DAY 34---ROSEAU, DOMINICA

NOW TO VIEW MY JANUARY POSTS YOU WILL HAVE TO CLICK ON "JANUARY" SO THOSE POSTS WILL BE DISPLAYED.

TO VIEW PREVIOUS POSTINGS USE THE "BLOG ARCHIVE" UNDER OUR PHOTO ON THE RIGHT.  THEN CLICK ON THE DAY OR DAYS YOU MISSED.  ALSO CLICKING ON THE PHOTOS WILL ENLARGE THEM.  I RECOMMEND THAT. 

DOMINICA BACKGROUND INFO: 

        Dominica is an island country also in the West Indies also being just 112 miles from our last port of call, St Lucia.  The volcanic formed mountains here are covered by rainforests and the world’s second-largest hot spring is here.  The island is known as “The Nature Island of the Caribbean” because of its lush rainforests and varied flora and fauna.  The island’s population is just over 70,000 with about 15,000 of them living in Roseau, its capital and where we are docked today.  The island is especially vulnerable to hurricanes.

       Banana plantations once dominated Dominica’s economy with nearly 1/3 of the labor force worked in agriculture in the early 2000’s.  But Hurricane Dean in 2007 caused significant damage to the agriculture sector.  The government has since diversified the ag sector promoting coffee, aloe vera, cut flowers and fruits production.  Tourism is becoming increasingly important to its economy but since it is mostly volcanic there are few beaches.  As a result, the island had the fewest visitors (only 56,000 in 2008) of 22 Caribbean islands.  Surprisingly, its visitors are about half as many that visited Haiti.  Cruise ship stopovers are on the increase now that a modern dock and waterfront facilities have been constructed.  Dominica’s mountains, rainforests, lakes, hot springs, waterfalls, and diving spots do make it an attractive ecotourism destination.

                                              Where we are today.  Island of Dominica.

LAST NIGHT:

                        Peter is one of our favorite bartenders.  Cruised with him several times.

          Food & Beverage Director, Douglas (on left).  Beverage Manager, Adrian (on right)

We both enjoyed Caesar salads.  We ask for the dressing on the side and a bottle of tabasco.  I mix some tabasco in the dressing then we toss on our salads.  Of course I asked for 5 anchovies!

             This is the panko crusted fried shrimp we asked for our entrees.  Delicious!!

         Forget the name of this dessert but the presentation is great and it tasted fantastic.

                                                Very few folks showed up for the show.

                                                 We walked out after about five minutes.

 TODAY:

                                                        View from our balcony today.

       Regent's Explorer is also docked here in Dominica with us today but at a different pier.

        Here are some photos of my "trolley" tour this afternoon.  Interesting place but not too photogenic.  Very poor people.

After we got off the ship the local authorities had a scanner to take our temperature before allowed to tour.

                         Newest looking thing in town was the soccer stadium built in 2005.

                                                                          Old shack 

                                                              The high school

We stopped at the Dominica Botanical Gardens and our guide named all the different plants and trees.

This thorny plant is used to prevent erosion.  Up in the rainforests they get 365 inches of rain every year.

                     At the gardens we were given a "very small" cup of fruit punch or rum punch.  

                                                                           Coconuts

                                                                             Church

          Hurricane Marie in 2017 blew this 300 year old tree over on a bus.  No one was hurt.

        I was back on board the ship at 3pm.  Sat out on our balcony while my photos were downloading to Google Photos.  It was kind of noisy out there as a crane was moving the big cargo containers.  So then I came back in and put the photos on the blog post and will publish it shortly.  It is now 4pm and quiet out as I guess they quit working at 4pm and go drink beer.  Well, guess he had a beer break as he's back at it.

        This evening we will be having cocktails at 6pm in the Horizon Lounge with Susanne and Marcia.  Dinner in Compass Rose to follow.  I have requested fried chicken thighs for the four of us.

        We will be sailing at 6pm for our next port at St John's on Antigua.  Another short 118 mile sail up there tonight.  Exciting day tomorrow which I will explain then.

        The show tonight is another by Elaine Gray, the Scottish singer.  We will be attending.  

NEWS FLASH:  As of March 1st the wearing of masks on board is "highly recommended but not required for guests".  This is another step towards "normalcy".