Dominica–Snorkeling at the Champagne Reef

We had a lazy morning. Around 9am, we arrived into Woodbridge Bay Pier, the second docking area in Roseau, the capital of Dominica. The RCL-Adventure of the Seas ship was docked at the main, Roseau Cruise Pier. Today was mostly sunny and high of 84 degrees. Dominica is 298 square miles with a population of 73,000. English is the main language.

The morning started with intermittent rain or what the locals in the Caribbean call “liquid sunshine”. Here you can see a faint rainbow:

We ate a late breakfast and headed down to the pier to do some window shopping. Being a crafts person, I enjoy this port as I get a chance to see some of the handmade jewelry and crafts that are made. I saw a lot of jewelry made from hematite (shiny black volcanic rock). Dominica is a volcanic island and really not know for it’s beaches. Hematite is abundant on this island and some of the jewelry is quite beautiful. I found something new, jewelry made from coconut. Cut and sanded down, some of the pieces were beautiful. They also dyed some of the pieces, but I preferred the natural colors.

As I mentioned, Dominica is a volcanic island. It’s mostly known for it’s waterfalls and rainforest and the Champagne Reef.

Today’s excursion was a snorkeling trip to the Reef. Our group met on the dock at 2pm. Yes, this was a late excursion for us, but we were grateful as the sun didn’t peak out until the early afternoon and rain showers had stopped.

We snorkeled for an hour. This was the first time I saw so many fish here. (Note: this is our third trip to the island). We swam around and some parts of the water was cool and some parts warm. The warm areas has to do with the volcanic fissures that leak warm bubbles. We had a great time here.

Dominica has lots of peaks. Many of the house are built in the low lying areas and rarely do you see one on top of the peaks or mountains. There is constant cloud coverage at the top.

On the way back to our ship, we see the RCL-Adventure of the Seas leaving Dominica:

Sailing back to our pier with the Emerald Princess in sight:

We got back to the ship before 5pm. We were starving. Not for fish, but for a chicken sandwich and french fries from the Grill. Don’t know what came over us, but we were craving for some good hot fries. That’ll teach us for skipping lunch.

We sat on our balcony and watched the sun go down. We left Dominica around 6pm and set sail for Grenada.

We ate a late dinner at Vines. Here, we sampled some wines along with some complementary sushi. Like California rolls:

The wasabi was “hot”. Probably the hottest I’ve ever had. Here’s the Ahi Tuna:

Since tomorrow is a down day for us with no excursions…it’s laundry time for us. I think I can allow 1-1/2 hours of my vacation time to do something domestic. Yes, there are laundromats on each deck. Hopefully, I can get a machine at 7am. More later….