Thursday, April 24. Very hot. Moored.
Day 110 of 113. [4 more sleeps]
Another adventure for us today, this time it is Tubing. That is the business of getting into a very large purpose-built inner tube that does have a fabric bottom, and drifting downstream. The total length that we travelled was a bit more than two miles. It seemed to go on forever though. In theory you did not have to do anything except sit there and let the current do the work.
In practicality, if you didn't work at it you would get hung up on rocks just below the surface but a butt height. Any rocks or stones were well rounded from thousands of years of water erosion. There were some wide slow moving stretches and some hair raising dizzyingly spectacular stretches as well.
The only sad part was the fact that cameras would be ruined so there are no real pictures of what we encountered. There were two guides and a small dog that accompanied the group, about 22 of us the whole journey. In some restricted areas the guide had to sort us out of a log-jam situation and in others we rafted together in a holding pattern before we went individually through a mix-master area.
It was great fun and it was neat to see some rather fragile people, women in particular, that did look a bit out of place but had a wonderful time dodging the rocks and spinning seemingly out of control, laughing all the way.
The journey there took over an hour over excellent roads up the mountain and down the other side of the island. The only downside to the trip was the fact that all the bridges on a very long stretch were under construction and in terrible condition. If they are going to finish the bridge project within 10 years they are going to have to double the 12 or so construction workers we saw working today. [Caribbean pace I suppose.] The journey home was the exact same.
We did stop on the way back at a quaint little waterfall where a family has set up a Roadside Stand for lack of a better term. It was right out of the 1940s. I have shown some pictures of the owners signage to give you an idea of what the atmosphere was like.
When we finished our adventure we went directly to the ship, had a quick bite to eat and did another 'flop on the bed' trick for a while. We then attended a briefing for Canadians who are shipping cases home via FEDEX/DHL. Fellette id a little more packing and organizing for our Canada Customs people and that was our day.
Jim and Gail were on this adventure today and strolled the town for a while. Jim was tempted by an exotic food restaurant called Ruins Rock Cafe where he had a delicious meal of a 20 rat. Not any ordinary rat but a special rat, a Manicou, more like a opossum.
Tomorrow is the last of our attempts to test our endurance level by going on a downhill hike in the Island of St. Maarten.
After that we have two days at sea to Fort Lauderdale.
Pics.
- Welcome.
- Drummers at the start of the trip.
- Jim coming up from the river.
- Next three, Fellette coming out, up, and taking her gear off.
- The river.
- Bringing the tubes up and lading them.
- Gail resting.
- The river runs into the sea a few hundred yards downstream.
- The Local Duty Free Shop?
- Home made Rum.
- The Rum???
- The Ship.
- Ruins Rock Cafe, Jim's favourite restaurant in Roseau, Dominica.
- Nothing like a Manicou Rat for an appetizer Jim!
- The restaurant itself.
* * *
- Last three: Craig's house was demolished today. 22 minutes to take it down. The rest of the day to haul it away.
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