Carnival Destiny - Day 3 - Dominica

Rain forest: Notice the waterfall in center

Dominica was a great island and probably my favorite of the cruise. It was also the least inhabited, tourist-wise. Apparently the cruise we were on is the only one that goes to Dominica. As far as I know, there are no resorts, no Hiltons, no Sheratons, nothing like that. We did a land tour offered by Bumpiing Tours, which I highly recommend. The guide was extraordinary and probably the best tour guide on our whole trip. Our tour consisted of a drive up to the rain forest.

To get to the cold springs where we would do some cave swimming required a drive up the rain forest, then a short hike to the location. The drive was very scenic. Our driver stopped many times to get us some samples of the various foliage and plant life. Being a rain forest, the weather would turn quickly - from sunny and nice, to cloudy and rainy. Luckily, we were spared any bad rain and whenever we were out and about, it was fine. The hikes were easy and not too difficult at all. We had KK along on this tour and she did wonderful, although she was testy at times. The tour guide was excellent with her: patient and helpful, so she had a great experience. I'm glad she went along. After crossing the bridge, we were just about at the site. The bridge wasn't bad, but when you have a 6 year old with you, you do kind of worry. Its entirely possible for her to slip through or something terrible like that. But she was fine of course and we just made sure she held onto the rain and we held onto her.

The cold springs lived up to its name, it was very chilly and very cold. But well worth it. Again, I really regretted not bringing our waterproof camera along for the swim. We went "cave" swimming at this location. Its not quite a cave though. Basically the spring goes in between two mountains and the pathway is probably about 10 feet wide. There was a waterfall at the end of it. The only semi-hard part is that once you start the swim, you have nowhere to rest or stop. The water is too deep and its probably a good 30-50 foot swim, maybe more, I'm bad at judging distance, especially swimming distance. We strapped KK into a life vest and Melissa and I went without, which turned out to be kind of a mistake. Ironically, on the way up, which is against current, we had no problems. I'd swim behind KK and give her some pushes while we paddled towards the waterfall. At the end of the swim was a very small area for us to get on and rest. We all crunched in there. It was about 7-10 feet from the waterfall. After that, the tour guide swam up and got under the waterfall. I did the same thing and that was a tough swim, very strong current, but I made it. Now, I figured the swim back should be easy, going downstream and all. This is where the problems came in. We all started back, KK was floating down in her life vest and all was good. Unfortunately, for some reason KK got scared and grabbed onto Melissa and was pushing her underwater. Again, the area we are at, basically, you have to swim it, no choices. The sides are too smooth to grip onto. So I swam to help out. I was wearing Aqua Socks which I never swim that well in (for some reason they feel like I'm hauling parachutes on my feet, they have a lot of drag, at least for me). Well, KK didn't want to go with me and was kind of freaking out. I started getting really, really tired and nervous. Anyway, I luckily found a little notch on the side of the cave and held on to rest. I had probably 15 feet to go, not far at all, so I started to swim it and man, I barely made it! I was dead tired. I think I just got nervous though. ANyway, I looked like a terrible swimmer, although I'm not great at all, I can hold my own usually.

After that, we made a drive, then a hike to Trafalgar Falls. That was a pretty cool water fall, nice photo stop. The hike wasn't long at all and it was pretty quick. After the falls we headed to some hot springs which was the perfect stop after the swimming and hiking. The water temp must have been near or a little above 100 degrees. It was really relaxing and nice. There was also a "natural rock slide" that you could take off the main pool to go lower. The pools go pretty low and end up cold of course as it gets further away. The water doesn't look that great in the pics, but it wasn't that bad at all. Melissa had a pretty nasty looking fall. She was walking along some of the rocks right by the spring and they were covered in moss. She flew in the air and landed on her hip/side. She was fine though, dunno how!

After this, we headed to the Botanical Gardens, that was set up years ago by the British to experiment growing different kinds of plants. Unfortunately we didn't stay and look around as everyone in our tour group wanted to go snorkeling, which wasn't originally planned. So we just drove through.

The snorkeling was pretty fun. Melissa didn't go though and I didn't go for long. I was pretty wiped out by the end of the day. The cool thing about it was the little bubbles coming up from the bottom, like champagne. In fact, I think it was called Champagne Bay or something like that. It was pretty cool. That wrapped up a pretty long day!

Some miscellaneous pictures:


The above picture was taken in the botanical gardens. The tree fell over on the bus during their last major hurricane. Luckily nobody was in the bus, so nobody was hurt. Shows the destructive force of that tree!

I jokingly refer to that as a "Dominican Guard Rail." But its not really a joke, as its real. Unfortunately the picture doesn't tell the real story. This is basically a guard rail along the narrow, windy, moutain road we were travelling. What the picture doesn't show is the 100 foot or so drop/cliff right beyond it. It is a trusty bamboo guard rail.

Now, if you plan on staying overnight in Dominica, the above is what you'd expect to be sleeping in. As far as I know, there are no major hotel chains or resorts on Dominica. All of the hotels and lodging were pretty much as above. With this blog, the "Cake Trail Lodge" now has an internet presence. So this is for those who really are rustic and don't need modern day luxuries.

In closing, this was my favorite island. I'm not sure I could do the overnight thing, but it was a very fun trip. If you go, definitely go with Bumpiing Tours, they are a non-Carnival touring company, BUT so much better (from what I heard) than Carnival. I have nothing but fantastic things to say about Bumpiing and our tour guide Gerry. The snorkeling was also cool too. If you are looking for sandy beaches, I'm not sure they exist here. I didn't see any at least, but I don't claim to be an expert. Also, the water wasn't as blue/turquoise as the otehr islands we visited. Now, this could be due to the overcast day, but the water is clear as you could snorkel. Its less touristy and gimmicky. You don't have aggressive vendors or people selling you stuff every 5 feet. The people are genuine and friendly. Overall, just a great place.

The Pros

• Beautiful and majestic rain forests and scenary
• People are ultra friendly
• Much to do

The Cons

• If you are looking to stay overnight and must have an upscale hotel or resort, you won't find it here
• As far as I know, no traditional, sandy beaches to just chill on