Day 5 March 7, 2015 – Dominica
Yesterday for lunch we had a buffet on the deck. They had purchased a yellow fin tuna from the Barbados fish market before we left. The fish probably weighted around fifty pounds. You could have it raw or grilled or any variation thereof. I had mine grilled medium, and it was so good. You also had a choice of sauces, and I chose banana ketchup. That is something I have never had before, but I will be looking for it because it was just delicious with the tuna. I would buy some here, but I probably couldn’t bring it back on the plane. Currently, I am still stuffed as I ate three pieces.
This morning we docked at Cabrits National Park, Dominica. Cabrits is the name for goat because this was a small island off the bigger island, and the English brought goats here knowing the next time they sailed through here they would need fresh meat. The goats relished the lush vegetation, so it worked perfectly. Dominica was a major stop from the times of Columbus because it was a good place not only for the fresh meat, but all of the fresh fruits and vegetables that grew here. In fact the settlers of Jamestown even stopped here before heading up to Virginia.
Then we drove up the mountain to Morne Diabloton National Park where we walked the Syndicate Nature Trail. It was a very interesting drive up the mountain and the walk in the rain forest we very nice. The trees and vegetation looked very much like the Amazon except with the absent of ants. In fact, I didn’t see one insect which is ok by me. We did see a tree lizard so there must be something around for him to eat. On the 45 minute drive up the mountain, we saw numerous small hand farmed fields with a variety of fruits and vegetables. We learned that Dominica has one of the largest percentage of centurions per capita probably found anywhere. In fact two of their centurions recently died. One was 128 and her neighbor also died recently at 118. Looking at the farms there are no chemicals used anywhere, so organic fruits and vegetables with a fish diet works quite well. So everyone buy organic! It makes a difference!
Next we had lunch on the deck of our ship and they had flying fish burgers for lunch. I have never had them before. They are a very mild fish. That was new. Then we walked to Fort Shirley an English fort built in the 1700’s. It gave us a wonderful view of the bay and our ship. Lots of photo ops for Tom. The humming birds are amazing here so fun to watch.
More to follow from the Sea Cloud
Tom & Holly