Dominica for My 60th Birthday

Travel blog for Dominica

As my 60th birthday approached. I decided a trip with some friends would be nice. I sent out some feelers, and six people replied that they would be willing to go. I still considered a few others, but the numbers seemed about right. Before sending out the feeler, my main concern was trying to find some adventure that wasn't that far away in a place that would be warm. I googled adventure and the Caribbean, and two places came up, Costa Rica and Dominica. I looked into both, and some of the people who had agreed to come seemed to be inclined to Dominica. The main problem with Dominica is getting there, and you'll read more about that in the getting there section, But we eventually got that all settled, and the trip went off. It was a fantastic time, one of my best trips, and I hope you enjoy the tale of it.

Highlights and Summary:

Activities: Whale Watching – we saw 0 whales, but a few cute dolphins swimming fast around the boat. Still a lot of fun and the story is good

Snorkeling: Dominica is a great place for snorkeling, with the most interesting attraction bubbles coming out of the ocean bottom from the volcanic activity in the area. Did this several days

Hiking: the best hike was to Victoria Falls, tougher than expected and very pretty

Beaches: came in rocky, regular and black sand. All were fun.

Game night on my birthday – awesome

Canyoning – a lot of fun and an excellent adventure. Must do.

Running: I ran every day but one. It was a big change in temperature, hectic, but always interesting and satisfying to start the day.

Video link: https://youtu.be/ub4TTNPwNP0?si=kGPvzm7CAs0LpQ_B

We did not do the epic hikes, but they are a highlight for the fit and sturdy. Dominica can be a place to sit in the sun and enjoy the scenery and water, but it is best suited for those who like to get out and about and test themselves.

The planning.: The biggest issue was finding out who was going to go and then nailing down the dates. Everybody was able to get the time off around my birthday. We decided to leave on the Saturday before my birthday, January the 29th, and return the next Saturday. Greg and Kathy Wright could only stay until Thursday of that week, which worked out OK. The other people would be my niece Kelsey and her partner Matt, and Ollie and Heather Wagner, friends of mine forever.

One of my very best friends, Catherine Weekly, who couldn't make it for the trip because of some health concerns, has a daughter who does a travel blog and dive videos on YouTube. Holly Wakely had been to Dominica and stayed at a hotel called Fort Young, which is a dive hotel. She had a video about the hotel I watched, and I was fascinated. I thought it might be the best place for us to stay. The pluses were that it has snorkeling and diving facilities right off the dock, it's a very nice hotel with a good restaurant, and it does arrange fun things. It's also located right in the capital city of Roseau. That made it good for my running, always one of my major travel concerns. I ended up securing 4 rooms, all with ocean views. I was eventually able to get in touch with the hotel to manage some other details, such as pick up at the airport, other activities, and just some general knowledge about the town. We planned the first three days.

Another issue with Dominica is traveling in the country. The roads are very bad in the sense that they're narrow and twisty, though not that many potholes. We needed to get from the airport on one side of the island to the hotel on the other side, and then to our various activities. Taxis can be expensive, running 100 to $200 a day., with a rental car at about $80.00 a day. The problem for one of our activities was we needed a vehicle for eight people. As you will see, several coincidences happened that made our travel work out well.

Stressors: Leading up to the trip, I developed some knee pain and had to cut back on my running. That tempered my enthusiasm for one of the tougher hikes, which was the hike to the Boiling Lake which can be 6 to 8 hours with lots of steep ups and downs. We had initially wanted to do that, but once we got some other feedback, we decided not to. That lowered the stress level significantly, as it's very hard hike and I wasn’t sure the group could do it in a fun way. The second stressor was just getting there. It's not a country that has a lot of flights in and out, so if we missed any flights or there were any delays, we would be in a lot of trouble, and might even miss several days of the trip waiting for the next flights. As it turned out, all that worked out. I did have my initial flight cancelled by JetBlue. That was the flight from Newark to Puerto Rico with the connecting flight through to Dominica. The Orbitz assistant and I could not find any other way to get there on the same day. No matter what, I was going to have to fly out the night before and spend the night somewhere. I spent an hour on the phone with Orbitz. The best they could do was a flight through Detroit that cost $1600 extra. I decided instead to cancel that leg of the trip but keep the old return trip, which worked out very well for me to get me back early. I booked an evening flight to Charlotte with connections through Miami very early the next morning, and then to Dominica from Miami. Three flights in total, about 16 hours of travelling, and this option was only $295! I got to Charlotte around 9:45pm and checked in to a place inside the security area near the gates called the Minute Suites. Is a bare bones place with just a couch and a chair and some lights. Still, I was able to get a little bit of sleep on the couch and a little rest, and in the morning, I was able to get some exercise with a brisk walk around the airport before the plane left.

