January 19, 2022
Welcome to Dominica!
We had booked a morning snorkeling excursion and had just finished getting ready when our phone rang. The snorkeling trip was cancelled because of rough seas. I had just been looking at the description of the Rain Forest and Waterfall by 4×4 excursion and thinking how fun that would be. I asked if there was room for us and there was! I already had on my bathing suit and asked if there was swimming available and he said yes. That was even better!
We met our guide and followed him to our fun ride for the day – the cool 4×4 shown below. We climbed up a ladder, found our seats and off we went for our wild ride into the rain forest with the Wacky Rollers.
The drive to our first stop was on narrow, steep, winding roads. We stopped for a look down at the capital city of Roseau. When I saw the rainbow I was a happy camper. How could it get better than that? Well, it did.
We stopped at the Botanical Gardens for a look around at some of the beautiful vegetation and an unusual moth caterpillar.
The road was like a roller coaster as we got farther into the rain forest. It started raining which added to the adventure. The driver stopped on a bridge for a view of some hot springs.
At Morne Trois Pitions National Park we hiked up wet, slippery stone steps to view the Trafalger Waterfalls. It rained off and on the entire hike but the view at the top was our reward.
After returning to the bottom of the stairs we had a chance to read about the park at the Visitor’s Center and gazed out a window to see the rain coming down.
We continued the tour on more roller coaster roads until stopping at Ti Tou Gorge with an opportunity to swim into the gorge. Out of about a dozen people on the tour, only four women took the plunge. The water was cold as we swam against the current into the gorge to a circular pool where we could look up to see the sky. We continued a little farther for a peek at a waterfall before turning around to go back.
Swimming back to where we started was easy with the current pushing us along. It was a challenge getting out of the water onto the slippery rocks but I did it with the help of one of our guides.
The roller coaster ride continued down the mountain on the way back to the ship. Back on board we had a nice view of the colorful city of Roseau, watched another gorgeous sunset and enjoyed another fabulous dinner.
The adventure continues. Where will we be next?
Wandering Dawgs 