dominica

This might be my favorite picture from the trip... 

We packed our own snorkels so we could use them whenever.

I think it's such a cool experience-- a different, muted, beautiful underwater world.
I could snorkel all day.

This stop was in Dominica.

We had heard- "they don't have pretty beaches."

and

"There's not much to see there."

And it turned out to be one of our favorite places!

First we snorkeled at Champagne Reef.

Under the water you could see billions of little bubbles coming up from the bottom.

We swam through them and oogled the fish and cool plants.

This island is volcanic.

Showering off the salt.

 Let's back up a bit... the boardwalk to beautiful Dominica!

I love getting off the air-conditioned ship into the muggy, hot island air. It's the best!

 Driving through the islands was a little hard for me.

I'll admit that I felt pretty depressed at times.

We would see nicer places like the above photo, next-door to...

 ...places like this. Shacks that families live in. 

Ironically many of them were right off the ocean- with a great view.

It somehow didn't feel altogether right pulling up in a giant, floating, 

glutenous hotel to these humble surroundings- gulp.

These were all taken through the window of our taxi, hence the glare. 

 After a few detours because of road construction, we made it to Champagne. 

It was amazing and I've never seen any place like it!

 We walked on this boardwalk to the end where the good snorkeling was. 

There were big crabs all over the rocks, but I didn't get a pic. 

They were as big a small apple, but almost cardboard thin and crawled sideways.

I think I loved the rocky beach as much as they did.

 Adam and I went back out with the camera after the snorkel.

We stopped to capture the smoothed stones that were the beach, and the sound!

I never want to forget it!

The waves would come in and fill up the rocks,

and as the water rushed back to the ocean the rocks would 

quietly clank next to it's neighbor times 1,000.

This made the most relaxing, beautiful music to our ears. 

We sat there for a few minutes, just the two of us-- listening.  

I didn't think to record it with my phone. 

I'll just have to go back someday...

 Adam found this cool piece of coral and it may or may not have 

found it's way into our luggage for a new home in Utah. 

 Thanks for lending us your beach towels, Princess Cruise Lines- so we didn't have to pack our own..

 Anyone else paying attention to Adam's B.U.M. Equipment
sleeveless hoodie and 90's rocker dad trunks?

 More of the town...

Next we drove through the garden that has a tree-smashed bus- an effect of a past hurricane. 

I'm not sure why they've left it there, but it was interesting to see- pretty real and scary.

Rich & Abby

us, with Luke as the monkey

Another short drive in the taxi found us at this small stream and hot pots... see the steam?

We finally made it to our destination- waterfalls. 

We had no idea what to expect.

This is our cab driver, Chris B, who is also a budding reggae artist.

Adam has his cd to prove it.

Walking the short trail into the rainforest...

I love how all the plants and flowers are wet- lucky.

Tarzan vines

green rock

We came around the corner to see not one, but two GIANT waterfalls!

I felt like I was in Jurassic Park or something. 

Amazing!

Sini, Adam, Rich, Abby, Brooke, Luke

We decided to get closer to the falls, and were surprised again...

...by these giant natural hot tubs! 

Our taxi driver failed to mention them, although he did tell 

us about every possible use of the plants on the island.

There was a smooth slide down to the next pool- 

which is where the bottom-half of Rich is in this photo.

Guess who wore cheap flip-flops and had a hard time climbing over these giant boulders to get closer to the waterfall? Me. I almost lost them in the river twice before I decided to stay put. Dang it.

We could see the rain coming toward us- so pretty.

When the rain hit, I was only in a swimsuit with nowhere to hide my camera, so I backed under a tree.

Rich and Abby taking shelter.

the falls

Adam

Adam
Here are some pics of everyone who made it to the pool at the bottom of the falls- pretty sweet!

Luke

Brooke

Rooftops in Dominica

We went up these stairs to an internet cafe to check on our families.

full rainbow at the port

Poolside pizza and burgers... the breakfast buffet carried us until 4:30 

when we got back on the ship everyday, but by then we were starved!

The Morris' sunset pic.

It was an AMAZING day! 

Dominica is an intriguing place.

The nighttime events from this day deserve their own post- coming up next.