the queen travels: Delightful Dominica

The Island of Dominica was in our Princess headlights March 9, and we docked at 7 a.m., with cloud cover and a few raindrops. Dominica has been independent from British rule since 1978, and is referred to as the “Nature Island of the Caribbean.” It received its name from Christopher Columbus who discovered it in 1493, on a Sunday, or dominica in Latin. The island is 29 miles long and 16 miles wide and has a population of about 73,000. There are also 365 rivers, one for every day of the year. We would be seeing a couple of them. And it doesn’t have white sand beaches, but volcanic, black sand ones. That’s quite a change from what we’ve been seeing.

It was a gloomy day but the black sand shows up.

Jaz and I had signed up for a climb and challenge course in the rain forest on Hillsborough Estate. It was a series of suspended footbridges, zip lines and aerial obstacles and is billed as a survivor-like course.

We boarded the vehicle that would take us there, via a series of narrow paved roads, and then a dirt road with Alaskan-style potholes filled with water as it was drizzling. The good news is that it was a warm rain so it wasn’t at all cold to us. We’ve ridden in so much worse. And along the road we saw not a dog-walker but a goat-walker who had about five goats on leashes. I missed that photo as I watched her pass our window with my mouth hanging open, I’m sure.

The van dropped us off and we walked a few minutes to where the beginning of the course was located.

Along our walk we saw some beautiful old trees.

This river came to the bottom of a bridge and destroyed a local business in this area during a flood after a hurricane. Hurricane David in 1979 damaged 75 percent of the islander's homes and killed 42 people due to winds up to 150 mph. It was the most powerful hurricane ever recorded in Dominica.

We arrived at the course beginning. Well, I wasn’t quite sure about a survivor course but it was an adventure excursion, and I was in. They outfitted us in zip harnesses and helmets, and we were on our way.

Geared up and ready to go.

We first had to climb a ladder to get to the beginning of the course. I’d guess if you failed at the ladder, you failed the course, too. That didn’t happen with us. From there we started … there were a lot of walks across things … wires, bamboo posts set cross-wise, some set up-and-down, and some set at angles to each other.

Most of the challenges used cables to hang on to as you made your way across.

They became a bit more difficult as we progressed.

But we made it across, no problem.

And still, we all continued on.

Another type of crossing.

You had to have balance to do these things, and we were flying through with great colors.

The main challenge was doing a rope Tarzan-style and flying across to land on a rope “blanket.” You had to let go of the rope and hang on to the “blanket” and then hoist yourself up to get to a rope and walk to the platform. One of our guide crew did it, and missed. Of course, you can’t fall, but hang suspended until they pull you back in. One of our other guides recommended we not do it as the ropes were extremely slippery that day and it would be better to use the zip line to get us across. I’m regretting at least not trying because I’ll most likely never have another opportunity. But Jaz and I accomplished everything else and got our certificates. We didn’t fall, or slip off of anything … and others did. So, it was a fun day with a lot of new things for us.

I wish I had tried. Even if I'd not been able to stick to it and crawl up.

One near the end was the most challenging as it also had a couple of flat boards that could roll under your feet. And to add to the challenge was the fact that all of this was wet due to the rain.

It was fun although difficult with the slippery bamboo and boards.

A few short zips added to the fun.

A couple of suspension bridges added to the adventure, particularly one that went up and down. All of this was so much fun, but strenuous.

I'd say this was a different type of suspension bridge.

Another cable crossing to get your arms all tired.

Awaiting us at the end of our adventure were some local fruits, including sugar cane, papaya, coconut and bananas. I tried the sugar cane, chewing the fiber of cane and sucking the sweet juice from it. I don’t necessarily need to do it again. The papaya was also sweet, and I do like that. They had rum punch for us, which we didn’t taste. Rum is on most of these islands, but we’ve passed it up every time.

We got our certificates of completion. Yahoo!!

We arrived back at the ship, going through the usual mass of trinket and jewelry shops. I always like to peruse the trinkets, and we made it back to the ship and onboard, only slightly late for the noon meal. Cruise passengers don’t like to miss meals!!!