Getting there. Everyone else was connecting to San Juan, and from San Juan taking the same flight to Dominica. They were all going to arrive around 4:55 PM on Saturday, the 27th. I arrived around 2:15pm that day (time is an hour ahead). The only other bit of drama was I wanted to carry on all my bags just to try to make sure I got them there. At Newark, American refused to let me even consider taking the bag on the plane, as I was in Group 9, and they don't allow group nine people to carry on bags because they think the bins are going to be full. I had to check my bag there and hope that it made it to Dominica. Fortunately, I packed well and had enough stuff to get through the night in Charlotte and the rest of the voyage. When I got on the plane, there were six empty bins, so I could have easily gotten my bag on that plane. I was steamed. The flight to Charlotte went smoothly, and I was able to find the Minute Suites without too much trouble. I checked in there, was able to brush my teeth at their community bathroom, and then go to bed. It was colder than I thought it would be in there, and I needed the blanket very much to get through the night. I did not sleep well, but I did sleep a little bit and was not completely exhausted in the morning. The flight to Miami was fine. I had plenty of time there to get some things to eat before I left. There's an unusual part of the airport where you leave on flights like this to Dominica which was very chaotic, but it worked out OK and I was able to get on the plane without any trouble. The fascinating part of the journey was the landing in Dominica. The plane swerves through some very impressive valleys and canyons before it sets down on the landing strip. We were very close to the trees and the edges of the cliffs. It was a great view from the window seat. It has only one runway, so we had to slow down, stop, and turn around and drive back to the airport from the runway there. The airport is very tiny. Customs and passport control were quick. Funny Story: I was waiting for my suitcase on their carousel. Probably 2/3 of the passengers were gone at that point, and then I saw my bag, but I couldn’t get to it in time, and it went back out of view. I waited for another ten minutes for it to come back out and it didn’t. How long could this little carrousel be? Finally, a man standing next to me moved, and I saw it sitting on the floor about 20 feet away. Someone had taken it off and put it on the floor there!

I found a small restaurant a few feet from the check in entrance, as I needed to eat and kill some time They had a very nice vegetarian lunch plate to my surprise. I sat around and read for a while before finally going outside to wait for everybody else. I was shooed away from the area near the Arrivals door by an employee and had to stand about 50 feet away. I saw our driver show up. I introduced myself and stood with him while we waited. Fortunately, everybody made it and we got into the vehicle. It was a relatively big bus, and our driver, Clement, was great.

The trip to Roseau. We started out in daylight and ended up arriving in the dark. That was one of the reasons why I did not want to drive a rental car across the island. The driver did a great job. There were some slow vehicles that needed to be overtaken. It's also nice to have somebody that knew the island, and Ollie and Greg picked his brain as we drove. Ollie was quite a character the whole time. It rained several times on the way, but otherwise the trip was uneventful, and we arrived at the hotel at about the time we expected, a little bit after 6:30pm.

Fort Young Hotel: The hotel was fantastic. It is built in and around an old fort. The stone is a prominent part at the front entrance. Everybody was very nice getting us checked in, making sure we had all the arrangements set. We went to our rooms and mine was fantastic. I was on the 4th floor with an excellent view of the pool, the ocean, and where the cruise ships docked. The rest were on the first floor of the new wing. We met in the lobby and went to dinner. The restaurant turned out to be a big asset, as they had a buffet for every meal. We could eat quickly, get all we wanted, and have a good time chatting. The staff were very friendly, got to know us, and usually had one big table for us during the week. We ate breakfast there every day and had one lunch and two other dinners there. On the last day, we ended up eating with room service, as the restaurant was generally closed Fridays. The hotel had a very nice pool, and we spent quite a bit of time there both swimming and hanging out. There was a hot tub and an outdoor shower in that area. I went out snorkeling in the snorkel area, but we never did get around to going kayaking. It is a little bit more of a hassle, and you had to pay some money to rent a kayak. Their massage and spa treatments were not available as the rooms needed to be done, and the masseuse was out sick. The concierge was very helpful setting up some of our activities, including dealing with our rental car company. We had agreed through the hotel to rent a large van to accommodate 8 people, all of us plus our guide. The day that we needed the van, it didn't turn up. They eventually found out that the company thought it was for the next day. We ended up hiring someone from the hotel to take us instead, which cost us a lot more money, but it worked out very well as the trip was very tough and the driving was very intense, and where we had to park would have been an adventure, especially for me. The location of the hotel was fantastic, right on the main dock of the town, and the cruise ships would dock right outside there. You would be able to see the bow of the ship from the room. A lot of the touristy shops and vendors were right along that waterfront. We could go there to get souvenirs if we wanted. There were also several restaurants within easy walking distance, as well as a grocery store and a bank with an ATM. The ATM unfortunately only gave us Caribbean currency.

