Dominica:  May 16-20, 2008

Click on the above thumbnail for a map during this time period

Southern Dominica Tour

"Seacat" was our tour guide on a trip through southern Dominica.   (His real name is "Octavius".   This sounded a lot like "octopus" to his boyhood friends.  The Creole word for "octopus" translates literally to "sea cat".  Hence his nickname.)  Crazy man.   Stopped and talked with lots of locals.   Barged in to places he wanted to show us, and charmed the locals into hosting the visit.   Among many other places, we stopped at a local bar that openly sold moonshine.   Also drove through a Rasta village.  Lotsa ganja in evidence, especially since Seacat kept yelling out the window "top grade?"   Got lots of young men rushing up to the van with that query!  Found myself looking down at a hand full of weed at one point, thrust through the window by an eager young entrepreneur.  The high point of the trip was the hike up a river, over boulders and through the rushing water, up to Victoria Falls.   I had hurt my back the day before -- accident on the dinghy in a strong surge which threw me back against the dinghy seat -- so I stayed out of the pool under the falls and took pictures.   Everyone else jumped into the pool and fought the current to get to the underhangs at the base of the thundering cascade.   When we returned from the river we had lunch at Moses' new restaurant (called a "rastarant", where we all had the one item on the "menu":  delicious vegetarian soup served in calabash bowls, with "spoons" made of coconut shells.   As you can see in the photos of Moses below, a steady diet of vegetables and ganja certainly keeps one looking young!  Moses walks with a slight limp.  His son quietly explained that Moses was shot in the leg a number of years ago by the police during a period in which the government was attempting to suppress the Rasta movement.

Pictures with a (*) were taken by either Dave and Michelle (Daniell Storey).

Humble residence at base of majestic cliff. We stopped and raided their extensive fruit orchard. (With their gracious blessing.)	Dave (Magic) talks to the little girls on our stop	*Seacat preparing a coconut	*Ready for eating and drinking	Flowers on bush next to the cabin
Drinking coconut water from a green coconut	Caribbean cherry -- also in the orchard	*Group gathered around enjoying coconut and paw paws.	Pouring myself a drink in the moonshine bar.	Wading and climbing up the river to Victoria Falls
Crossed the river many times	*Clammering over boulders along the river	*More clammering	Places to clammer	One last major climb before the falls
At last the falls are visible!	*Pool at base of falls	Group as they finally reach the falls	Water is white from minerals and tiny bits of sand broken off by the violence of the falls	Relaxing in a quiet section of the pool
Barb made it and others are fighting the current to get to a little cove at the base of the falls	Moses' restaurant -- still under construction	Moses' sign	Moses picking beans for our soup	Soup in calabash bowl with coconut shell spoon
Moses' youngest son Isaiah.	Tour group at Moses' rastarant	Moses giving Rose a lesson on herbs	Bundles of bay leaves at a bay leaf distillery	Emerald pool seen from path above
Barb down at the Emerald pool	A bear in the woods?	Back in Roseau, relaxing at a shore-side bar after a long day's tour

Diving in Southern Dominica

We passed closer dive shops and went down to the south end of the island to dive with Joy Reed, who had been with us on Tusen Takk II the previous week.  (Another great guest, by the way.   Relaxed, helpful, and congenial.  And fun to get caught up on Savannah and AASU [my former employer] news.)  We were so impressed with the dives that we changed our travel plans and returned for a second day of diving.  We highly recommend "Nature Island Dive" -- they did a fantastic job of showing us frog fish and sea horses.  We also saw many turtles, several types of crabs, a large octopus, and lots of fish.   Very healthy sponge coral -- some of the sponges were as big as an outhouse!   Spectacular wall dives featuring vertical walls that dropped to infinity.  First class diving, comparable to Bonaire, Saba, or Cayman Islands.

Canoe of the type made by the Caribs at the northeast end of the island	More Carib-style canoes on the beach in Soufriere	Diving can wear you out! So why not nap during the break between dives?	Old church in Soufriere -- the village where Nature Island Dive is located	The dock used by the dive boat
Joy on the grounds of the dive shop	Joy aboard the dive boat	Joy stayed in the bottom floor of this sea-side cottage while she was diving	Another view of her cottage	Joy on the balcony of her cottage -- famous Scott's Head in the background

 

We didn't have an under-water camera.  But Rose and Tom (Sojourn) did!  Here are some of their photos, taken at roughly the same sites, but with a different dive shop.   And so, they didn't see any frog fish or sea horses. :-(

Arrow crabs	Balloon fish	Cardinal fish	Trumpet fish	Scorpion fish
Hawksbill turtle	Dave and Tom ham it up	Another shot of the divers	Iridescent tube	Giant tube sponge
Yellow tube sponges	Tom, Dave, Michele, Dave, and Donna pose after their dives -- dive master in the background