The sun cut gold ribbons through the morning dark over Morne Diabolatin. We docked in Prince Rupert Bay in the dazzlingly beautiful island of Dominica at 6:40a.m. Dominica is known as the ‘Nature Island’ because it has remained so lush, green, and undeveloped. Some say that it is the one island that Columbus would recognize if he returned to the Caribbean. The island was “discovered” by Columbus in November 1493, his second voyage, and because he saw it on a Sunday he named it Dominica, paraphrasing the Latin “Dominus” for the Lord’s Day. We disembarked at 8:15a.m. for the 45-minute drive up to the protected rain forest at the Syndics National Park.
The mountain we were hiking on was almost 2,000-feet high and receives 360 plus inches of rain—that is 30 feet!—annually. Perhaps most impressive were the massive 400-yea-old, trees which provided a deep shade from the intense sun. The weather was ideal for our walk. We walked for about two hours through the rain forest with our wonderful guide Honoreé. We saw a variety of species of wonderful birds, including thrushes, great Antillean fly catcher, blue headed hummingbirds, tremblers, bull finches, banana-quit, and others. Our guide was very skilled at making birdcalls and the birds often responded to his calls. At one point Honoreé literally went inside the hollowed out inside of a massively buttressed Kapok tree and managed to snatch a small lizard called a Zandolin. It was unhurt and we were able to see it up close and find out about its biology. He freed it and it scampered back up the tree.
We returned to the Sea Cloud for lunch. During our lunch Dr. Lennox Honeychurch, a native of Dominica, and the individual responsible for restoring Fort Shirley after 160 years of neglect and ruin, made a brief presentation on the Fort. Dr. Honeychurch is Oxford University educated and a trained historian. His family has been prominent in Dominica for four generations. Lennox then led us a wonderful visit to the Fort, which was built between 1774 and 1778. The fort is named after the local English Governor Shirley whose father was the last Governor General of the Colony of Massachusetts. He has had the officers’ quarters and an enlisted men’s’ barracks restored and has almost finished the powder magazine.
After we returned from the Fort most of us went snorkeling. The snorkeling here is first rate. Fish of all species abound and as we were snorkeling from the dock it was done with ease. I did notice Alberto diving with his underwater camera and so I know we will see some wonderful photos.
Dinner tonight was outside on the lido deck. Peter, our pianist was playing, all were happily sharing the stories of the day, and one could not ask for a more lovely day for the day to end. Tomorrow we will arrive at “The Saints” in the Department of Guadeloupe, a dependency of France, which has much the same relationship to France that Hawaii has to the U.S.