Saturday night went well, with a nice dinner, and most of us were tired and went to bed early. Sunday was a beautiful day. I got up early and went for a run. The waterfront seemed to be the best place to start, and I followed that and some dodgy stretches where the traffic was kind of heavy until I reached a promenade like area where there were some sidewalks along the waterfront. So, it was easy for me to get a three mile-ish run along that waterfront with only a few places where I had to be careful about the cars. After the run, I did some exercises at the gym, and then we met for breakfast. The breakfast was pretty good. They had some granola, and they had lots of fruit, with some pancakes with several toppings. The first day I did have their standard breakfast fish dish (pretty good). They didn't have milk, however, for the cereal, so I used cocoa tea, which they had a big vat of. That was good and suited cereal. It wasn't there every day, though.

After breakfast, we got together and went out to walk around Roseau. A large cruise ship had docked while I was running, and now some of the people were coming ashore. There were a lot of hucksters and touts trying to get us to take taxis and tours. We walked by them and walked by most of the souvenir stands but did look at the things. We went further down the waterfront and then wandered around the town a little bit. We ended up passing a restaurant called The Realm, which looked nice. We found our way to the Botanical Garden and walked through that and saw some of the sights there, including the Bamboo House. At the time we didn't know what it was, but then we figured it out. It was right about that time Ollie realized he didn't have his phone with him. He wasn't sure whether he'd had his pocket picked or whether he'd left it back at the hotel. He and Heather slipped off. We were a little bit worried about where they went as they didn't tell us they were going. We eventually got a text from Ollie that he found his phone back in the hotel room. We made our way back to the hotel through the rest of the botanical garden, and then we went to the pool. It was very nice hanging out on a beautiful day at that point. Some of us went to the buffet again for lunch, which was really good, while others went to the store and bought some food. Then we waited to get started with the whale watching. We had to meet down at the dive shop. There was a pretty good crowd there. Greg and Ollie are very friendly. They were meeting a lot of people, including two women of about our age who are from Canada. One of them was a very pretty woman with long gray hair. The other one got on my nerves on the boat, but we chatted with them before we left, and then also on the boat. Most of the other people on the boat weren't very friendly. But the Captain, Billy, was fantastic. We had a good time with him and his assistant, Bamboo. We speculated the Bamboo was named that because his legs were so skinny, but it was otherwise unclear.

Whale watching: We were allowed to go out and board. Initially we got a safety briefing, and then we left the dock. Captain Billy was not very optimistic, as he had not heard of any whale sightings so far that day. He was aware that several other boats had not seen anything. We headed to the waters south of the island and began to sweep in grids. Everyone was intensely looking out for a spout, but we never saw any whales. While we were traveling out, we did have some dolphins swim by the ship, and they were very cute. They were little dolphins and very fast, swimming right along the bow and along the sides, and occasionally jumping out of the water near the boat. Everyone was enthralled. We hit some hard times then as the water got a little rougher as we got out deeper onto the Atlantic side trying to find some whales out there. At one point I was standing next to Ollie, who was sitting next to Kathy and Heather. A huge wave hit us suddenly and knocked Ollie up into the air and onto the floor of the boat. As I watched him go down, I suddenly lost my balance and swung around on a pole and landed awkwardly sort of on the floor and into the side of a seat right near the Canadian women, who were shocked. As best I could tell, I was unhurt, and Ollie only had his pride a little bit hurt. It was one of our running jokes than the rest of the week (ex. Ollie giving talks on boat safety). Captain Billy did his best to try to find some whales, but we never found anything else. We had a nice view of the West Coast of the island. We went far enough that we could see most of the cities on the northern part. Billy was very helpful with his analysis of Dominica politics, and the economic and ecological aspects of tourism and the fishing Industries. The trip was supposed to take 3 to 3 1/2 hours, but we ended up taking almost 4 1/2 hours. We got back around. 6:30. We changed quickly and walked through town. On Sundays, Roseau is a very quiet town. There's not much going on and many of the shops are closed, especially after the cruise ships leave. We were able to find the restaurant we had looked for, the Realm, which was open. It is sort of an Asian fusion-type place. They had some good sushi and some other Asian type dishes. Greg got an interesting lobster, and I had some sushi and a few other things. It was all very good, and it had a nice atmosphere. We were the only people there other than some people upstairs. It was a Game of Thrones themed place, with a lot of Game of Thrones paraphernalia around the restaurant. I couldn't care less about the Game of Thrones. After we were done eating, we walked back to the hotel. I stopped by Ollie and Heather’s room to see how nice it was. It was exactly like mine. As I left, Ollie leaned in close and said, in a conspiratorial whisper, “Terry, we didn’t see any whales today, but we did see a lot of Boobies.” It was one of the funniest things anyone has ever said to me (there was a flock of Boobies, the aquatic birds, flying around our boat at times).

