March 16th-Dominica

The people of Dominica are called the Caribs. Christopher Columbus discovered the island as he sailed by on November 3, 1493 and christened it Dominica. The island was ignored for 200 years and then the French & British sparred for it, with the British winning control in 1805. Dominica gained independence in 1978. The following year the island was devastated by Hurricane David. The island is only 298 square miles. Their main income is from Agriculture. Banana’s……They speak English.

We woke up this morning and headed to the Princess Theatre to meet up with our tour. We toured “Dominica’s Favorites”. Can I just say driving here would be a challenge! They not only drive on the left side of the road……they nearly miss crashing at every turn!
We toured the city of Roseau to Morne Bruce for panoramic views of the city.
Drove to the village of Trafalgar and hiked up to a beautiful waterfall. The tour then took us through the rainforest to Trois Piton National Park and we hiked about 20 minutes to the Emerald Pool which is a gorgeous waterfall and swimming hole. Our bus driver was Thomas and our tour guide was Lynn, who was very knowledgeable and funny. She said that they call speed bumps, “Sleeping Police” and when something stinks they call it, “Devil’s Shit”!!

On our way back to the ship our van broke down. We were stranded in the middle of the forest but walked to a shack where we met a guy who calls himself, “Mr. Nice”. He gave us all the fruit we could eat! He had Bananas, cut up Coconuts, Pineapples, Papayas, Grapefruits, and homemade Coconut Candy. He was so funny….he entertained us until they sent a new van. Damn Toyota’s!! They even have problems with them over here. I guess they haven’t gotten the recall message yet 
We made it back to the ship a couple of hours later than planned but had a great time.

We ate lunch finally at 3:30pm and then went back to our room to relax for a little while.
After showering and getting ready for dinner we went down to have some casual pictures taken. So far we haven’t had one that we both liked! We thought about buying a picture of another couple because ours have been so bad! We really weren’t hungry so we decided not to go to the dining room for dinner. We walked through the buffet and picked up some snacks. Then we headed out to the sun deck to watch the “Movie Under the Stars” which happened to be “The Proposal”……it was really fun. It is a giant movie screen that is over the pool area. There are 3 levels that you can watch it from. They cover the lounge chairs with blankets and pillows and served pizza and popcorn. I think we’ll have to do it again sometime. They actually show movies there all day every day.

After watching the movie we walked through the casino but didn’t win our fortune yet.
Off to bed! We will be in Grenada tomorrow.