January 16, 2011

Crazy times in Dominica, and it’s not pronounced the way I’ve thought for all of this time.  It’s more like (Dah-men-eek-uh).  Started off the day with nothing planned, ended the day having the best time of life!  We began today by grabbing a local taxi van, and convincing him to drive us around for the whole day for 10 dollars a person, which was the best idea we had ever made.  We headed out into the center of island, starting off at the Titou Gorge, this incredible cave that I wish I could’ve taken pictures of.  We all started swimming in this river, soon to find out that the river got ridiculously deep.  The river started to narrow, and we were soon surrounded by massive cliff walls that were engulfed by the rain forest.  Everything was so green, the smells were intriguing, and the water was incredibly clear.  After a short swim, we found ourselves climbing a waterfall inside of a cave, with the help of the local tour guides.  You know those movies with the absolutely unreal water caves that glisten the reflection of water on the walls, that is completely covered, letting minimal light through, with random water falls all around?  Yea, it was just like that. Absolutely incredible.  After leaving the cave, we went to a high point on the river where we jumped into the unbelievably blue water from about 50 feet.  Next, we headed to a national park, which had two huge, beautiful waterfalls that were only accessible by climbing on rocks.  It was definitely worth the climb, which you’ll see in my pictures when I get a chance to upload them.  After hanging out there for a couple of hours, we headed back towards the shore, and on the way stopped at a sulfur spring, that smelled atrocious.  Next, we went to the highest point above Roseau, to look down at the beautiful city, which had our huge ship in the background.  Our last stop was back where we started, at the port, where we jumped off this dock, and swam for about an hour.  We did soooo much in one day and I still can’t believe I got to see all of these amazing sights.  For dinner, I ate on the ship and it was once again, delicious.  After a shower, I went out with a bunch of friends to a local bar and it was the prefect ending to a long hot Dominican day.  I would say that day 5 was definitely a success.