Dominica

DOMINICA!  January 16-17, 2011

We arrived at our first port, Roseau Dominica, on Sunday morning. Everyone aboard the ship was SO excited to get off. With no prior trips planned, Liz, Joellen, Devin and I grabbed breakfast aboard the boat and hopped of to see where the wind would take is. HA. Luckily for us we ran into some of our guy friends who were negotiating for a taxi and hoped in with a local named Shalom for a tour of the island. Shalom also gave us his card which reads- “Taxi service, group tours, hiking tours, dominica national boxing coach, and personal trainer.” Hilarious. We soon became great buds with Shalom. He was so great to all of us! He and his partner named Shy Guy, yes Shy Guy, took us to all the best sports in Dominica. Our first stop- Ti Tou gorge! According to Shalom, Johnny Depp swam in the Ti Tou gorge while filming Pirates of the Caribbean. Sweet. We jumped into the brisk water and swam in between very frightening rocks to get to a waterfall in the middle of a cave. It was incredible. INCREDIBLE! After the gorge, we went to the Trafalgar twin falls. The mother and father falls sit next to each other and one is hot and one is cold. They were so beautiful and we were able to hike so close to them. We took tons of pictures and some of the group took a swim in the pool beneath the mother fall. Shalom then took us to visit his home! Don’t worry dad- we had 10 guys with us. J He told us so many facts about his beautiful country. For example, Dominica is the only Caribbean island that does not have tourism as its number one industry. Agriculture is the number one industry in Dominica. The people of Dominica are also very healthy. They have more centurions (people over the age of 100) than any other country in the world! The second oldest person in the world was from Dominica and just died last year at 128 years old. Our guides were so incredibly hospitable to us- they really went over and beyond their duty to make sure we enjoyed their beautiful country! We headed back to the ship to shower up and eat a quick bite before meeting our new friends Shalom and Shy Guy at their favorite hang out spot- the crazy coconut. It let me tell you—it was crayyyyzeeee. Lots of strobe lights and the like. HA. It appeared as if our entire ship was there. I broke out some of my dance moves and we headed back to the ship. J The next day we walked around the town of Roseau shopping for post cards and such. We stopped at an Internet café where we took a quick look at our e-mail and I attempted to skype. We purchased the most delicious smoothie I have ever had from a vender on the side of the road. Fresh papaya, pineapple, and banana in fruit bunch juice. SO SO GOOD! I inhaled the smoothie so fast that I got a brain freeze and the vendor started laughing at me. Shalom met us at the dock to wish us well on the rest of our voyage- he was on his way to train for boxing. Shout out to the fam- I miss yall!!!! And also, I will never stop saying yall no matter how much people make fun of me for it on the ship. I mean really though- “you guys” is much more lame than “yall.”  We had to be back on the ship by 6pm and apparently you get dock-time if you are late. Dock-time is something similar to time-out. You have to wait on the boat in the next port for a few hours depending on how late you are back to the boat. That being said no one was trying to be late getting back on the ship and so we all headed back around 4pm and lounged at the pool the rest of the day. REALLY!!!! AM I SERIOUSLY HERE!!! PINCH ME ! OK THANKS!!! YEP I AM HEREEEE!!!! J Saw another rainbow and gallivanted around with the other SASers  by the pool as we celebrated an INCREDIBLE experience in the country of Dominica. Dominica really is awesome. It is not your typical Caribbean island. It is filled with so many beautiful sights – J it is called the adventure island and I now know why. The people are so genuine and hospitable. I LOVED Dominica and love this beautiful blue boat for taking me there. I love the people who I have gotten to share it with. Semester at Sea is off to a delightful start and I know it is only going to get better!! The boat is rocking again. Rocking rocking rocking. It is actually pretty violent- the rocking. I always run into people trying to climb the stairs- literally run into them. I guess it makes for an easy way to meet people! I don’t mind it. It is actually pretty funny and I like to think I am getting a work out trying to stay standing up on my two feet. Once again, I LOVE THIS BOAT. OK. I am going to do a little reading for my classes tomorrow. But just a little, I don’t want to be too studious ya know. The classes are great though! Have I mentioned that? Probs. But they really are. OK. Going now for real! Thanks for listening and I LOVE YOU ALL!

XOXO,

Car