South Caribbean Cruise Day 2 - Dominica! Champagne Reef, Titou Gorge & Trafalgar Falls

     Mom and I had an awesome day on Dominica! It really made up for yesterday (St. Thomas USVI). We booked our day-long excursion through ShipExcursionsgroup.com, who put us with a tour group called "Bumpiing Tours" and our awesome guide, Gary. We started our day snorkeling at Champagne Reef, which is rated really high on the scale for really good snorkeling and I could see why! Finally, some Caribbean waters that could stand up to the fabulous scuba and snorkeling we had on San Salvador when I lived there (San Salvador is a tiny and little-known island in the Bahamas. I lived there with Club Med for 6 months and was in the water every possible minute, so I got to be a bit of a scuba/snorkeling snob).

The name "Champagne Reef" is completely earned and appropriate! There are dozens of tiny volcanic vents on the bottom blowing up little bubbles and at one point, you swim right through a whole wall of them. It is literally like swimming through a glass of champagne! I was thrilled, but it came with a bit of a price. First off, my mom (Train Wreck #2) is not a snorkeler, or even much of a swimmer. I bought her her own mask and snorkel and she used flippers provided by our guide. I had all of my own gear to use. We have cootie-phobia, so we don't do shared snorkels. (TRAVELER WARNING! People have been known to get gum infections and such from snorkels that other people have used!). Secondly, the way you get to Champagne Reef is from a beach that is very rocky and extremely slick, not to mention you're fighting with the tide. It can actually be amusing to just watch people try to get in and out. All the snorkeling I've done has been in a river or spring, off a sand beach or in the ocean via a dive boat. Mom has only been a couple of times and just off a gentle, sand beach. Like everyone else, we were both struggling to get in and out, but of course since it's US, it's twice as challenging because we are CLUTZ's and we'll have the bruises to prove it tomorrow! She began to have some equipment issues after she'd been in for 20 minutes or so, so she didn't make it as far as the wall of bubbles, but I was so proud of her! My mom has serious anxiety issues, especially in places she's not comfortable and familiar with. But, I've mentioned it before...she is willing to try just about anything once when we travel! She gets it from her kid. LOL. She was out long enough and far enough from shore that she got to see more than she'd ever seen in the ocean before, especially because it is a reef. She really enjoyed all the colorful fish and different vegetation and can see now why I've always loved diving so much.

Big annoying cluster-f**k of the day... NEW UNDERWATER CAMERA FAILED!!! It seemed to be fine yesterday, but when I went to take my first picture at the reef, nothing! And today, of all days on the cruise, was THE day to have a water-proof camera! Grrrrrrr!!!

     We didn't make it to all of the places we were thinking we were going to get to, because, while apparently drivers are slightly less insane here than on St. Thomas, the combination of construction and 'political' road closures was playing havoc with our sight-seeing plans and we had to keep turning back to try different routes out of Roseau. We did make it up to Morne Trois Pitons National Park, which is where the Emerald Pools are (our geocache target for island credit), but we had lost too much time to see that. However, we went to other, way more interesting sites that I'm really glad we got to see.

     We went swimming at Titou Falls Gorge in the National Park. OMFG...amazing! The favorite highlight of the day for me. In the desert, we would have called this gorge a "slot canyon" with water in it. First of all, adrenaline-junkie that I still try to be in my broke-down, train wreck of a body, I was the only one of our group of 8 willing to jump the approx. 30 feet into the gorge below. Let me say, you have to jump in a VERY specific place because of the close proximity of the walls of the gorge (like 8 feet?), and the small area where it's deep enough to land safely from that height without hitting big rocks under the water. ONE other guy from our group decided to jump AFTER I told him how cool it was. Our guide didn't do it, and clearly he didn't think I was going to do it, 'til I did!  What a rush, too!  I would have preferred someone would have warned me for how much cooler it was after swimming in the ocean, but that made the heart beat even faster! It is possible to wade in gradually from the shallow pool and hot spring nearby... if you're chicken!

(Falls in Titou Gorge)

     Our guide, myself and one other headed back into the gorge, away from all the people (there were a couple of small tour groups at that spot). As you swim along, you look up and at the top of the 50 foot canyon walls above you is the rain forest stretching up even higher. Those we left behind will never know what an amazing sight they missed! Unless, of course, they watch the second "Pirates of the Caribbean" movie, that is. Part of it was filmed back there, so I got to hang out in the Johnny Depp zone for a bit. Once you get back in a ways, you come to two small, stacked waterfalls. I had my water-socks on, which do have tread, but it wasn't quite good enough to get me over the first set of falls to the second in the strong current, so they went ahead and I took pictures for the other group member coming back down. I could see the second set of falls just around the corner and above the first, and it wasn't big or anything, but there was just enough of a gap in cloud cover that the only ray of sunshine making it's way into the gorge was shining right on the falls! Awesome! The guy that I was taking pictures for felt bad about my stupid camera and promised to send his snorkel and gorge pics by email, so I'm really hoping he does. The following video is not mine, but does a great job showing this whole experience as I've explained it. Coincidentally, Levi, the tour guide in the video, was another of our Bumping Tours guides. (Thanks to "lereddick" on YouTube for giving me something to show my friends in lieu of my own pictures!)

