Monday, 16 March: Dominica
Today's stop was at
Dominica, an independent nation that was formerly a British Colony. I had always pronounced it "Dough-MINN-i-cah", but the guides pronounced it "Dough-minn-EEK-ah". It's one of the least developed and poorest islands in the Caribbean.
We booked an all-day island tour, which went to
Trafalgar Falls in the morning, lunch in the capital of Rouseau, and then a drive to the northern part of the island to meet the ship.
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| Some housing just outside Roseau |
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| Tourist at Trafalgar Falls |
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| Lower part of Trafalgar Falls |
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| More housing on the island |
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| Trafalgar Primary School |
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| A banyan tree in Roseau |
Downtown Roseau is not a big tourist destination--there is only one duty free shop, and only a couple of hotels. You can pretty much do the whole town in about 10 minutes.
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| St. George Anglican Church |
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| Dominica State House |
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| Parliament Building |
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| Along the wharf in Roseau |
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| More of central Roseau |
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| Leaving Roseau for the countryside |
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| Out in the country |
We got back on the ship in Cabrits, on the northern part of the island, and watched the raising of the sails and sunset.
Tuesday, 17 March:Antigua
Antigua (officially Antigua and Barbuda) is another independent nation that was formerly a British colony. It is much more developed than Dominica.
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| On the dock in Antigua |
Our morning excursion was a a zip-line tour run by the Antigua Rainforest Company. What could possibly go wrong?
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| Would this be the last photo ever taken of us? |
Actually, zip-lining is pretty idiot-proof. You go through a 30-minute orientation where they fit you with a harness that is pretty much impossible to work your way out of. While you're "zipping", you are effectively sitting in the harness, so there's not much that you have to do.
All of the brochures tell you that you'll be flying through the tree tops and interacting with wildlife, but it's not really like that. Each segment of the zip-line takes about 10 seconds and you are well above the tops of the trees, so really all you see are trees below you for a few seconds. I did not scream.
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| Why is this man smiling? |
Having survived the zip-line, we went to a beach, where the ship was having a picnic lunch for those who weren't on excursions. Apparently they didn't tell the crew that there were people on excursions, because when we got to the beach, they were packing everything up. Fortunately, they took us back to the ship and gave us leftovers there.
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| A church on the way to the beach |
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| View of the ship from the beach |
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| Nice beach, but no food |
After lunch we hung out on the boat until it was time to set sail.
For the evening's entertainment, they gave Lazlo the night off and brought in a steel band from Antigua.
Next: Days 5 and 6--St. Kitts and Iles des Saintes
