ROUSSEAU, DOMINICA

Today, we awoke to the sound of the balconies being washed down. Fortunately, they also hosed down our sandals and snorkeling gear that had been dumped out on the balcony the night before, all of which were full of sand – so, apart from the relatively early hour (for us) that was a win-win.

Aside from the balcony washdown, I think it would be fair to say that the day didn’t start well. It was raining hard – so much so that we could barely see the town from the ship. Rain rolled forlornly down the windows as we ate our breakfast… it was all looking a bit miserable, and no-one wanted to go out in that!

Several announcements were made to inform us that a couple of tours had been cancelled due to the weather, and the outlook was quite grim. So much so that extra on-board activites were being organised (and I started to wonder if I was going to get a call to run a painting class). There was always the hope that it might dry up by lunchtime, or soon after, but there were no guarantees, and as the mountains disappeared into the rain yet again, Tracey took the opportunity to put on a wash in the laundrette and we used the time to catch up on blogs etc.

And so the day dragged on, with little sign of any change in the wet, depressing weather… but, I’m pleased to say that there is a good end to the tale. By 2pm, things started to look a bit brighter; bright enough for us to get our stuff together and head towards the gangway.

We liked Rousseau immediately. As the clouds lifted, so the town came alive, and it had a real, genuine ‘Caribbean’ feel to it. A little rundown at the edges, but throbbing with colour, life and – of course – music. Cars passed us by with music blasting out; houses, shops and bars, all seemed to have their very own in-house reggae DJ, and they all seemd to be competing with each other.

With only a limited time available to us (it was 2.30pm when we went ashore and all-aboard time was 4.30pm), we decided that a planned walk up to the top of Morne Bruce (see a hill, climb it) was doable, so we set off, through the town, to the Botanical Gardens, where a rough track known as ‘Jack’s Walk Trail’ led us up the hill.

On our way up, we were passed by Luke Burrage, the juggler from last night’s show. At the top, he’d set up his camera to film himself juggling in a new location to him, and we enjoyed the extensive views across the town below.

There wasn’t time to dally any longer, and so we continued onwards, choosing to descend back to the town via a different route instead of retracing our steps, and we were glad that we did.

Our return route took us down a windy road that offered us some spectacular views across to the mountains beyond, and another glimpse of what life is like in the Caribbean. There were lots of rough-looking homesteads, alongside a few very impressive ones I might add – once again, the juxtaposition of extreme light and shade right next to each other. At one point, I was fascinated by an old, derelict-looking car on the side of the road. It stood on bricks instead of wheels and the windows were covered over. As I proceeded to photograph it, the door opened and a dishevelled figure appeared. It seemed the car was someone’s home… we didn’t see that one coming!

We made it back to the town with about 20 minutes to spare, and were glad that we’d taken the time to go ashore. We’d never been here before, but was mildly blown away by it, and hope to return again sometime in the future.

Next stop, Grenada.