Travel Tips

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Bob's photo from the ship-Princess in the distance

I've heard a lot about Dominica (which is a different island completely from the Dominican Republic), and it is one of the reasons that I picked this cruise because I wanted to see if for myself.

I had originally picked to do the four hour bus trip with a walk to the Emerald Pool, but a flyer came out which said that Accessible Dominica which had an optional and shorter walk to a pool at another waterfall was available, so I switched. That trip wasn't until in the afternoon.

Bob went out and took pictures of the town from the deck in the morning. The capitol city where we docked is called Roseau, which is pronounced Rose OH.

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Closeup of the light over the museum entrance

After breakfast, we walked out into town. Bob carried an umbrella as it was raining lightly off and on, and more on than off. There was a steel drum player on the pier.

First we went to the Dominica Museum, which was $3 US each. It was mildly interesting.

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Craft Fair in the rain

Outside the museum was a craft type fair. I had a hard time finding stuff that didn't have very loud garish colors, but I bought a pink T-shirt and a little dark pink dress for two granddaughters. After I got them back to the ship, I found out they were made in Thailand and China, and were not local. Oh well. I did get some EC coins for our grandsons.

I thought I might buy some coffee for some of my children and their spouses, so I went to the tourist information place and asked. She said there was a place called Bello (pronounced Bee Low) but they were closed because it was Saturday. I probably should have bought some baskets which were nice, but I didn't decide about that in time.

We went back to the boat. I was tired already, so I ate an apple from the basket of fruit in the cabin and we didn't go to lunch. When we went out for the tour, they packed us into a bus (the bus was full) and there were also several walkers and wheelchairs. I sat in the back on one side and Bob sat on the other side. It was still raining off and on but Bob said he didn't want to carry his umbrella and really we didn't need it..

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Cemetery from the overlook

We went through the botanical garden and the guide explained about the trees and plants there (which were numbered and she had a list of what they were). We saw the school bus that had been donated by the Canadians, but was crushed by a falling tree during a hurricane before it could be put into service but I didn't get a picture because it was on the other side of the bus.

We went up to a lookout (near the prime minister's house) over the city, and I got out and took some photos. There was also a souvenier stand.

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Looking through razor wire at the Sun Princess

Eventually we worked our way out of the city traffic onto the coast road. We went past the Sun Princess which was docked way out of town in what looked like a cargo ship area. I would not like being there AT ALL.

Our next stop was for a potty break. I got off and went even though I did not really need to under the concept that you go whenever there is an opportunity.

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Waterfall from above

The roads were very steep and twisty, and the bus often sounded as if it was laboring. Eventually got to the waterfall, which was very pretty but not spectacularly tall. One of the men was going to swim in the pool, but he said it was only about 18 inches deep - not even enough to float in. They had fruit and drinks for us there and also souveniers for sale, but I wasn't sure whether the refreshments were free or not, so I just took a small wedge of watermelon.

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Aisle of the bus

We drove back to town by the river. We could have gotten out to take pictures there, but the majority decided not to stop.

The tour guide sang to us, and told us stories about the plants and how to make home remedies of them.

The only problem with the tour was that the first step of the bus was too high for most people (including me), and they had no stepstool. Plus they had to store the walkers etc in the aisle.

I had ribs for dinner, and Bananas Foster for dessert. Bob had the coconut tapioca pudding.

Tomorrow, we go to Barbados