Dominica

One of the problems with screaming through the Caribbean is that I don't post at a pace that keeps up with real life experience. As I write, we were in Dominca a week ago, but we've since visited two other countries.

So far, Dominca (pronounced doh-muh-NEE-kuh) is my favorite place in the Caribbean, and I'm not sure that it isn't my favorite place that I've visited in the whole world. It's this lush, green, mountainous paradise, with fruits springing from everywhere.

I implore you to visit soon. A newer, bigger airport is already under construction. We left Saturday, just before the ribbon cutting for the marina that can host mega yachts. Go now, while the resorts are small. Spend some time on the beach, and hire a local to take you on the eco-tour and snorkeling.

The locals are extremely nice, and they absolutely light up when you talk about how much you like visiting their country. (Jingoism alert) Everyone speaks English too.

I'm going to throw in a few pictures, but keep an eye out for the bigger group of photos, because there is so much that is so pretty.

(A little more text behind the photos)

Can you spot Ko?

Playing in the crevasses in a red rock formation by the sea.

We visited a chocolate factory. Cacao grows right there on the trees, and in this building, it goes from nut to candy bar.

There's a place where you swim upstream through a gorge, get to the foot of this waterfall, and then drop into the current to get swept back out to where you started. It's one of my favorite thing that I've ever done. Spring for the $10 guide for good talking points, a personal photographer, and a measure of safety.

In addition to trekking to waterfalls, we went to a barbecue on the beach, which gave us a chance to meet other local cruisers. For the most part, I don't really like hanging with the other cruisers. Listening to a retiree talk about what line of latitude his insurance company makes him be above or below by whatever date is not a conversation that I need to have again.

Like we did in Martinique, we hit it off with another young couple. This time, from sailboat Danu II. Her crew was a fun Canadian couple, who stayed in the cockpit with us until 3:00 AM in order to make sure we could set sail without the burden of any leftover rum punch. Good times.