pelan-pelan
Contributor
If this is a repeat - too bad. Just tried to post and all went pear-shaped
Dominica - is not the Dominican Republic.
Island - beautiful green and winning world-wide accolades for ecology. People - friendly. Always say Good Morning and smile. If you don't return this then they think you are rude and remote.
Travel - via Antigua or Barbados. Infamous for lost luggage. Travel from London Gatwick - they said they couldn't book luggage all the way thru - not so, hold your ground and if necessary a supervisor can show them how to enter it. Flights from Antigua to Dom can be crowded - tip - to avoid loss of seat make sure you are at front of boarding queue. Antigua and Melville Hall Airport Dominica are "unsophisticated" but staff were helpful to us. May have to clear Immigration and Customs and re-checkin at Antigua - porters are helpful and have fixed fee of 1$US per bag.
Taxi - Careful, knowledgeable and on-time - Alwin's Taxi Service on Roseau 448-4260.
Location - Anchorage, Castle Comfort and Evergreen are in a row about 5 mins drive outside Roseau and Green Flash Restaurant at Loubiere is about 2 mins drive further on (easy walk from hotels).
Anchorage - found staff helpful, respond well to greeting and smile, can be reticent/shy and appreciate kind words from guests. Rooms newly painted but is Caribbean and showing a bit of use. Large showers and plenty of hot water. Breakfast good selection, evening menu is a bit limited. Have been some negative posts here on Anchorage and more recent positives. Heard that there had been a shake up in staff at the hotel in recent months - which may explain. We had no unpleasant surprises there - it is a modest Caribbean hotel.
Food - cheap at midday at snack shacks. These are closed in evening and restaurants can be a bit pricey. Recommend snack menu at Evergreen available until 6.30 pm. Favourite place Green Flash (good selection and good value) - live music Thursdays and eagle ray within feet of the verandah apparently scratching itself on the boulders and boogeying to the music with its wings.
Diving - Anchorage well organised. Rule - no C-card, no dive. We got the type of diving we asked for, no problem. Diving is excellent. Plenty of opportunity for easy dives - shallow and no current. Creatures everywhere. Sand, reef, wall - all sorts of dive. Viz good and apparently little affcted by the rain. Cruise passengers segregated from hotel guest divers. Whale watch - recommend get this in with dive package - saw sperm whales - we were on big catamaran = comfortable.
Shore dive - do it, do it, do it. Looks like boulders and urchins. But 10 ft from end of jetty masses of things to see - in mid-afternoon - big lobsters just sitting out of their holes not bothered by divers, 3 or more juvenile drums at a time swimming on top of boulders, startlingly large barracuda, sweepers, a spade fish (unusual but checked the fish book), sea horses, etc etc. Amazing.
Non-divers - brilliant hikes, waterfalls, boiling lake, hot sulphur mud baths (Ti Kwen Glo Cho is best, Tia's has a time limit and is expensive), rum distillery etc. Some folks spent a few days at 3rivers Eco Lodge www.3riversdominica.com and said it was great. Cottages in extensive grounds, comfortable, proper bathrooms, or also native shelters in the rainforest, good food, solar power, grow their own veg, hikes starting at the lodge, run by a Brit. If you get tired on a hike the locals will give you a lift. Some of the hikes in the rainforest are (Syndicate Trail) surprisingly easy.
Would go again? Yes, now Dominica is favourite venue in Caribbean for us for diving and non-diving.
Dominica - is not the Dominican Republic.
Island - beautiful green and winning world-wide accolades for ecology. People - friendly. Always say Good Morning and smile. If you don't return this then they think you are rude and remote.
Travel - via Antigua or Barbados. Infamous for lost luggage. Travel from London Gatwick - they said they couldn't book luggage all the way thru - not so, hold your ground and if necessary a supervisor can show them how to enter it. Flights from Antigua to Dom can be crowded - tip - to avoid loss of seat make sure you are at front of boarding queue. Antigua and Melville Hall Airport Dominica are "unsophisticated" but staff were helpful to us. May have to clear Immigration and Customs and re-checkin at Antigua - porters are helpful and have fixed fee of 1$US per bag.
Taxi - Careful, knowledgeable and on-time - Alwin's Taxi Service on Roseau 448-4260.
Location - Anchorage, Castle Comfort and Evergreen are in a row about 5 mins drive outside Roseau and Green Flash Restaurant at Loubiere is about 2 mins drive further on (easy walk from hotels).
Anchorage - found staff helpful, respond well to greeting and smile, can be reticent/shy and appreciate kind words from guests. Rooms newly painted but is Caribbean and showing a bit of use. Large showers and plenty of hot water. Breakfast good selection, evening menu is a bit limited. Have been some negative posts here on Anchorage and more recent positives. Heard that there had been a shake up in staff at the hotel in recent months - which may explain. We had no unpleasant surprises there - it is a modest Caribbean hotel.
Food - cheap at midday at snack shacks. These are closed in evening and restaurants can be a bit pricey. Recommend snack menu at Evergreen available until 6.30 pm. Favourite place Green Flash (good selection and good value) - live music Thursdays and eagle ray within feet of the verandah apparently scratching itself on the boulders and boogeying to the music with its wings.
Diving - Anchorage well organised. Rule - no C-card, no dive. We got the type of diving we asked for, no problem. Diving is excellent. Plenty of opportunity for easy dives - shallow and no current. Creatures everywhere. Sand, reef, wall - all sorts of dive. Viz good and apparently little affcted by the rain. Cruise passengers segregated from hotel guest divers. Whale watch - recommend get this in with dive package - saw sperm whales - we were on big catamaran = comfortable.
Shore dive - do it, do it, do it. Looks like boulders and urchins. But 10 ft from end of jetty masses of things to see - in mid-afternoon - big lobsters just sitting out of their holes not bothered by divers, 3 or more juvenile drums at a time swimming on top of boulders, startlingly large barracuda, sweepers, a spade fish (unusual but checked the fish book), sea horses, etc etc. Amazing.
Non-divers - brilliant hikes, waterfalls, boiling lake, hot sulphur mud baths (Ti Kwen Glo Cho is best, Tia's has a time limit and is expensive), rum distillery etc. Some folks spent a few days at 3rivers Eco Lodge www.3riversdominica.com and said it was great. Cottages in extensive grounds, comfortable, proper bathrooms, or also native shelters in the rainforest, good food, solar power, grow their own veg, hikes starting at the lodge, run by a Brit. If you get tired on a hike the locals will give you a lift. Some of the hikes in the rainforest are (Syndicate Trail) surprisingly easy.
Would go again? Yes, now Dominica is favourite venue in Caribbean for us for diving and non-diving.
