Looking for a Status Report on Dominica

[KathyV]

I recently attended the Our World Water Scuba Exposition in Chicago where I spoke with a vendor advertising dive vacations to Dominica. He said that the island is almost completely recovered from the devastation of Tropical Storm Ericka last year and that everything is open for business again and the diving is great.

I really hope that is true, but this lovely, friendly tiny island was so poor - even before they were hit by a natural disaster - that it is a bit hard to believe that they could recover so quickly. So I would like to hear a status report from someone that has been there recently.

Has anyone visited Dominica recently and how are the accommodations and the diving?

P.S. The vendor told me that staying overnight in Puerto Rico is still the best way to get to Dominica from the US mainland.

 

[tursiops]

I just spent Feb 20-27 there with a group of ten. Other than the fact that Buddy Dive at the Fort Young Hotel now has only one boat (the other was demolished by Ericka) and the road from the airport to Roseau has some pretty poor stretches caused by water over the road, there is little sign that the storm took place. The road is being repaired, BD is getting a new boat, and the minor amounts of sand on reefs will go away, as it always has. The diving was great fun: we saw flying gurnards and short-nose batfish on shore dives right in front of the Fort Young Hotel, where we stayed. the boat took us to some quite good diving. Our entire group arrived in SJU from various places (MIA, CLT, PHL) and we flew to Dominica on Seaborne, code-shared with American. (Not all the luggage arrived with us.) It was a one-day trip from the DC area to Dominica, same going home. No overnights needed. Restaurant Tip: "Are You Hungry??" Chinese restaurant, near the Fort Young.

 

[SimonWalsh]

I live in Dominica and wanted to respond despite you might feel that I am biased, but I can assure you I speak the truth. I have been diving on the reefs from the weeks after Erika up until today and I can promise you that you will see almost no damage in the Marine reserve at all. There was some sponge mortality in shallow waters off Pt Guirnard where a large slide went in, but even that is shallower than 30 ft, close to shore and not even on the main dive path. I can assure you that the diving remains superb and all our yearly visitors have said they don't see any difference. On the topside there is of course more evidence of the the storm, there are 3 or 4 temp bridges where the old ones got swept away, but they are merely an inconvenience. The WNT hiking trial is now completely open, all sites are open although some are changed from before, some are actually better and some not as nice but mostly the former.
Of course the SE coast is where the worst damage as done with one village still recommended for people to move back to. The Government is slowly relocating them and it the most tragic aspect of that storm. I assure you that Dominica is truly open for business and we would appreciate your business. All dive shops are fully operational, no dive resort had damage to rooms.
As for getting here is depends on where you depart from but it easy to get here in one day now, yu can use this tool to organize your trip it is set up just for Dominica Dominica Flight Map (Fly DM). I usually fly through ST Martin and then use Winair who have been very reliable, mostly because I prefer their airport. Also coming through San Juan and Seaborne is very easy as you can buy your ticket right through. I hope you choose Dominica, you will not regret it.

 

[KathyV]

That's wonderful news, thank you!

 

[SimonWalsh]

You are welcome, let me know if you have any questions.