Monday, January 29th, my birthday:

Initially. We had planned to do canyoning on this day. I got a message from the canyoning guide, Nathalie, on Sunday afternoon, saying that the weather is supposed to be bad on Monday, so the canyoning would be rescheduled. I told her the best day was Wednesday, so she booked us then. It was supposed to rain a lot overnight, and then off and on during the day, and the Canyon would be dangerous with extra water.

Because of that, we made a snap decision to try to find a beach. We knew there was the so-called Champagne Beach just down the road, so the concierge said they could call us a taxi in the morning at any time we were ready.

I got up at about the usual time to go running, and this time tried to go right on the main road outside of the hotel parking lot and down the coast on the south road. It turns out Monday is a very different day than Sunday, and the traffic was terrible. It was backed up for a long way., and the cars were jammed on the road. It was very dangerous, so I was picking my way on and off the sidewalk and sprinting faster when there weren't any cars, but I gave up after only about 3/4 of a mile going south and came back into town. I tried to get to the Botanical Garden, but even that was an adventure, as it was also time for children to go to school, so there were children, parents, and cars everywhere! I generally don’t like crowds, but I embraced it and made the best of it. That's what you're doing running in other countries, having adventures. I was still very satisfied at the end.

After breakfast, we were picked up by Major, the taxi driver for the day. It's a bit of a wild ride anytime you're in a car or a taxi in Dominica, and Ollie made it entertaining by chatting with Major, one time mentioning that Major looked like the kind of guy who liked to eat. We were sure to ask him for dinner recommendations on the way back. The drop off point for the champagne reef or beaches is not very distinct. There's a small area where you can pull the car off the road. There were cars parked on the shoulder past that point. From there you walked down a set of dirt steps into an area of thatched roof shops, There we met people who would provide us with snorkels, masks, fins and guides. Ollie and Heather hired a guide, but the rest of us went on our own. I have my own snorkel and mask but got fins.

It was not easy at all to get into the water, as the beach was only sand for a small area, and once you were up to your ankles, it was all rocky, with the waves coming in. I was able to get into the water with my fins on, but then I had to take them off because they were full of rocks. That became a theme for the rest of my swim. I had the additional challenge of carrying my camera and having my phone in a waterproof sack around my neck. The camera came in very handy, and you'll see that the footage was good. I could not get my phone camera to work with the plastic underwater, so it was useless in this instance. It works well outside of water in wet conditions.

I took off by myself, finding Greg and Kathy getting in from a different area, and Kelsey and Matt further on. I didn't see Ollie and Heather much once I was in the water. It's quite a long swim to the champagne part of the reef. Probably 100 to 200 meters., which is still entertaining because there's some things to see, some little pieces of coral, some interesting rocks and some fish. Once you get to the bubbles, it's fantastic, and the bubbles were all over. We really enjoyed that, and I spent a while out there before swimming back. It was not easy against the current, and trying to get out, I fell several times on the rocks. and then. Everyone but Greg was already reading on lounge chairs, but I was too hyped. I paced around a little and then went out again, this time leaving my phone. It's very good exercise, and a very interesting day. I loved snorkeling and being in the water there. The water temperature was perfect., and it was a nice sunny day, at least at that point.

We were all done at that point., having gone out and back three times. walked back up to the road, and found Major’s vehicle.

On the way back, Major stopped by one of his relative’s, bakeries. We got some baked goods. I thought I was only buying a slice of fruitcake, but I ended up buying a whole one. I ate it over several days.

When we got back, the weather turned bad. It was raining fairly steadily, off and on over the afternoon. Every time it looked good, I would start getting ready to go down and try to kayak, but then it would start pouring again.