Continuing on, we did get a little bit rained on, but really? It's a RAIN forest so I wasn't whining! It was a short duration and we were already wet anyway, so who cared? Our next stop, also in the National Park, was Trafalgar Falls. It was a bit of a hike (Yeah! Made up for the disappointment of yesterday's so-called hike!), up a nice trail to a beautiful spot with two, large waterfalls. Our thoughtful guide even produced a hiking staff for mom, who was missing her own at home. I thought these falls were actually way better than any I saw on all the Hawaiian islands. I DID get pics there with the trusty Smart-Phone, so at least there was that. The two falls are nicknamed "The Father" and "The Mother", the father being the highest. A little further down the path from the photo platform were the hot springs, which were tempting, but it was a bit of a steamy bottle-neck of people there and that meant negotiating more slippery rocks than my poor feet could handle. Mom wasn't interested in that either! She's pretty sure I gave her stress fractures on the beach earlier.

Speaking of the beach at Champagne Reef again, me being my usual self, I almost fell twice and thought the required injury for the vacation was over (to quote my friends and family, vacation's not over until I've fallen or broken something. Sad, right?). Said fall was not on the beach (I fell for landscaping issues there! Namely big, slippery ROCKS!), but getting back on the boardwalk FROM the beach. The guide said, "Watch out for the top step. It's tricky.", because there was a bit of a gap between the boards at the top. Now, had he not said anything to make me actually think about the steps, I would have been fine. But, as usual, as soon as I started concentrating on the putting of one foot in front of the other, I got confused and almost went down. Our guide caught me once, and then when I got to the top step, I nearly fell through the same hole he was warning me about in the first place! He caught me again before I broke an ankle with a, "Ooh, la, la!" in the local Creole-French, and I chuckled and told him this was how I walked all the time. He may not have believed me at that point, but by the end of the day, he knew I was a danger to myself. I jump off, perfectly good canyon walls, you know!

Back on the ship, mom and I got showered and dressed in girl-clothes and headed to one of the sit-down restaurants for a change. After four days of dealing with the ship's buffet, we were both sore and tired and just didn't want to be pushed around by passengers fighting the line for crappy food. Good choice. We went in right after it opened, before the majority of loud people and children were back from shore and made ready. We got a quiet table at a window and ordered an excellent bottle of Muscato and discussed the adventures of the day. We really loved the whole day on Dominica. Gary, our tour guide, will be getting rave reviews from both of us. He was very knowledgeable about the island and helpful, and genuinely NICE. We couldn't have done better. So, after just two islands, Dominica is leading by a landslide as our favorite for this trip. Tomorrow we are on to Barbados. It is scheduled to be another long day so hopefully mom and I can hold out. Somehow, neither of us wrote down the specifics of our tour tomorrow, so basically it will all be a surprise! And hopefully, we'll have another day like today...and find a fix for the stupid underwater camera!

Southern Caribbean Cruise Day 1 - St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands

Day 1 - St. Thomas, USVI

Mom and I decided to take 2 different excursions here because I wanted to do one that was a little more physical than she was ready to tackle. This was our first stop and we were so excited...especially after two, very long, boring days at sea (I am NOT a happy sea-day person!). Both excursions were booked through our cruise line (Norwegian Cruise Line), and were quite pricey for what they delivered. First off, I had a 9:30 departure so I jumped off the ship and down to the first store to buy totes for mom and I, because we were idiots and forgot to pack them. I practically ran back to the ship to be where I was suppose to be for my group. The cruise people holding excursion signs didn't have mine on it. I asked, and was told to just wait and they would let me know. Yeah, after I stood in the sun baking, they came BACK for me because everyone else was already on the crappy "bus" waiting to go, and they noticed I had my own snorkel-gear on my back. "Bus", in this case, is a very loose term. Every taxi and bus on St. Thomas is actually the front of a Ford or Chevy pick-up with open sided safari kind of contraptions built on the back. Insane traffic and construction everywhere on top of it made for a terrifying ride. There are no road rules apparently, and I literally almost fell out the open side twice. Everything seems to be communicated between drivers by different horn signals and just playing "Chicken".

