Location: Roseau, Dominica
Despite having to wake up at 6 am for a hike we didn’t end up doing, the day turned out pretty great! Because it had rained so much the previous night, our tour guide predicted it would be too dangerous to attempt the hike today. So we postponed those plans and made arrangements with Dive Dominica to dive two local sites they have here, Witches Hole and Champagne Reef. The marine scenery in both locations was absolutely incredible! The Witches’ Hole was located on the rim of a submerged volcano, right on the steepest drop-off in the Eastern Caribbean, so it was really cool to swim along the wall and look straight down and see nothing but blue. The Champagne Reef got its name because of little gas bubbles continuously flowing from hydrothermal vents on the seafloor surface due to the volcanoes on Dominica. Along the way, we saw tons of huge sponges as well as several eels, the largest crabs we have ever seen, lots of fish, and one group even saw an octopus! After lunch, we all went to the capital of Dominica, Roseau, for some shore time! We ended a great day with a guest lecture by Carolyn in OCB, where she taught us about her favorite marine bio topic – marine mammals!