Day 499 - Dominica

Ahh. Dominica. I always enjoy my days here. Today was no exception. I was up early & off the ship for my dive. I was joining Larisa & we were going to be dive buddies for the day. We saw Leana & Bronwyn on the dock, they were off on a whale watching tour. 


Larisa had her G12 & an underwater housing with her, so I had given my underwater camera to M&D2 to take with them on their Champagne Snorkeling tour. 


I have dived in Dominica previously - Valentine's Day 2007 to be precise. It was a rather memorable dive. I went with a bunch of friends from the ship. When we were on the boat, they told us they didn't have enough wetsuits for us. In the end, the guide ended up giving me his wetsuit, which was very generous of him. Apparently my diet had also been generous, for when I pulled the wetsuit up, I managed to tear the backside of the wetsuit! I was mortified! Of course, we had the ship's Videographer diving with us that day, so my white cheek ended up on the souvenir dvd of the cruise! 


Lo & behold, our dive today found Larisa with a split up the backside of her wetsuit! It wasn't her - it came that way, but I found it highly entertaining that there was a split wetsuit onboard 4 years later! Oh the irony! 


The dive wasn't that wonderful. Dominica is usually a diver's dream. Today was a bit of a nightmare! I had a regulator that sprayed sea water into my mouth with every breath, which meant I came up from the dive having inhaled a fair amount of salt water. I had a headache like you wouldn't believe! I didn't really want to do the second dive, as I knew what I would be up against! I went, but it certainly wasn't enjoyable! We saw plenty of fish, but it wasn't as memorable as I had recalled from 2007. Larisa & I had fun visiting in any case. 


The second dive was at Champagne Reef. Gases escape from inside the Earth & bubble up to the surface. The water is warm & it seems as though you are swimming in a glass of champagne! It's really something to experience!


Once we were back at the dock, I strolled through the terminal & listened to one of the steeldrum bands getting ready for Carnival, which was happening at the start of the week. They were young musicians, but they sounded great! When I left the terminal & walked towards the ship, I noticed the objects along the pier. I don't know what the English name is, but the Afrikaans translation is 'dumb oxen'. When I first visited South Africa in 2005, Nico's father, Marten, worked at CSIR. They had a to-scale setup of some of the ports & piers around the world. They also had a wave making machine & they would observe the flow of water & the tolerance of the piers with different strengths of waves. It was quite fascinating! In any case, they had these 'dumb oxen' lining the piers in some places. I had never seen them before & I haven't seen them too many other places. It was special to see them here! 


I went back onboard, changed quickly & headed back off the ship. I was hoping to find a fabric shop open that sells African prints. I have a little tradition of buying fabric each time I come. I don't sew, but I'm hoping to one day do something with it!


Sadly it was Sunday. EVERYTHING was closed. The only thing open was a small bar with a side shop selling fresh herbs. I saw M&D2 on the street outside the shop & they suggested I go in & get some herbs for my raw dishes. I thought it was a great idea! That is, until I saw lizards crawling across the tops of the open jars & birds landing on the jars! No thanks!


I strolled down the waterfront & took in a bit of the pre-Carnival festivities - mostly just music & a few tourist stalls - before I caught the last shuttle back to the ship.


I spent the evening helping M&D2 pack. They were overweight with their luggage & I lent them one of my suitcases. I didn't know what I was going to do with the suitcase in the first place, so it worked out well that I could send it back with them. I consider myself a pretty good packer, so I managed to cram 50 lbs worth of stuff into a small carry-on suitcase! 


I said goodnight to them & we made arrangements to meet tomorrow & go ashore one last time. I can't believe it's been 2 weeks already. I've had so much fun showing them around. They have enjoyed every minute of it & I'm thrilled to pieces that they had the opportunity to join Jaco & I onboard. Now they know what I've been up to all these years!


Okay, I'm off to bed...xxxxMaria

 Workin' the shirt

 Lovin' the sunshine!

 Swim like a fishy!

 Part of Pirates of the Caribbean was filmed here!

 Steeldrummers

 The band

 Youngsters

 Steel drum

 Handicrafts

 More handicrafts

'dumb oxen'