Dominica Part 2 - December 13

Driving from one attraction to another gave us a chance to see the island of Dominica. The mountainous areas receive up to 350 inches of rain per year and are covered with dense foliage. Several times we passed through brief sprinkles, but otherwise we had been so fortunate to have great weather.

Levi was a good driver, but the switchbacks and hairpin turns were still a bit frightening…especially when they drive on the “wrong” side!

Bob was excited when we stopped at this roadside stand…carved masks are a favorite souvenir of his. (Thank you Southwest Airlines for not charging us for our extra bag!!)

Trafalgar Falls was our next stop. Here is another excerpt from the Bumpiing Tour website:

Trafalgar Falls: (two waterfalls in the same area) 10 minutes walk one way up a few steps. The walk is not too difficult but can be a bit challenging if one has any major problems with their backs, legs, hips or if one is short in breath due to lungs or heart condition. After the ten minutes walk, you get to a platform where you view the waterfalls and take photos. There is an optional extra two minutes walk where you can soak in the HOT mineral water (natural hot spring). This part of the tour is not for everyone since it’s a bit challenging getting to the hot spring (uneven and slippery). Visitors should take their time walking to and around the hot spring since the area is a bit rocky, slippery and steep. Climbing to the base of the waterfall should be avoided as much as possible because of the danger involved.

This description might be “slightly” misleading. The “few steps” had me huffing and puffing since they were up a steep hill…and more than what I would define as a few. You can see some of the steps in these photos…

The effort to get up to the falls was worth it. There are two beautiful waterfalls side by side that can be viewed from a covered platform. 

Bob hiked down a short distance to get a closer view, but you can see why the info above said this should be avoided…the terrain was very rocky.

Levi gave us the option of going to the hot springs if we wanted…not all from our group did. The spring was a very short distance from the viewing platform, but not all that easy to get to…just as the tour description stated. The ground was muddy, very steep, and it was easy to lose your footing.

The reddish colored rocks are actually minerals deposited as the water flowed down the hill. The minerals also caused the water to be a milky color.

After our very active day, sitting in the hot water spring was like being in a spa. We stayed for about 10 minutes but I think all of us could have easily stayed much longer.

From the spring, we could see out over a deep valley. While we were sitting there it began to rain. We watched as the rain moved across the ravine…first a light rain and then a downpour. The jungle canopy overhead kept most of the rain from reaching us so all we felt was a light sprinkle. What a magical experience to be sitting there in a hot mineral spring in the middle of a rain forest! One of those special memories that will stay with me.

Just as quickly as the rain began…it stopped. (It almost felt like this was an orchestrated attraction that you would experience at Disney World!) A look back at the spring as we were leaving…you can see the steam rising from the hot water.

The day had been full…but we still had a couple more things to see:

Botanical Gardens: (There you will see different plants trees and flowers grown on the Island) 5 minutes from Morne Bruce. (drive through)

Morne Bruce: (an area where you can see the entire city of Roseau from the top of a hill) 7 minutes drive from the ship. (Great for taking photos) (optional) 

Although the botanical gardens were nice, it only took a short while to drive through. I believe this was called a “sausage tree”.

The most interesting thing we saw was this school bus. It had been crushed when a Boabab tree fell on it during Hurricane David which devastated the island in 1979. The tree was left and it continued to grow!

Knowing that back home in Minnesota the weather was cold and snowy made these flowers even more beautiful!

The last stop was at Morne Bruce…a spot that overlooked the city of Roseau. There were some small souvenir stands set up here, but they were closing down for the day. It was hard to get a decent photo because we were looking directly into the sun.

Levi dropped us off at the ship around 3:00 (tour had started at 9:30 am.) All aboard time was set for 5:30 pm…it was nice to have such a long day in port and not feel rushed.

I have always arranged independent tours when we cruise and the Bumpiing Tour was definitely one of the best! Although there are other Bumpiing guides, we were very lucky to have spent the day with Levi! We paid Levi for the tour, said our goodbyes and headed back to the ship. 

(I had to get one photo of Levi's awesome hair!)

We were tired and desperately needing showers and decided dressing for the MDR was just too much effort! 

After cleaning up and taking a quick rest, we watched the sail away from our balcony (AKA the Terrace Pool!) and then headed to dinner in the Horizon Court. 

“Disco…Blame it on the Boogie” was the evening entertainment in the Princess Theater. 

After the performance we walked around the ship and stopped in at Club Fusion to watch karaoke. The club was almost empty but we waited around and listened to a couple of the singers. They were so bad…and we were so tired…we called it a night. Arrival at Grenada the next morning was scheduled for 7 am and we needed to be onshore bright and early for our tour…or so I thought.