Dominica and Grenada

We'd no idea what to expect from Dominica, so the night before we arrived there, we spent some time perusing the cruise guide book we'd brought with us. I was drawn to the description of "Champagne Beach"; a place where swimmers feel as though they're swimming in warm champagne, thanks to the volcanic gasses bubbling up through cracks in the coral reef. It's a rocky beach, which meant no sandcastles for Anastasia. Rebecca joined us for the ride while Mark stayed on the ship relaxing by the pool.

Our taxi driver, Julia, started by giving us a short driving tour of Rosseau, including the Botanic Gardens that Myney really wanted to see. In the gardens, Julia told us the story of Hurricane David blowing down an African Baobab tree onto a school bus (which was empty at the time.) The tree continued to grow, now with two trunks and a bus underneath.



Julia took us on to Champagne Beach, where she waited for us while we enjoyed the water for more than an hour. It was a long walk down to the water, and Stasia was very excited.



While I donned flippers for my swim out to the reef, Anastasia took to rearranging the rocks on the beach.



The swim to the reef was quite short, and once there, it was amazing. The reef itself was mostly dead, which was very sad, but there were a lot of fish, including a very large barracuda swimming around. We didn't have an underwater camera, with us, so here's a picture courtesy of dominica-weekly.com to give you an idea. When I came back, Orlando took a swim out to see it for himself.



Back on shore, Anastasia was busy finding crabs and lizards galore. When we'd had a nice relaxing time, we headed back up to Julia's van for a drive back to the ship. Julia recommended a local restaurant for our lunch where Anastasia took over photographer duties for a little while. She did a pretty nice job I think.



Back on the ship, Anastasia headed straight for the pool with Uncle Mark and Rebecca while Orlando and Myney napped. I took the opportunity to chill for a little while, and snap a few pictures as well.





The next morning, we were in Grenada, where we'd booked a 4 hour spice and waterfall excursion. First, we went to the largest nutmeg processing station on the island to learn how the spice is made. We bought several packages of nutmeg there and a few other items.



then it was off to the old spice plantation to learn a bit about the other spices that have been traditionally grown on the island, including cocoa, bay, and cloves. About this time, Anastasia started to get a little bored with the tour. Luckily, the plantation offered a good opportunity for her to go exploring by herself.



Then we spotted a teeny puppy, which also helped to entertain little girl for a while.



The final stop on our tour was a lovely waterfall at the top of a pretty scary road. We posed for a family photo, trying desparately to convince Annie that she'd have fun here.



We finally convinced her when we got down to the pool and took her shoes off. Then she decided that it was a fun place to be, and she was willing to smile again.



After a little time there, we headed back up to the van for the drive back to the ship. Unbeknownst to us, we passed Mark and Rebecca on the scary road heading down.

Both Grenada and Dominica were beautiful. Dominica seemed almost completely untouched, and amazing. Grenada seemed like the more developed sister of Dominica, major city to the small town that was Dominica.