Dominica, A Pretty Caribbean Island

This is a very pretty island from the boat as well as off the boat. We explored a bit on the island. It is very steep and hilly and we once again found our way to a church. This island is one big rainforest and you would need to be on it for a week to see everything there is to see. We climbed very high up and sat on the Methodist church steps to get the views of the cruise ship and beyond. The people seemed very friendly as well. We had booked a shore excursion called ‘Champagne - 2 site snorkel trip’ for the afternoon so we knew that we were not going to stay too long. We looked at what the market had to offer and walked around a bit more and then made our way back to the boat.



We went back to our cabin and got our snorkelling gear together. We often travel with our masks and snorkel so that we don’t have to use inferior equipment. The flippers don’t really matter too much to us so we don’t mind using different company’s flippers. We had to meet at the end of the pier at 12:15 pm promptly where our cruise people were to send us on our way. We walked aboard the catamaran called ‘Passion’ and they took us to the first snorkelling sight. Don’t get the wrong idea about the name of this excursion, I hate champagne. The reason why it is called champagne is because we snorkelled over a sight that has a volcanic vent. When it releases boiling hot fresh water from its caverns, it bubbles up to the surface just like a glass of champagne would. It was quite cool to see this phenomenon. Also what comes with the warmer temperatures of the water is some different coral to view as well. We saw ‘flower pot coral’ which looks exactly like huge flower pots. The one that our guide free dove too was the circumference of a car, it was huge and unusual looking. Darren got a couple good shots of that one. We also saw some pretty fish that we have never seen before too. He pointed out fire coral which you should never touch unless you are a sadist and other coral and fish. If you have seen ‘Finding Nemo’ and you know who Dori is then you would recognize the fish that we saw with their pretty blue color. We snorkelled over about 250 yards to a sunken ship where we saw 4 canons and the anchor, I have never seen a sunken ship before so that was cool too. This sight was really well worth it to snorkel at.




We climbed back on board and sailed to our next sight. This sight was all about the wall and the 5000 foot drop down into nothingness. Personally I have problems snorkelling over walls and drop offs, don’t ask me why? When I first got off the boat and dropped my mask in the water, I saw a stingray right away and moseyed around and followed it for a bit. Then it took off on me with no hope of me catching it, they are super fast when they want to be. We then went directly to the wall; Darren and I were the only ones to do this. Most people were so tired that they did not even get off for the second sight. The waves and swells were really large at the first sight and it was allot of work to snorkel at the first sight. When we got to the drop off I did the same thing as always, I tentatively peer over the edge and swim back to safety. It is supposed to be very cool to dive a wall and see the different corals and fish at different depth levels but when you snorkel it is just a dark blue color all of the way down. We had about 80 feet of depth clarity so that was good enough for me. I swam around a bit more but I was bagged and climbed back on board to dry off and warm up. The rum punch was now being served and it was spicy and strong. I like the taste of rum so this was welcoming. Darren eventually came back on board. We decided to lay on the front canopy of the catamaran that is cargo net web and you can see the water rushing by underneath you as you lay there. It was very relaxing except for the mooring rope that broke and snapped back at me. This rope is about 4 inches wide and they could not get it off and the boat started to twist and the rope just snapped and the end that was attached to the boat snapped back towards my head. It missed me by about 12 inches but it would have done some damage if it hit me like take out my eye or break my arm etc. Other than this experience it was a very nice and relaxing trip. Keeping in mind that our son is back on the other big cruise ship having the time of his life; I kept thinking what if this little boat does not make it back on time? Who would take care of our child? Little things like that kept me from having a completely wonderful time. As it was we made it back in plenty of time. We sailed away; I had a shower to get all of the salt off of me and got ready for my next feast. The meal as usual was decadent and we went to collect Dax for the second Broadway show. It was great to hear the voices and see the dancing. Dax liked it too.