Dominica

After staying in Rodney Bay, St. Lucia waiting for the bad weather to pass, we moved on to St. Pierre in Martinique and then further to Roseau in Dominica. We were on a mooring buoy from a company called Sea Cat, and our helper Mr. Beans was really friendly and even helped us with the check-in. The next morning we went into town to get some Internet so Mami and Papi could do some work and we could send some messages to our friends and do some school work. Then we went to look at the city. It was very lively and the houses were colourful. There were people everywhere selling fruits and vegetables on the side of the road and there was a market and everyone was smiling and very friendly and happy. We also saw the Swedish Embassy. We walked around and then we called Mr. Beans from Sea Cat again to drive us back to boat. He said he would be 10 minutes, so Papi and I went to get some drinks because it was so hot. 

Back on the boat we had food and then we went on the SUP to play with the kids from Ruffen and Terne. Later we went over to TikiTour, the kids that we previously met in St. Lucia.   

The next day Mr. Beans picked us up to go on a tour with his boss Sea Cat. Sea Cat stopped a lot to get some wild growing fruits for us to try. We were given Dominican cherries, grapefruits, mandarins, coffee beans, cocoa fruit, lemon grass, cinnamon, lorbeer, star fruit, guave, passion fruit, chocolate beans, chocolate and more. 

He told us about the hurricane Maria that destroyed everything in 2017. A lot of people lost their houses and businesses because the island was flooded. They don’t know how many people live on the islands anymore because a lot of people died or left the island because of the hurricane. Before it was about 70’000 and now it’s probably around 50’000. First we went to do a hike in the rain forest. It was very muddy because it was raining. The walk was through loads of plants; it was quite steep so we nearly had to walk on all four. It was cool and fun and took a long time but we were happy when we came to the end because the rain got heavier and heavier. Then we went to the a canyon waterfall. We swam through a cave and a canyon and got to the waterfall. It was cold water and the current was very strong, so it wasn’t very easy to swim. We also wanted to go behind the waterfall but due to the heavy rain the current was too strong. 

Then we went back to the minibus and drove to a restaurant and ordered some food. I took a chicken meal and Mami, Papi and Annina took a cheese sandwich. But after we ordered the food we went to the Trafalgar waterfall. In fact there were two waterfalls, called Mama and Papa waterfall. Sea Cat let us choose which waterfall we wanted to climb, I chose the higher one, so that we could do more climbing. The climbing between the rocks was a bit dangerous and difficult and very fun. We climbed to the bottom lake of the waterfall and we could go swimming there. We left our things there and went further up through the water to some higher pools. When we were there, we realised that one part of the water was very warm, or even hot, and the other part was cold. The warm part came from the volcano and was full or iron, therefore it was very orange. Sea Cat showed us how to sit behind the cold waterfall, it was very fun. It felt like we were in a spa, we could change between hot and cold water. We also put some iron mud on us, it is supposed to be good for the skin. We were the only people there and Sea Cat told us that we should keep it secret. We were very lucky because no other guides took their guests up to this place, they only showed them the waterfall from the platform.

We stayed for a while and then we went back to the restaurant to eat our food, it was very nice. Afterwards Sea Cat also showed us the volcanic Sulphur springs, but they were rather small. We went back to the city and he dropped us off to watch the carnival that started that day and would last for two months. We watched it for a while and then we met Sea Cat again to take us back. We said good-bye to Sea Cat and said that we would recommend him to everyone because he was a really good tour guide. 

We had to wait for Mr. Beans to take us back to the boat. 

The next day we set off to the north of the island, to a place called Portsmouth/Ruperts Bay. 

In Ruperts Bay we chose Mr. Providence as our Buoy guy as he was recommended to us. It turned out that again he was the best, but I will talk about that later. Soon after our arrival a PAYS boat came by and asked if we want to join the Yachties BBQ which takes place every Sunday. PAYS stands for Portsmouths Association of Yacht Services and is an organisation that makes sure that yachties feel secure and welcome. They work hard to recover from the hurricane Maria. That evening we went to the yachties BBQ and had some nice food and drinks. We went together with the crew of Sirena, our Swiss friends. At the BBQ we met Twin Sanity, two 11 year of twins that we already met in Marigot Bay. We also met again Ruffen, Terne, Vera and Bella Luna and met some new people. We stayed quite late. Luckily we went back by water taxi because they waves were rough and it would have been difficult for our dinghy. One dinghy even capsized. 

The next morning we were picked up by Mr. Providence at seven in the morning. He took us to the Indian River with a couple from another boat. It turned out that they were famous YouTubers, Tula’s endless summer. We went under the bridge and Mr. Providence stopped the engine and pulled it up. He took the oars and started rowing through the rain forest. We saw loads of plants, flowers, birds and crabs. Mr. Providence explained everything to us. Then we went around the corner and there was a little hut there. He said that it was Calypso’s hut from the film “the pirates of the carribean”. We could go inside and walk around. Then we went back to the main river and saw some more birds and crabs. One crab was close to the water so Mr. Providence could catch it. He told us everything about it. Then he asked if anyone wante to hold it. I wanted to hold it, but it was heavier than I thought it would be, so I dropped it. We continued rowing and went past a little bridge that was called London bridge. We went on and he told us that he will show us a tree that is 400 years old. We went to a small dock where we tied on and just on the other side was the 400 year old tree. We walked on shore and Mr. Providence continued to show us loads of plants and animals. He showed us the difference between a male and female lizard. We walked to the London brigde and saw some birds there too. There was another bridge next to the London bridge that didn’t have any support planks, so I walked over it without falling in. When I was on the other side, I walked back on the other plank, it was fun because I made all the grown-ups worried. On the way back Mr. Providence picked some palm tree leaves and flowers. Then sat down and started making birds out of the palm trees. It was fascinating to watch him, and Annina and I got one bird each, and Sierra from Tula’s endless summer got one, too.

On the way back we saw loads of other boats coming for a tour, so we were lucky that we went so early as we were the only ones and had the river all to ourselves and had a chance to see more animals. 

By the entrance of the sea, Mr. Providence went to the pier to pay the national park entrance fee. He came back with some Johnny-cake for us. It was a flat round bread that was still warm and very yummy. 

The rest of the day we did school and went swimming with Lily and Shelby from Twin Sanity and Eva and some other kids. 

Written by Andrin