Chasing Summer –

November 20 & 21

Our entrance into Dominica was quiet and calm as we arrived in the early morning hours as usual. I find that I am typically one of only two or three passengers up and around at 6 am.

If the sun is rising in the rear (aft) of the ship, I typically go to the gym on deck 7 to work out while waiting for twilight to end and the day to start. If the sun rises on the bridge or front of the ship, I stand by the bow, watch the show with my hair, and sometimes dress flying. It is much windier up front.

Today, it was the front of the boat and two renegade walkers (we aren’t supposed to walk laps around deck 5 before 8 a.m.), and fellow passenger Cris showed up after a while.

While having breakfast, I noticed the birds quickly swarming an area and swooping down while fish were leaping into the air. I don’t know what was under the water with them, but it must have a big appetite. This is a deep water port.

The Odyssey has two days here in Roseau but must move ports for day two at 6 am to make way for a larger cruise ship. The Captain hilariously informed us at dinner last night that if we stayed out all night and came back to find the ship missing, she would be a mile away and not panic.

Since the pier that we docked at on day one is right downtown, my walking group, Angela, Steve, and Scott, decided to do the town walk first and leave town on day two.

We got off the ship before 9am and headed out to explore. The humidity smacked into us as soon as we left the airconditioned ship, and we quickly planned to do the garden and hill climb first before it got any hotter.

A few taxi guys were trying to see if we wanted to go on a tour but were good about taking no for an answer. We headed up the street towards a war memorial and Neg Mawon, a monument for emancipation.

The streets had some sidewalks, but many cars parked on them, so we mainly took our chances on the roads.

A few sweaty blocks in we came to the Cathedral of Our Lady of Fair Haven of Roseau. Trying to get to the front of the cathedral, we also passed Bethesda Church. The exterior of the cathedral appears to be in need of some loving care, and the gates were locked up, so we couldn’t see the interior.

Several schools were on our way to the Botanical Gardens, and we could hear children laughing and playing as we walked down the roads. A large school by the gardens was the Convent School.

Oddly enough, the GPS My City app took us to the back of the Gardens rather than the front. We had picked up a 5th walker at this point. A friendly local dog who followed us around the park.

From the back of the Gardens (which really didn’t have much in the way of flowers and trees), there is a path up the hill behind it, Morne Bruce, called Jack’s Way. It was a shortcut that soldiers used to reach the fort that once sat atop the hill.

Morne Bruce still has the remains of the fort walls and an old cannon up top, but we had to climb the hill to see it. The walk isn’t that high and only takes about 15 minutes, but it is steep, and in the heat of the day, I was a sweaty wet mess by the time I reached the top.

The amazing views are also greatly blocked by the surrounding vegetation, and Steve climbed on benches to get a better view of the city and port below. There is also a large cross that was erected in 1920 at the top.

It took us 15 minutes to climb up and 8 to get back down. From the bottom, we made our way back through the botanical gardens, looking for a squished bus. While there was a lack of flowers, bamboo was plentiful, and several clumps were arranged to make a bamboo circle.

Angela asked a worker who pointed us in the direction of the bus, which was at the entrance to the gardens.

Hurricanes are a fact of life for the islands in the Caribbean, and there isn’t any island that hasn’t been partially destroyed by one over the years. Every island we have visited has been working on clean-up from past storms. In 1979, Hurricane David devastated Dominica, and a bus was crushed by a falling baobab tree. The bus and tree remain in the gardens as a reminder of the force of nature.

From the gardens, we circled around the center and came to Windsor Park. It is the main sporting facility and is used for the national game of cricket and cultural events.

Most of the shops were not open on day one, but with the second larger cruise, they were all open the second day.

We made our way back toward the ocean and came across the Farmers’ Market. There were a few vendors out selling, but not many.

From the market, there were many tents set up for vendors to sell to the cruise ship passengers. While walking, we stopped to price out taxi tours for the next day. $25-35 USD seemed to be the opening offer.

That evening on the Odyssey, a group of Caribe performers came on. They are some of the few remaining indigenous people in the Caribbean, and they are trying to preserve their heritage with dance, singing, drumming, and sharing their culture with others.

The next day, after moving the ship at 6, we were able to take a shuttle to the other port area. Becki and I decided to take a taxi up to the Emerald Pool for the morning and swim in the pool.

I knew from the previous day that it could cost $35, and there is a $5 entrance fee to the park, so we knew we needed at least $40 each. When we got the shuttle, our driver found out what we wanted to do and called ahead to get someone he knew to take us.

Of course, when we got there, there were thousands of the other cruise ship’s passengers making their way out, and now the drivers wanted $50. After making a big deal out of it, they agreed to $35 (I found out later my friend Paul got it for $15, I need him to arrange all my taxi needs).

The ride up the mountain was 45 minutes and brought us into the rainforest area, which surprise, was raining.

The trail is flat and gravel, which is very easy to walk until it becomes stairs. Quite a lot of stairs, but for most people is 15 minute walk.

Down at the falls, we were lucky because while we met several people going up, no one was at the waterfall so we had about 15 minutes to photograph and get into the pool before the next tour arrived.

I also paid better attention after I realised that crabs of various sizes live in the rainforest and could be found darting into holes, tree hollows, and other spots when they heard us coming.

After swimming around for a bit, I was freezing and told Becki we needed to get out. Leaving we decided to take a different path based on the recommendation of our friend, Bob, who had done the same thing yesterday.

As we drove down another road and headed out, Becki and I thought we were done and had our money ready to pay, but we came to the realization that we were not yet heading to the port. Instead, we ended up at Mero Beach.

When the driver pulled up and announced that we had 1 1/2 hours here we figured out that the honeymoon couple with us had paid for the full-day trip and Becki and I were only paying for the Emerald Pool stop but he had to bring us along to the beach too.

I kind of felt bad that we spent so long in the falls pool though because we assumed that was all that we were doing, but we enjoyed going into the warmer ocean water and watching the small crabs fight for territory on the beach.

Lunch was missed as we arrived back at the port around 4 pm. Dinner was going to be so good as we left Dominica for our next port of call, Guadaloupe.