ROSEAU, DOMINICA

Yesterday am we cruised south to Roseau and ended up getting a mooring from a local boat boy.

We found a nice place to anchor and staked our claim...


Waterfront poverty...the view from our boat.

Town was an interesting mix of neighborhoods...

As we experienced in Portsmouth, the token boat boy came by for a visit within the first 2 minutes.

He took some of our trash and gave us the run down on his town and anchoring.

These boat boys make great "facilitators" and are willing to help however they can. Brad and I had Bish drop us off at the dingy dock next to the cruise port which wasn't exactly set up for it.

We shimmied under the one lone dingy that was taking up all the space and had to pull ourselves onto some sea steps to get out. A bit crazy. It was hot as anything outside!

Bish drove under the dock and came out the other side...that little daredevil.

We walked into town and hoofed it to find the local rental car company...
They ended up picking us up in front of a local hotel.
I liked the swagger in the minivan with the dice..nice touch. ha!

The rental process took over an hour with paperwork, (and we were the only ones there) but they were super nice and accommodating. (Almost didn't get our rental van) Part of the rental process included walking down the street to the police station as that's where you applied for a local drivers license that was essential. Too funny! It was odd as you just present your US license and then we filled out a ton of paperwork. Essentially we just copied our info onto their paperwork.

Anyhoo-we found our van and were ready for our adventures to begin!

We drove around town to check it out and that adventure was short lived. It was a verrry poor town backed up with a ton of gridlocked traffic (no city planning here) and we didn't feel very safe. You could feel the stares of the restless natives.

The amount of homelessness broke your heart and we witnessed men walking along the side of the road with nothing but a cloth wrapped around them and looking in gutters for anything they could find. I didn't have the heart to photograph them.
We did manage to find some nice scenery from a lookout point...


We went back to the main hotel in town, had a so-so lunch and we're happy to get back to boat.
We told Bish he definitely didn't miss anything.

Our friends Kevin and Gael were set to arrive late that afternoon at an airport on the other side of the island, so we headed out a few hours later on what I'd describe as the most hairy drive to an airport EVER. Steep unstable roads wind through the mountains which turn into a rainforest. They get 300" of rain a year here, and it started pouring the higher we climbed in elevation. Couple that with insanely narrow and steep roads with sheer cliffs, and add in fogged-up windows due to humidity and AC blasting. It was quite the sight. The roads were not for the faint of heart. No guardrails, no shoulder and sheer drop offs made it a nervy experience. Throw that in with the fact that everyone drives on the left side of the road like the Brits, and the steering is on the right. Brad had this down pat from his years in Malaysia and it was a non-issue. There were switchbacks for hours and they seemed like a 180 degree turn most of the time.  Are we on the road to Hana I asked?  It was an hour and a half to get to the rustic airport sporting a white knuckle experience. Whoooweee!

Right next to the airport was a massive rushing muddy river bank. What a sight! I had to take a bunch of toilet paper from a public restroom (sexiness, I know!) to try and wipe down the windows of our car while we waited for their plane to arrive. Security looked at me like I was a loon, but it was all we could find that would work. K&G arrived and we were all happy to see each other.

Our friends had been traveling almost 24 hours and after 3 flights were beyond happy to be on terra firma. Quite the drive back in the pitch black night with the rain on that crazy road again. Eeek! Gael was astonished and couldn't even look at the road most of the time so she didn't freak out.

We finally made it to the boat just in time for a Bishtastic dinner on board. What a day! 

Next up is snorkeling at champagne reef and then the hot springs sulphur pools. Rad at customs office. Dinner at hotel. 

          The epicenter of this island is mainly the cruise ship port in Roseau..

       

However, the Google supplied (faux) photo below looks A LOT more dazzling than it does in person. 

This town really was quite downtrodden, with lots of homeless. This is the uncensored photo...

We of course had to take Kevin & Gael for a tour of town before
we headed out for our snorkel extravaganza...
The best part is the dingy dock experience!

Super Kev handles it all with such graceful moves.

This was the local customs office we had to check into...

The local bakery cart.

This was the best shot of a local woman!
Imagine balancing a basket of anything on your head, especially a basket full of fruit & veggies.

A lot of their rain gave way to beautiful rainbows...

This was funny... Sam must be popular.

Buckle Up!

And in case you get lost...this is a good place to stop. ha!

And we arrived to our destination!

Oh yeah...it was time to get our snorkel on!

Time to suit up!

This is supposed to be one of the best snorkeling sites in the
Caribbean, however I'd beg to differ. lol! It was beautiful though...
Just not a ton of fish as we were hoping for.

Here's the beach where you would slowly wade into the water...

And the fun effervescent bubble which give champagne Reef its name.

We dried off on this beach, and then headed back to town on the scenic route.

It was time to show our dear friends the sights...

A local cemetery...

There was interesting real estate to peruse...

Club Hollywood. Any takers?

Most locals don't own cars and have to walk to/from their destination.

Locals hangout.

A local farm stand...

This used to be someones home...

The beauty supply in the jungle looked well taken care of.

We weren't in Roseau long as the natives are a little aggressive and we
didn't care to spend much more time here.

I was happy to bid adieu to Dominica & head south...