After a workout, I got ready for dinner. We walked to a place called the Old Stone House. It had mixed reviews, but Major had recommended it. Unfortunately, they didn't have very many vegetarian options at all, so I cracked and got the ribs. They weren't that good, but it was good enough. Everyone was fascinated by a lizard that was climbing around in the restaurant while we were eating.

The real highlight of the day was game night. I love to play games, and everyone indulged me, and we played charades (one of my favorites) in a quiet area of the hotel lobby. They surprised me by having the restaurant deliver cake and ice cream., which was a super touch. I was very moved. Charades was hilarious, as Greg kept mistaking film for songs and some of the clues were very hard to get. Fortunately, I was at the top of my game. It was one of my best birthdays ever, and I appreciated everyone so much for all their efforts to get there, their expenses for the travel, and their sportsmanship and camaraderie. We were getting along great and having a great time.

Tuesday, January 30th:

Tuesday was probably the craziest day. After running, and having breakfast, we were meeting at 9:00 to have the rental car dropped off so we could go to Victoria Falls with a guide that I'd hired over Instagram. Chadi Symes came highly recommended. He had been easy to deal with online. The plan was for me to drive a rental van that would carry all eight of us out to Victoria Falls. The plan fell through when the rental van did not appear. It helped in a way that Chadi called us and said that there was too much rain on Monday, so it was going to be late morning until the falls area was safe enough for us to go. We had some time to kill while we were waiting to come up with another plan. Our concierge was very helpful and dealt with the rental car agency for a while, but they could not get us a rental van that day. They thought it was for the next day. We were able to secure the usual guide from the resort to just drive us there with Chadi, who would guide us, and the driver would stay there while we did the hike. It would end up being much more expensive than the rental car, but at that point it was our best option. As it turns out, it was very fortuitous, as the ride was quite a deal. It's very curvy and twisty road with lots of ups and downs, And then when we got to the place, which was very hard to find, the road into the parking lot was a crazy narrow dirt track (mostly). The parking lot was also very small, and the driver was quite good at parking the van.

I thought the hike was supposed to be easy. Right away we had to cross a stream. The water was running fast and the. Creek bottom was slippery, so it was quite an adventure from then on. We crossed the stream several times back and forth, usually in knee to waist deep water, and we had to scramble over lots of boulders in addition to walking on narrow trails through the jungle. I hurt my tricep slipping on one of the rocks. Kathy Wright did fall (always comically) a few times into the water. The hike went on and on, and finally we came to a place where you could see the waterfalls. The guide was fantastic, and he showed us a way to give ourselves tattoos with the ferns that we could find in the way. When we got to the sites where we could see the waterfall, we took lots of pictures. Chadi was very helpful, taking pictures both of me and everybody else. Then we made the final push and got to the waterfall. He made me go out by myself first, since I was the birthday boy, and they took some photos of me in the water in front of the falls. Everybody else then got very excited, and other than Greg, they were swimming and splashing around in the water, with the wind howling and spray from the falls dampening everything. It was fantastic. Everyone’s face was tired from smiling so much.

The hike back went faster. Everybody was very considerate and tried to clean up and dry off before sitting down. The drive back didn't seem to take us long, but it was a very long day. We didn't get back till almost 6:00.

I was happy everyone was too tired to go out in the town, so we ate at the hotel buffet.

Wednesday, Jan. 31st:

Wednesday was canyoning day. It was relatively hard running in the heat, so I took a day off, and slept a little bit later. We met for breakfast and then waited for arrangements for the canyoning. The guide, Nathalie, showed up in the lobby. I was surprised how tiny she was. Their driver was a little bit late, but we all got together and rode up to the starting point, with Ollie and Heather sitting it out. It was a very tricky drive. There was a small parking area just off the road, and there were some other people that met us there that were going along, a man and woman from. France. As we got ready, putting on wetsuits, Natalie let her hair down. She had dreadlocks as long as she was tall, so they touched the ground! She had to put them in a big sack she had on her head. We then had safety harnesses that we put on and helmets. Unlike every other canyoning trip I've been on, we started right at the top after a brief walk down to a cliff for our first rappel. Natalie quickly went through the safety briefing, Unfortunately, I was at the back, and I didn't hear as much, but I've done it several times. The French people went first, and they showed us how to do it, and we had to rappel down a fairly large cliff, probably 25 feet, and then swim over to a log where we waited for everybody else. I was the last one to go, and I got used to it quickly. From there we started moving down through the canyon. It was a lot of fun. There were very few slides, all short (to me the easiest activity to get injured doing), but there were some nice jumps, and some excellent rappelling, especially one time down a waterfall with the waterfall pounding on your head and your body as you went down. That was a bit much for Kelsey, who was overwhelmed, but she held it together and made it through. The rest of us had a blast, and we always felt safe. Natalie was a good guide. We had her assistant Natty, along. He was bigger than both Greg and I, but very kind and very nice. He is a musician most of the time (he works a lot on cruise ships), but he did guiding when he was home. This was the highlight of our activities for me at least, as I love doing this kind of stuff. It was a nice day, and the water was just perfect. It was good that we didn't do it on Monday when it was rainy. After we were down to the bottom of the Canyon, we had a brief hike up a moderately steep trail to the parking place. From there we got undressed and cleaned everything up, and then the driver took us back to the Fort Young Hotel (we had to use almost all our cash on the fees and tips!!)