(One of our guides helps a kayak get free of the mangrove trees)
I chose the "Hike, Kayak and Snorkel" excursion. Problem number one - There were THREE cruise ships in port at the same day and time. Something like 7,000 people all swarming into this little, tiny village at the same time. So while I was happy thinking that my excursion group was not huge (16) and there were no kids, that didn't guarantee an enjoyable trip. The two other cruise ships in port (a different NCL ship and a Celebrity) apparently book through the same excursion group. Specifically, the only group that takes people out into the mangrove lagoon. We all arrived at the same time and spent the next 3 hours tripping over each other. One would go on the "hike", which was basically a path through the mangrove to another part of the beach, where you looked for some signs of life...sea urchins, conch, etc. As a hiker, it was an insult to even call it that! Then the other group would hit the kayaks, the third would snorkel, and then we all changed, but that wasn't well-organized either, because not each group was spending the same amount of time at each part. 

(Our guides (left) show urchins and conchs to the group)

As one of the few single people on the cruise ship, I got partnered with the other only single person from our group, Roger, (I know this because I met him on sea-day-two, at the singles gathering...I was the youngest and he was 54 and the only male. The other four single women were around my mom's age. A grand total of six of us). This wasn't necessarily a problem, but they wanted everyone kayaking in tandem. I asked our guide if I could have a single because I've never done a tandem kayak. She said the company was fully booked so they didn't have any left by the time our bus (the third, of course) got to the hut and was able to get to the boats. Roger asked if there was a difference and our guide said, no. Uh, I beg to differ! Roger thought he would do better in the back doing the steering. He clearly didn't do that very much, because I kept having to corrective-paddle against the current over and over. I can also tell you that when you've had 3 lower back surgeries, you sure as hell notice the additional 250 lbs. sitting in the back of the boat when you're doing the majority of the paddling!  No difference, my ass!  Literally!

Our guides were informative and showed us some interesting things, but the teaser-ads on the ship and website for that particular excursion were completely deceptive. We didn't kayak through the mangrove forest with crystal clear turquoise water. We were on the very edge of the forest, in a lagoon. And with the snorkeling, I ran into the same problem I had with the Hawaiian snorkeling...too many people in a shallow area all bumping into each other and kicking up sand until the visibility is cloudy at best. I did manage to get a few pics on the new waterproof camera, but that was short-lived (see Day 2!). This excursion cost me $89. It was suppose to come with a snack. Apparently, THAT consists of water out of big coolers, so probably tap water, and a 2" mini-Snickers bar. I hadn't really eaten anything for breakfast knowing I'd be in and out of the water. So at 4 o'clock when I got back to the ship, I was ready to chew my own arm off. Poor mom practically got dragged upstairs and then the buffet was closed, so we had to make due with the outside buffet on the back of the ship, which is what we consider the very last resort. Everything is basically cold and tasteless. Mom's hamburger doubled as a hockey put.

(some of the few varieties of fish we saw near the mangroves)

      Mom didn't fare any better than I did with her excursion. I had actually looked to go with her on that excursion first, but when I saw the hiking, kayaking and snorkeling one, mom said it would be okay to go separate ways. She had the "Best of St. Thomas" tour, also through NCL. She paid $49 for hers and was gone just about 3 hours. Same kind of ride and driver as we had, however instead of showing her the Famous 99 Steps, Blackbeard's Castle, the funicular to the top of the mountain, or several other sites that are well-known on the island, she got bussed from one shopping area to another. Why do all the cruise lines just assume that everyone that comes on a cruise just wants to buy over-priced jewelry and artwork? The shit they sell on shore is the same as what they constantly bombard you with on the ship. She never even got into Charlotte Amalie! I made it back in time to get a taxi to Charlotte (our bus driver is actually a taxi, but he didn't want to go that far), because I wanted to see Blackbeard's Castle and the Rum Factory. 

My taxi-driver didn't even take me to the 99 steps. He took me to the 30 steps and a right turn you have to walk to GET TO the 99 Steps. I passed them once and these two local ladies corrected me and showed me where the steps were. I was contemplating whether I had enough time to get up them, look around and get back to the boat before we were due to shove off, but my legs were wobbly from the excursion and no food. Just as I was preparing to assend, an American couple were coming down and I asked them if they thought it was worth it. They said it was closed! No rope at the bottom of the stairs warning people, just CLOSED! There was some kind of a bar up there, but they said they couldn't even get into the Rum Factory because you have to pay the Blackbeard's Castle tour price to get in. Had I actually made it up that distance for nothing, I just don't believe you can imagine how pissed off I would be! As it is, mom and I will be making complaints to NCL and posting on the shore excursion "Trip Advisor" type site, when we get home. 

We have 3 excursions over the next 3 days that are not booked through the ship but through ShipExcursions.com. Then our last tour is with the ship again. It's suppose to be a "Best of St. Maartin" tour, and we're wondering if it will just be more shopping centers or if we actually will get to some points of interest! Overall, quite disappointed with St. Thomas. But tomorrow is Dominica!