Ava's Tropical Dreams- Welcome to Dominica!

 

Welcome to Dominica!

Dominica is a small, fertile island in the eastern Caribbean Sea. Its closest neighbours are the French islands of Guadeloupe and Marie-Galante, to the north, and Martinique, to the south. It has a population of 66,205 people, of which about 14,500 live in the capital city, Roseau, which is located on the south-west coast. Dominica is rich of luscious rivers, waterfalls and hot springs which attracts tourists and crew ships. The native language is English but some French creole is also spoken because of its French colonized neighbours. This island has a unique personality for sure!

Martinique to Dominica:

We have been in Dominica for around a week now, we had a nice 6 hour sail from Martinique. While sailing, we saw our first sighting of a whale, it was resting in the water probably after a deep dive. It watched us for a moment and then disappeared under the surface. We then decided to put the sails down and turn around after it resurfaced. We watched for a few minutes and saw it blow out its blow hole many times. Once it had dove down into the depths of the sea, we worked out that it was a Sperm Whale, which is the largest toothed whale and predator in the world. This type of whale is the third deepest diver on earth, being able to dive down to 6,500 ft! A few days before coming to Dominica, my uncle Russel arrived from America! He has stayed with us ever since and has experienced the amazing life we are lucky to have.

Our island experience:

For 2 days we rented a car with our uncle Russel to go exploring. On the first day, we went to Champagne reef. It wasn't like a normal reef as bubbles were coming out of the reef from small vents! This was because of volcanic activity. If you touched the holes where the bubbles were coming out from, it was really hot! We had lots of fun looking at bubbles, seeing fish and swimming around.

 Then, we drove to 2 waterfalls called the Trafalgar falls. They were huge waterfalls that glimmered in the sun as they rushed down. There were many big pools to swim in and my sister, dad and I even tried to climb to the top pool where the waterfall is but there were to many rocks! It was so much fun to swim and play in the river and the natural pools.

 

  

The next day, we went to Titou Gorge. It was a really cool river with tall cave walls either side. The water was very nice as it was fresh and cold. We all jumped in and then our tour guide led us through to a waterfall! I loved playing in the waterfall at the end. I think this was one of my favourite things we did.

 Next, we swam in a river that we saw next to the restaurant we ate at. It was very cold, however, some parts were warmed by geothermal vents! Dominica uses their island's geothermal water to make energy for the whole island! In the river, there were many big pools that we could swim and have fun in. I was surprised we were the only ones playing in it! 

 

After the river, we went to some hot springs! There were lots of hot pools that you could go in. The pools were really hot so if you got too warm you could go in a nice,cold waterfall. We had a really great time in the hot springs but afterwards we stank of sulfur!

Thank you for reading this blog. As you can see, we have done many amazing things in the past week! I hope you will continue to read about all the amazing things my family and I do here in the Caribbean. 

Speak soon, Ava 😄