After we got back, I went and got some money from an ATM, which was unfortunately the Caribbean currency and not American dollars. From there I went to the supermarket and bought some lunch, including a pasta salad, banana and some yogurt. I ate that, and then went down to the dock to see if I could rent a kayak. Turn out the kayaks cost $20, and it didn't look like it was the best setup, so I just went snorkeling in the area around the dock. It was fun! There were a lot of fish and some interesting things in the water. While you were out in the water, you had to set up a flag that let people know that there's someone out there. When I came back, I got to raise up the stairs and put the flag down. I felt very useful. Then I walked over to the pool, took a shower at the outdoor shower and went for a swim. Everybody else was around there hanging out. We played UNO for a little while

This was Greg and Kathy's last night. We wanted to go to a nice restaurant, but that place wasn't available. We went to a place called High Rise instead. It was a blast. Ollie was in rare form and was almost over the top with his comedic statements and behavior. I ordered what seemed to be a lot of food. Our server, a very patient local, made a mention of that, and Ollie said, “He works out a lot.” She said “Yes, he's jacked.” That made my day! The food was actually really good, wasn’t expensive, AND we got a big surprise when Chadi, our guide for the hike Tuesday,, showed up. He and Ollie talked a lot, but he also chatted with the rest of us, and Ollie bought him some food. Ollie ended up talking a lot to another guy who was Chadi's cousin. He had played soccer at a United States college. Ollie wouldn't leave him alone. We guessed at that point that Ollie had three beers. We joked that bringing Greg, who is a big extrovert, and Ollie together was a dangerous risk, but it turned out that Ollie put Greg's extroversion to shame. After dinner, we searched for an ice cream place. The first one, highly rated, was closed. The next option was closing soon. By the time we got there, it was also closed, and we hung our heads and started to turn around. Just then, a gentleman came around the corner on the sidewalk and waved to us. It turned out he was the owner of the ice cream shop, and he opened it back up for us and let us in. Greg was kind enough to treat us all to the ice cream, and I also got a piece of carrot cake that was delicious. I got pistachio ice cream, which surprised everyone. It was so good. The whole evening was super cool, and we all had a great time. You could sense the magic of Dominica that night. Greg and Kathy left in the morning before the rest of us got up (they had a crazy trip back that took them all day).

Thursday. February 1st.:

After my run Thursday, where I went to slightly different way and found some hills., I was the first to breakfast. I was in a rush because I needed to get the rental car. We'd signed up to get a rental car for Thursday and Friday with a different company after the screw ups Tuesday.

I met the guy from the rental car company at the front entrance of the hotel. He took me to the car that they wanted me to take, which had a big hole in the front quarter panel from an accident (!!). Our first stop was the Island Revenue Office. That was just a few corners away, and we parked there in the busy lot. We went inside and queued up. I had to pay $30 to get registered to drive in Dominica. It wasn't too complicated and just a little bit of paperwork and waiting for the guy to stamp the forms. From there, we drove to the lot and headquarters, which was right along the route I had been running in the mornings, about a half a mile from the hotel. I'd been worried because I wasn't sure they were going to take a credit card, but I was able to charge the rental while I was there, and then we drove back with me following him, as the way back was confusing. I did have Google Maps, just in case.

