Location: Roseau, Dominica
Today, we had the best island tour ever. We started our day early so we could meet our tour guide, a rasta named Sea Cat, who fittingly had octopus-wearing sunglasses painted on the outside of our tour bus. Sea Cat entertained us with stories and interesting island facts as we weaved along the curvy roads forming the valleys, peaks, and gorges of Dominica. We learned that Dominica is known for its lush greenery, exotic wildlife (ranging from parrots to boa constrictors), bubbling waterfalls, vibrant diving, hot sulfur springs, and 365 rivers (one for each day, as Sea Cat put it). Dominica is a very wet, tropical island, and agriculture, next to tourism, is the primary business here. We quickly took part in enjoying the local fruits and vegetables, as Sea Cat would pull over to the side of the road and literally pick fresh produce for us off the trees. We sunk our teeth into juicy guavas, softball-sized grapefruit, custard apples, ripe mangoes, and a unique favorite, jungle M and M’s (the sweet outer coating of cocoa beans). In Carib Indian (the original island inhabitants) territory, we ground these cocoa beans by hand, mixed in some sugar and a little cinnamon (from the bark freshly cut off a tree, of course), and tasted pure bliss- chocolate as we know it. Sea Cat showed us the eco-activities that Dominica has to offer, and we enjoyed stretching our legs throughout the tour. We visited Emerald Falls, where we jumped through the waterfall into the freezing waters below. Later, we enjoyed a rocky climb to the top of Trafalgar Falls, where we swam in the clear pools underneath the falls and even found a neat swim-through under a large boulder that tunneled underneath the falls. We ended the day with a relaxing soak in Dominica’s natural hot tub… hot sulfur springs. It was a perfect day, with a perfect tour of the sights, sounds, and tastes of what Dominica has to offer.