A Down Day in Dominica!

We’ve been to Dominica so many times.  It’s not on our top ten list of islands to visit.  Not even our top twenty.  We’ve done the Champagne snorkeling where we’ve snorkeled amongst the warm bubbles of the volcanic seabed.  Even the snorkeling excursions here are not on our top excursion list. 

We were docked in the island’s secondary dock/port area.  The industrial side.  The NCL Norwegian Sun was docked at the primary downtown port.  This was going to be our “stay on the ship” day. 

Dominica is known for their rainforest and waterfalls.  That was pretty evident as it rain for the most of the day while we were docked.  It felt like it rained every hour for 10-20 minutes. 

We had our usual breakfast at HC.  To give our cabin steward some time to refresh our cabin, we spent our time wandering around the ship.  We hung out on deck 7, Promenade, and watched our fellow cruisers leaving for their day trips/excursions.  I figured most of them were going hiking through the rainforest and/or waterfalls.  Down at the pier, there was an islander playing his steel drums and entertaining us with music.  Yes, we could hear it all the way up on the ship. 

I dropped Hubby off at the cabin while I picked up my laptop and headed up to deck 18 to the Skywalker’s Lounge to get my 5 bars (WiFi access).  This was one of the ways I got my exercise on the ship, climbing the stairs from Deck 9 (Dolphin…our cabin) to Deck 15 (Lido…think food!) or all the way up to Deck 18 (for WiFi). 

I spent time up here, looking through the pictures we’ve taken and picking out the ones to be posted on FB and for my cruise blog.  I enjoyed my time here at Skywalker’s.  It’s located at the back (aft) of the ship and at the top deck.  This lounge has floor to ceiling windows.  From here, I saw the downtown area of Roseau, the capital of Dominica.  I saw the traffic jams of what looked like the only road that went between the two ports.  I suspected many newcomers/cruisers were taking taxis to the downtown area.  I also saw the NCL ship.  I also saw the rain showers come and go.  Frequently. 

At some point, my stomach growled.  It was lunch time!  I gathered my belongings and headed back down to Deck 9 to check on Hubby.  He was lounging inside the sitting area of our cabin with our balcony door open.  I guess it got too hot out on our balcony, but he wanted to enjoy the slight breeze outside.  The best of both worlds! 

It was after 1pm and we headed back up to HC for lunch.  Yes, we were hungry.  Again. 

After lunch, I dropped Hubby back in our cabin.  I was in exploring mode.  I went to several venues to check out the entertainment.  Not much was going on.  Let me re-phrase that, some of the entertainment didn’t appeal to me at the moment.  

The crew on the ship had a test drill 

A view of the island

Houses and building in Dominica

I went back to the cabin to check on Hubby and to let him know that I was going dockside to see the local market.  Hubby was torn.  I knew he didn’t want to go wandering around the local market in the humid hot weather.  Yet, he wanted to come with me to make sure I would be safe.  I reassured him that I would be fine and I would hang out with my fellow cruisers. 

Off I went down to Deck 4 and exited the ship.  I walked slowly past the steel drum man to take in the beat of his music.  I can’t dance worth beans, but as I listened to this beautiful music I felt my feet wanting to move to the beat. 

The industrial port area with the market area

The local market is really a craft market set up in a huge metal warehouse just beyond the port security area.  Local women and men sell their crafts and gifts.  It’s mostly women that I see here.  There are plenty of handcrafted dolls and toys on display as well as handmade house ware items (trivets, doilies, bowls, wall hangings, clothes and lots of jewelry. 

I was on a mission.  I was looking for coconut shell jewelry.  A few years ago, a friend of mine had been to Costa Rica and brought me gorgeous coconut shell dangle earrings.  They were dark brown.  Ever since, I’ve been looking for a bracelet and necklace to go with it.   

As I went from table to table, no brown coconut shell jewelry was to be found.  There was a lot of what I called junk jewelry that was probably massed produced in some way.  Every table had the same, except for one.  I picked out a unique looking necklace.  The oval pendant was made out of banana leaf and the beads were a combination of coconut and blue coral.  It was gorgeous.  The designer was a man!  Each piece was handmade by him.  He told me he could lengthen and shorten a necklace for me. Given the living conditions on this island I knew I wouldn’t negotiate too much.  In the end, we were happy with our agreement and I was a proud owner a unique necklace.

After wandering around a bit more, I did not realize how hot and sweaty I became.  I was inside a warm warehouse and with the rainy weather made it feel really muggy.  I headed back to the ship to enjoy the cool AC.

Hubby really liked my new purchase and enjoyed his time in our cabin.  I think it was more like siesta time for him. 

The ship was getting ready to leave Dominica.  I grabbed my camera and Hubby and we headed down to Deck 7 (Promenade) to check out the view on the starboard side.  We walked towards the front (forward) of the ship as it was backing and moving away from the dock.  A security officer was walking towards us and told us that the forward area of the ship was off limits.  We headed around to the port side of the ship and noticed he closed and locked a gate behind us.  We decided to just walk around the Promenade (3 laps equals a mile). 

This was a pleasurable down day for us.  No rushing around.  Just doing what we wanted to do.

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….

Day 6 - Dominica

We had an early snorkeling excursion this morning, so I set my watch alarm for 6:15am. I woke up to find that we were coming into Dominica.

Dominica in the morning

We ate a quick breakfast and made our way to the pier around 7:50am. There was a group of 40 or so fellow snorkelers who would joins us for a trip to the Champagne Reefs. It was a 20 minute boat ride along the coast of Dominica.

We donned our snorkel gear and jumped into the cold water. A little to early in the morning for this much excitement. This was a guided snorkeling tour, so we followed our guide around the reef as he pointed out different corals and fish.

Sea Life

Fan

Sea Life

We ended up in the warmest part of the reef where the bubbles rose from the volcanic vents under the sea. We snorkeled for 1-1/2 hours and then headed back to the dock.


Sea life

Throughout the morning and afternoon, we had brief periods of "liquid sunshine" or what we know as rain showers. DH and I did some window shopping and found that the Dominicans are very friendly.

Afternoon rainbow

Leaving Dominica before the next big drench

Leaving a beautiful island


This is our 2nd time to this beautiful island.

This evening was Italian Trattoria in Caribe Cafe. We nixed dinner here and went to the Pizza Bar for some Margherita pizza.

Later in the evening, we went to see a musical show called "I Got the Music". It featured music/tunes from Carly Simon, Barbra Streisand, Neil Diamond, and Britney Spears. The singers were pretty good.