At the hotel, the front lot area was hectic, and they discussed where I should park the car. I put the passenger window down to talk to the guy at the lot. After I got the car where they wanted it, the window wouldn't go back up. We couldn't get it to work, so we talked to the concierge, and she called the rental car company. The guy didn't come back, but the secretary did my credit card transaction came with a different car. Even though she got the window to work (she grew up in a family of car repairmen), we switched out and got a brand-new car that didn't have a big hole in the fender and the hood. BUT, that was not the end. She didn't have the right key! Amazingly, there was ANOTHER c ar they were renting there, And we got that one! It was quite an adventure all morning with the rental car. We had paid for a full tank of gas, but it only had half a tank. At this point, we wanted to get going!

Our goal that day was to drive South. We wanted to go to the southernmost point, which is called Scott Hill. I was able to get out of the parking lot, and I did a quick 3 point turn, and we were on our way. Ollie was an excellent copilot, managing the opposite side of the road edges, which had significant drop offs into drainage ditches at times. We had a couple of narrow spots where he guided me through, and after one wrong turn under Kelsey's guidance, we made the rest of the way without too much trouble. We got to the narrow roadway to Scott Hill, where we had to pay a little bit of money to go into the little park. From there it was a very rough road across. I thought the best thing to do was drive to the top, but there was a narrow “road” with two cement tracks to go up the hill. There was a homeless guy/beggar sitting right at the bottom and he wouldn't get out of the way, we almost drove off the track right away, which would have caused a lot of trouble. We did make it up to the top, but it was not easy. From there we had an excellent view of the South part of the island, Looking back north, both the Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea. There were a few old Fort remnants there that we could hike around as well. After our little hike, we drove back down, and then we looked for the other beach that has bubbles coming out of it. That was easy to find, though we needed Ollie to ask where the best place to park was. We were able to park there for free and walk to the beach where we paid minimal fees for chairs.

The snorkeling there was excellent, though there weren't that many fish. The bubbles were great and right off the beach. You could walk in and by the time you were up to your waist, you could be in the bubbles. While I was out of the water, Heather offered me one of the apples they bought at the grocery store. I ate it, and then put the core down to take to the trash later. In just a few seconds, there was a chicken beside me pecking at the core. It was making quite a deal, moving that core around and eating it. The way back was easier. We didn't have any trouble parking the car as well. I was very satisfied. I had talked with Matt about kayaking, but we never got around to it. It was just too much money for what we were going to get out of it. I was a beautiful day to relax by the pool instead. We went to the French restaurant, Laku,for dinner after scoring a reservation. It was where we tried to go the night before. For Dominica, it was expensive, but the food was the best we had. For dessert, I got banoffee pie. After dinner, we decided not to go for ice cream. Kelsey and I spent the latter part of the evening down by the pool trying to play cards in the dark.. There's just enough light to see. It was fun to be down by the ocean, with the waves crashing against the seawall, playing some Gin.

Friday. February 2nd.:

My final run was just a simple out and back run along the waterfront, but this time I went for 3 1/2 miles. I went past where the second cruise ship docks north of Roseau when two are in town. It wasn't too bad, on the traffic wasn't as bad as the other days. We had our last breakfast, but there was no granola out. I was kind of disappointed. I asked for granola, and they got it, which was pleasant. I ate an extra big breakfast since we weren’t sure where we would get lunch. We were ready to leave at 9:30, and we started heading north through town. On the way out there were some narrow parts, but we got through them. We were going to Mero Beach, which is a famous black sand beach on the northwest side of the island. We got a great parking spot right near the beach, only a few steps from chairs and under a bamboo pole, sunshade. There was a guy there who was kind of running the show. He was very gregarious, showing us everything that we needed. We walked around and swam and then went out in the water even a little bit more. I got tired of snorkeling, as you couldn't see anything. Everybody else enjoyed being in the water. I did go out for a swim. We watched other people's swimming up and down the beach. I spent my time in the moment, enjoying the fact that my friends were there with me having a good time, there was a nice weather and that we had this opportunity to be in this lovely island.

When we decided to leave, we went to our car, and it was parked in. That good parking spot played against us there. Fortunately, there were men there who were very switched on, and they knew exactly who owned each car, and they got them to move them, and we were able to pull out and get out of the parking lot without too much delay. On the way back, we suddenly came to a stop, and then it became obvious there was a big obstruction. There was a truck taking up about 2/3 of the road now on the sidewalk in the lane coming at us. There were maybe three cars in front of us We pulled over to the other side of the road to let it by, which took a while, and it just barely made it. After it went by, about a mile’s worth of other cars went by and wouldn't let us out. It was quite a traffic experience for Dominica.

