Blogs from Dominica, Central America Caribbean - page 10

Sunday, May 4th 1045am Well, I have made it safe and sound to San Juan, Puerto Rico. I left Boston a little after 0630 and touched down in San Juan right around 1010 local and EST time. The flight was good and the landing was one of the best I have ever experienced - lack of kissing the seat in front of you while the plane is braking and fearing the gear is going to break off from the intense jarring of plane to ground makes you thankful for a landing you hardly feel. Puerto Rico seemed nice coming in - it appears to be very mountainous with peeks and valleys. The airport area is very built up with a lot of houses and buildings around it. I am told the temperature here is around 75 ... read more

After spending the past eight years working in a highly stressful and demanding job. My husband and I decided to make the move to live in the Caribbean Island of Dominica. My Husband is from Europe, But I was born in Dominica and spent the first 11 years of my life there, but now in my late 40’s…It was definitely time to return, as I’m of an age now, to fully appreciate the Beauty and tranquillity of the Island, proving true the old Caribbean adage that “Cow never miss its tail, until the Butcher cuts it off! ” Sometimes you have to go away then come back before you value your treasure. Even though we have wanted to make the move for sometime now, there is a massive difference between wanting something and actually going ahead ... read more

We had a nice quiet day for a change. We went into town early after visiting Sol y Mar and Meggie. Unfortunately, we came back with almost nothing. Box of cereal, Nido (milk), guava cookies, that was it. We have been out of eggs for weeks and other things. In Martinique, eggs were 1.95 Euro for 6 eggs. We found out some more details on Dominica: it has 7 areas that are likely for volcanoes. They are of course monitored. The island is very poor. lot's of shacks, like Grenada. Locals bring their jugs to watering areas, for drinking water. The children do not wear uniforms to school like in other islands. However, you do not hear the patoi (sp?). Their manners are a little better than in other English islands. We hate it when you ... read more

Yesterday was a working day for us. Raymond never showed, boat boy. Oh well, it is the islands...We took a ride to Cabrit National Park, where the small cruise liners can dock. We had heard they would sell diesel to us, duty free. We saw 2 sailboats there in the am. So off we went...Walked right in to terminal, nobody stopped us, found security guy yakking away outside with another employee. We asked about the diesel, after he jumped up 3 feet from the ground. He called this lady, she in turn called someone else...After an hour of waiting, we finally were getting our diesel. It runs 10.65 EC per imperial gallon, which equal 4.3 gals of ours. We enquired about water, were told 1000 gallons for 30 EC. We don't need water, but Sol y ... read more

We just came off the Indian River Tour. Our guide was Raymond. This is where Pirates of the Caribbean was film!!! It was an exhilarating trip, Raymond picked us up around 0900, returning back around 1130. There are 365 rivers in Dominica, the Indian River being the deepest, getting it's name after the Caribs Indians. Who by the way do basket weaving from Coconut palms, not like the Bahamas, also from wild sugar leaves. They also use the Roseau, which is wild sugar cane, and it is not eatable and it is not sweet, mainly used for roofs, the leaves on top and the shoots for holding the leaves. Roseau is the capital of Dominica, where it got it's name from the wild sugar cane. The river is not like any we know, we would have ... read more

After a pretty disappointing whale watch in California last year, it was with high expectation we handed over our money to go out yesterday. We weren’t disappointed. We were lucky to have a PhD student in Oceanography and an expert in Sperm whales as our guide and we learned all there is to know about these fascinating animals. As they stay in family groups and in the Caribbean Sea west of Dominica they tend to hang around for weeks at a time, it was a case of “if you see one, there will be more". It took 2 hours before the skipper called “there she blows” and we moved closer to see the whale. The Oos, Ahs and Wows from all aboard were uncontrolled. Then she rolled forwards and her tail came out - Fantastic! The ... read more

On the north east coast, the beach at Pointe Baptiste was a real find. From our Sea Cliff cottage it was a short walk down an overgrown track to this cute beach. We were the only people on it until a local woman called Fi came by after fishing off the rocks at the point.. Had a good ole chat to her about life on the island. We swam and snorkelled in the strong current. On the north west corner of the island is the excellent Toucari village nestled in it’s own bay. On a small cul-de-sac road with few tourists and no through traffic, this palm lined bay and beach is a real find. These are some of our favourite photos - so far! Dominica is the location of the last Carib settlement in the ... read more

We are staying at Sea Cliff cottages in the north east and you can walk down a couple of hundred steps to the beach here. It’s black sand and the Hodges river arrives here, letting you swim in the sea then swim in the river to wash off the salt. We picked up a coconut and took it back, had to borrow a machete from our hosts to get in. It was pretty hard work hacking through the husk but we got there. Fort Shirley and Cabrits National Park are in very north of Dominica - one of those places on the tourist route that you’re not sure whether to visit. It sounds like an old fort and not much else, but they didn’t mention just how unreal most of it is now. The main fort ... read more