14/2/11 Monday
Happy Valentine’s Day everybody, especially my sweet honey!
Where do I begin; we awoke this morning to the sound of roosters crowing from the homes around the anchorage. I skipped breakfast because I knew we were going to town to clear customs straight off, and when you are in a Caribbean town there is always street food available, it turned out to be a great move. We took the bus to Roseau, Kim and I wondered around while Dan and Em took care of the formalities. We headed down to the market and find a little breakfast. I started off with some cassava bread that a women was cooking on a grill with a low bed of coals, it tasted just like toasted pita bread. I then stumbled upon a man selling the most amazing smoked saltfish sandwiches from a push cart. In Barcelona, NY, near where I live there is a smokehouse on the waterfront where you can get smoked fish that is smokehouse fresh, but this saltfish was beyond a doubt the best tasting smoked fish I have ever eaten; I regret not getting a couple sandwiches. We finished up with a plantain that was baked in a dough wrapper, the crust was crunchy and the plantain was as sweet as any pastry. After meeting up with the rest of the crew we wandered around a little more then walked back to the dock where the dingy was tied. After a lunch of pate’, fresh titi bread and salad on board we grabbed another bus back to town. From there we grabbed a bus to Trafalgar Falls; the driver dropped us off right at the visitors’ center. The trail to the falls is well marked and it would be almost impossible to get lost on the 10 minute walk down to the river. Dominica is the lushest of all the islands we will visit on this vacation; even the sheer cliffs are covered in vegetation. We stopped for a soak in the hot spring feed stream that runs parallel to the river from the twin falls. The water looks dirty, but it is just discolored from the high iron content, I have been to Diamond Falls in St. Lucia twice and this water was much hotter than the waters there, plus it is a natural stream without any modifications from man.
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In the hot water of the mineral stream, if you look closly you can see Wazim peeking out from the pool below
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Deb enjoying a natural hot spring jacuzzi
Now I am not going to do the Boiling Lake climb with the younger members of the crew tomorrow; so to prove that I am not just a big girl I carried a six pack of beer and ice in my small cooler in my backpack. Dan and I had a beer while soaking in the soothing waters; we also gave one to a local guy who was enjoying the therapeutic values of the mineral water. After a good soaking we headed over to the falls. The water was cool and clear, I almost wanted to take a drink it was so good. We scrambled over the many large boulders that are at the base of the falls and then took a swim in the small pool beneath the smaller of the two. The wind kicked up by the cascading water was quite strong and the mist formed a rainbow that made a complete circle when viewed from the right angle.
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somewhere under the rainbow
Once we had enough of the cool clear water we went back to the hot stream for another soak, more beers and a flask of rum that I had also brought along; hey this ain’t my first rodeo! The hot stream and the river are literally side by side. We walked back to the visitors’ center and a taxi driver called a friend of his who drives a bus to let him know that we would be waiting at Peanuts bar. The bus showed up soon and they were happy to wait until we had finished our drinks; some very strong rum punch for Dan and me and the freshest passion fruit juice we have ever tasted for the girls. This juice was so fresh it didn’t even know it was out of the jungle yet. The ride back to the capitol was $5 EC each. Once there we took a leisurely stroll back to the anchorage just in time for sundown and sundowners of gin and tonic. Dinner this night was on board; NY strip steaks I had brought from home and potato wedges seasoned with my homemade Bayou Blast seasoning (thanks Emirl).
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A beautiful sunset to end a beautiful day

Drink all day at home, your friends worry about you; do it on vacation and they say "what a good time you're having". Save your friends needless worry, travel more!