Blogs from Dominica, Central America Caribbean

Ubytování nás nezklamalo. Vítá nás Ellie, majitelka Caribbean Sea View Holiday Apartments, a je ráda, že nám zpráva dorazila. Ptám se jí, jakou zprávu má na mysli? No přece tu, že už je vše připravené a nemusíme čekat až do večera a můžeme se rovnou ubytovat. Aha, tak to je to pípnutí mobilu, když jsem řídil vlevo a proplétal se úzkými uličkami obce Saint Joseph. Ihned se tedy ubytováváme a jsme apartmánem nadšení. To bude krásný odpočinkový týden s výhledem na Karibik. Pláž je přímo pod námi, ale vzhledem k zažívacím obtížím z plavby, odkládáme koupání na zítřek. Teď se majitelky ptáme na základní informace typu, kde nakoupit, čím se platí, kde mají platební terminál atp. Po obdržených informacích se rozhodujeme, že peníze si vyměníme v bance v Portsmouthu, což je druhé největší město Dominiky a ... read more

St Lucia 20 January – 6 February The journey from when we left the ship in Puerto Rico on the 17 January until reaching St Lucia on the 20th was unhurried but long. We had first to return to Miami before flying to Port of Spain in Trinidad and then on to St Lucia. It sounds a weird way of trying to reach St Lucia but the reason being that by doing it this way it meant we booked two return flights, from Miami to Trinidad and Trinidad to St Lucia which was by far the cheapest strategy to get us where we wanted to go, and back again. Finally we arrived in Castries, the capital of St Lucia, by plane and waited to be collected. Eventually Jason arrived from Sea Wind Cottages and took us ... read more

Wednesday July 26 - Terrible sleep last night, and I woke up feeling like I was getting a cold - sneezy, stuffy nose. Though in hindsight, it could have been allergies. I don't have any known allergies, but it's a new place. After breakfast, I headed out to Champagne Reef with Holly, Emma, Josh and Clive. Clive was looking for an orange butterfly that students had photographed the day before, but didn't have any luck. He searched while the rest of us were in the water. Josh was helping the girls collect data, which required diving down along a transect to take photos of what is present. It's a lot of work. I snorkeled nearby. The reason why the location is called Champagne is because it is a volcanic area, and carbon dioxide bubbles are released ... read more

Sunday July 22 - I saw whales! It was a great start to the day. After breakfast we crossed the river and filled up the buses. I got on a bus with one of the groups of students who had been fun during the week, and took Clive with me, and Lisa and Erin got on the other bus. I chatted a bit with the driver about Dominica, and what it was like before the storm. It's hard to imagine how different it looks now compared to before the storm finished with it, but the stories help me to picture it a little better. When we arrived at the dive site, we got on the boat and the captain introduced himself and gave us a safety introduction. I used the bathroom after that, and the door ... read more

Monday July 16 - Sleep was crap, as always. Jackie moved into our room last night and I heard her get up this morning. I tried to stay in bed, but it did not last long. In the meantime, Jackie came back and woke up Lisa to ask her if they could take out all her bat equipment and use the car today. After that I did get up. Breakfast was porridge, but someone dropped a watermelon, so that was available to eat as well. I spent the morning talking to Shelly and Ben, and in the late morning I met Gary, the donkey on site. He didn't seem to like me, or he liked me too much. Either way, I think I am done with Gary. But he had stepped in a coconut shell that ... read more