We decided to stop at one of the hot springs facilities. We chose one that was rated better than the others. The road to it was unbelievable! It was very twisty, rough, potholes, and narrow. It was trying my patience very much when we finally got there, and fortunately it was an easy place to park. We had to pay a fee (Kelsey did, at least), and there were several different hot pools to go into. There was one that was not quite as hot, and there was one hotter and each had a little cold shower adjacent where you could quickly cool down. The water was supposed to be somewhat good for your skin. There is also a mud bath area where I went in and laid down. I was the only one to go in there, as you had to cross a little stream to get into it (I got a terrible rash on my lower legs, possibly from this). Everybody enjoyed themselves, though the water was quite hot in the hottest pool. We did some good videos, especially of me going into the cold shower after being in the hot water.

Fortunately, the way back wasn't quite as bad. We drove through the Botanical Garden to the hotel. We also managed to stop and fill up the tank with gas on the way back. I went ahead and filled most of it up, even though we'd only gotten a half tank initially. We did get an upgrade with the car, so i didn't feel too bad about paying extra for the gas. It wasn't that much money anyway.

By the time we got back to the hotel, Ollie and Heather were already starting to not feel well, with Heather getting sick first. They decided not to go out for dinner, so Kelsey, Matt and I decided to walk to a place that I'd read about. We got out of the hotel and found that the city was very chaotic. Friday nights are apparently a big party night, and the hotel pretty much shuts down except for a private party on the lower level. The restaurant was not open. We walked around, and everybody was a little bit uncomfortable. We got to the area where the restaurant was supposed to be and, but they didn't feel comfortable going in there. It was very loud in the street, and people were acting wild. We walked back through the dark streets to the hotel. We checked in the lobby, and they said that we could order room service. We had the room service ordered to be delivered to the lobby area where we sat and played cards. The food finally came, and it was good. It was an interesting last night in Roseau and at the Fort Young Hotel.

Saturday, February 3rd.:

We had to get up very early to make it to the flight. The plane left at around. 8:00, so we left. The hotel at about 5:10am. Ollie and Heather were both a little shaky. The driver was great, and got us to the area near the airport through a lot of thick fog. I was very glad I wasn't driving. Suddenly we came upon a loud street demonstration. There were people dancing, with music playing in the street. We had a little trouble getting by them, but just a little bit further on the road, there was a giant flatbed truck with about 10 foot high speakers on it and people partying all over the street. Apparently, they had been up all night. It was around 6:30. They were all looking very stoned and weren't willing to get out of the way. Finally, a man got our attention, and he waved us through and pushed people out of the way so that our vehicle could get past them. We had about 100 yards of crowd to go through, and then it opened up some and we were able to get to the airport in plenty of time. We were the last people to check in for our flight, and the lines were a little bit of a delay, but it didn't take too long.

Everybody had a different itinerary. From Puerto Rico, and. Kelsey and Matt decided to leave because they had a long wait. They left the airport and went out and had lunch at a restaurant, and walked around a little bit. Meanwhile. Ollie and Heather noticed that there were earlier flights to Atlanta, so Heather queued up and got right at the front of the line to switch their flight. They had just enough time to eat lunch with me at one of the restaurants there. It was a Jimmy Buffett themed restaurant called Margaritaville. I was able to get some fish tacos that were halfway decent, and then they left. I had just a slightly longer wait till my flight to Newark that ended up leaving just fine. I was able to keep my carry-ons for that flight. The rest of the trip was uneventful. I got to Newark without problems. I was able to get to the parking lot without any difficulty and get in the car and drive home. It was. A great and uneventful end to my trip, EXCEPT

When I got to my apartment building, my key card wouldn't work to open the door of the outside. Fortunately, I have an app on my phone that was able to do that. So, I was able to get in the building. Once I got to my apartment, the key card wouldn't work there either. I was very angry. I didn't know what was going on. I had to call the emergency line. It took several efforts to get through to them. They were very annoying, asking me lots of questions, when all I needed was someone to send me a code to open the door. Finally, I got the guy and he sent me the codes, but it wouldn't work. The door still wouldn't open, and the lock was acting wrong. There was a problem with how things were working. I waited about 10 or 15 minutes for him to come and finally put the code in one more time, and for whatever reason it now worked. I was able to get into my apartment, and I found on my little table by the door an envelope with new keys to the apartment. They had changed the key system while I was away and didn't tell me anything about it. So, I was very angry it took about 50 minutes for me to get into my apartment once I got back. I hadn't eaten or had anything to drink for a while, so I was also very hungry, I ate a quick meal and went to bed.