Paradise

It was promised to be a diving paradise but it proved to be much more. When we arrived in Dominica around midnight, nothing was visible yet of the lush rainforest, the magnificent coast line or the range of imposing volcanoes.



After saying goodbye to our friends who had a plane to catch in Guadeloupe, we arranged a dive for the next day and went to visit the thundering waters of Trafalgar falls. The drive there was steep and through wild jungle. After a short hike we reached the falls, but more importantly, we also found a hot water stream nearby. The river formed many ponds where one could lie in and we enjoyed the hot baths for over an hour.



It being seven months ago since I had a hot bath, you can imagine the joy of being in steaming hot water that long. After a while I began alternating between hot and cold pools and even in the pool where the hot and cold waters joined. It was pure bliss.



The next morning the dive boat from Aldive came to pick us up at eight thirty. Alan the dive master took us to Soufrière Pinnacle where we saw a wonderful coral drop off down to 24 metres. Lots of coral fishes, moray eels and a turtle. Before the second dive, Alan took us to the village and showed us around the historically rich buildings, such as the cave church. Later we bathed in the hot pool on the shore, where some stones were gathered to form a barrier from the sea water. Laying in the sea on the hot surface was another brilliant experience unique to Dominica.



This really is paradise. Meanwhile Ingrid was getting wet in the jungle on her way to the boiling lake, of which she has an account here.

Tobago Cays Turtles

After a blustery stay in Union island, we sailed to the Tobago Cays. A marine park, it is perfectly isolated and uninhabited. We anchored for three nights between Petit Bateau and Petit Rameau. The first snorkel around the boat, I saw three arrow squid swimming together. The second snorkel on the other side of Petit Bateau, we saw hundreds of fish and lots of corals. We did a drift dive on Mayreau Gardens in which we saw sharks and finally, on our last snorkel the day of our departure I saw three turtles grazing in the waters off Turtle beach. And on that beach I saw a lizard.

So the wildlife around the Cays was exactly as promised and then some.



We had left for the Cays around noon for a short hop of four Miles from Union. Union was fun but it was a bit spoiled by the fraudster trying to get away with delivering us three gallons of diesel less than we paid for. So I had to go to the police to get them to talk to the guy (named Des, drives a boat called Angelo) and get him to return the money.

The sail was rough because it had been blowing force sixes and sevens for three days. But once we got into the reefs, the waves subsided and we only had some current to contend with while looking for a nice anchorage.

The procession of vendors started immediately with bread, T-shirts, ice, lobsters and fish. The next three days, we were repeatedly reminded of what was on offer and even bought a T-shirt. More useful items were baguettes at the somewhat elevated price of 15 EC dollars apiece and ice at 25 dollars a bag. But it was all very cheery and never too much of a nuisance.

The snorkeling was fantastic and when the outboard handle broke, the park rangers were kind enough to offer us a tow back to the boat.

When we snorkeled Turtle beach on the last morning, we saw hawksbill turtles underwater eating and coming up for air in a very gracious dive.



After we got back to the beach, a giant lizard was observing us and only very slowly, as we got closer to look at it, did it seek a higher vantage point.



The sail out of the Cays was a short pleasant hop to Canouan with a lasting memory of a wonderful experience.