Trois Pitons National Park.
Our tour group was in a small van.
I doubt anything bigger could handle the narrow steep winding
roads. Along the way we saw a sign for a
25% grade!!!!
The falls themselves – there were two – were truly a steep
drop into a rocky winding bed that carried the water bounding down the steep
hillside making lots of little pools fed by little falls over piles of
rocks. The view was beautiful from a
canopied deck. But the walk up to them
was a treacherous one with lots of uneven stone steps surrounded and filled in
with slippery mud and plenty of tree roots.
It was a challenging ten minute climb!
We also enjoyed the botanical gardens in the capital city of
Roseau. It was a forty acre garden
originally created by the English who lived here in the eighteen hundreds. There were a variety of trees indigenous to
the island as well as lots of tropical plants and flowers. Among
other things was a tree that had fallen back in the twenties landing on a brand
new bus (luckily no one was in it) that has continued to survive creating
another huge trunk where the first tree roots would have been. It made quite a site. Lots of bamboo was clustered in the center
and has created a shaded dome like area in the center of the garden due to the
fact the gardeners have chopped away all the trees in the middle of a huge
cluster. They had done lots of chopping
to a banyon tree too so that it didn’t spread out and take over all the
acreage.
Another stop afforded us a look out spot where we could not
only see our ship but some of the main features of the town of Roseau including
the financial center that includes the office of the Prime Minister, the huge shopping center, a
stadium, and hospital with a large courtyard.
At the lookout were many locals selling their wares. I got a simple necklace and earrings made of
hemolite (volcanic rock) and magnetic and immediately put it on.
Our last stop of the day was at a small resort, restaurant
and garden where we could enjoy a drink and the beauty of the flowers and
garden as we looked out on the rain forest.
Our guide told us we were quite lucky not to have rain as it does so
most every day. The average rainfall is
well over 250 inches each year! The
average temperature is 82 in the summer and 77 in the “winter” though today was
88 degrees with a vicious humidity. The
natives refer to their island as a “nature island” due to all of the lush
growth as well as the nutrient rich waters that surround the island, a natural
breeding ground for sperm whales and several species of dolphin. Its national
bird is the Sisserou parrot. We were
able to see a couple of them in a huge cage in the Botanical Gardens though
photographing them was tough since the camera focused on the fencing rather
than the birds.
Two of the three Pirates of Caribbean movies were made here.
However our tour did not take us to the area of the Emerald Pool and the grotto
featured in those movies.
We enjoyed a late lunch up in the Horizon Court – a buffet
area but chose to stay inside to eat it as we were still so warm and sticky
from being outside on our trip. Ken
watched a football game on the big screen in the Princess Live theater while I
spent time reading and doing a few things on the computer. It was truly just a time to relax after our
long walks and climb up to the falls.
It was good to be back in the dining room with our table
mates sharing stories of what we’d been doing the last couple of days since we
missed them last night. Steve and Mary
were quite adventurous today taking an ATV trip up into the center of the
national park and swimming up the river to the grotto and Emerald Pool that was
used in the Pirates of the Caribbean movie while Cliff and Nancy chose to stay
on the ship and watch the Sunday football games that were being shown in
Princess Live.
After dinner we enjoyed the Alley Cats, a group of four men
doing the Doo Wop songs of the 50s and 60s.
They did an excellent job and really had us all participating with hand
motions and clapping. Following the show
Ken went to the Panthers vs Eagles football game while I strolled back up to
the 17th deck to watch the dancing fountains again.
It was another great day in the Caribbean!!!
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