DOMINICA- Day 1

This evening I got back on to my floating home after an
exciting two days in the amazing country of Dominica.

Dominica is a country I knew very little about before
getting on this ship. For example, I, like most of you, thought it was
pronounced Dominica like Dominican Republic…it sounds the same, makes
sense right? Well it's actually pronounced DO-MEE-NEE-KAH.

Monday morning I woke up from my alarm and looked out my
window to see another ship heading in the same direction as us. It's
so funny how at home if there is a car in the lane next to me its no
big deal, but seeing another ship next to us was practically the most
exciting thing I'd ever seen…until five minutes later when I ran up to
the deck and saw us approaching an Island. I decided I am going to
wake up, no matter how early, each time we are arriving in a port so
that I can see it happen. When you think of islands in the Caribbean
you think lush, sand, palm trees…etc. As we were approaching Dominica
not only did I see all those things, but I also saw giant GREEN
mountains protruding out of the land into the clouds. Dominica is a
volcanic island so it is not the same flat land you see in places like
the Bahamas.

We pulled into the port and stopped rocking for the first
time in a few days. By 8:00 am a group of nine of us exited the ship.
The experience of getting off the ship for the first time was
absolutely indescribable. It is so strange…we get into this capsule,
we have very limited access to the outside world, we see only each
other, eat the same food, go to the same places, see the same sight of
endless water day after day, and then suddenly we are in a completely
different location from the last. We exited from the fifth floor deck,
walked down the stairs and stepped onto a new land. As soon as we
exited the port we met our driver and new friend for the day, Jerome.
Jerome was the BEST, he drove all nine of us for the WHOLE day for
fifteen dollars a person. We told him we first wanted to go to
Middleham falls (a place we had previously researched). We were told
it was four miles away but would take a 30 minute drive. We were all
dumbfounded…how can a distance that short take so long with roads and
freeways!?...well they don't have freeways here and even if they did
it would not have helped us, the reason our drive took so long is
because we were scaling out way up mountains. We drove from the coast
towards the center part of the island, and the drive itself was such
an experience. We then arrived to our hike trial and all got out and
told Jerome, "Okay, see you in about two hours!" He then responded,
"What do you mean? I'm coming with you of course!"

Jerome is born and raised in Dominica and very
knowledgeable and passionate about his home. Our hike took longer than
expected because we constantly stopped and talked about different
plants or fruits we saw which then of course turned into longer
conversations. The way to the falls I walked along side Jerome did
everything shy of sit down with a video camera and tape recorder, I
asked him question after question, all to which he was happy to
respond. He told me about the country, how it only gained it's
independence from Britain not long ago…in 1978, how one of its main
sources of income is exporting bananas, and the kids finish school
around 14 and then go on to college THEN university, how if they want
to come to the US they have to travel to Barbados in hopes of getting
a visa which is typically not going to happen. This guy was so
incredibly nice and generous with his time and knowledge. After a
while of hiking we finally heard the sounds of strong water, then we
felt lots of mist as we tried not to slip on the huge rocks that led
us down to a small pool at the bottom of the waterfall. We swam, took
pictures, cooled off, and just enjoyed the nature of it.

After Middleham falls we stopped for lunch at one of
Jerome's favorite restaurants…we told him we wanted local food. This
place was such a little Caribbean shack where we ate chicken and rice
and boiled and fried bananas. Then, we went over to a place called
Champagne reef for some snorkeling. This beach was out of the movies…
LITERALLY…Pirates of the Caribbean 2, 3, and 4 were all filmed on
Dominica and I'll talk more about that in my next blog. This beach was
absolutely breathtaking. The island is a volcanic island so the sand
was black with red white and black rocks surrounding the shore. The
water literally sparkled in the sunlight. If you know me well you know
I don't love to snorkel (I looooved marine life, but something about
the fish being all around me freaks me out) so instead I just swam
around in the crystal clear waters and enjoyed the sun before watching
it set on the water….it was a perfect day.

Dominica is truly a hidden gem, it's beauty is completely
breathtaking, I kept saying how NO photo could EVER do it justice.
It's nature is completely different from another place I have ever
seen, it is a true rainforest with so much beauty, and what was just
as amazing was the people. This place is full of the happiest,
warmest, most welcoming people I have ever met. Wherever we went, even
just walking around the town and past people's homes, if they were on
their porch, they said hello with a huge smile. I asked a Dominicans
and they explained that they actually really appreciate foreigners…not
just because of the obvious economic advantage, but more importantly
because they appreciate others taking an interest in the Dominican
culture. That is what struck me most about these people, they weren't
so concerned with taking our money…Jerome our driver spent the whole
day with us, talked to us, was basically our own private tour guide,
and in the end of the day he made us stop so he could buy us all
Dominican bananas….and he never asked for more money.

If you stayed with me this long then thanks and sorry this was so
long! I'll try to keep them shorter from now on… I'll write a shorter
post tomorrow about Day 2 in Dominica.

Goodnight everyone!