The only thing with taking our own snorkeling gear is that we have pack all our snorkeling gear. Fins & masks in containers are bulky. I did a better job fitting everything around the fins yesterday evening compared to when we left Toronto. The suitcases zipped up rather easily :)
We had breakfast, checked out from Jungle Bay and were on the road a little after 9am. The route to the airport took us back through Roseau before cutting northeast to Douglas Charles Airport near Marigot. I had set our destination in Google maps for the Rubis gas station in Marigot so we could fill up the rental before returning it.
First we had to get through Roseau. The AIDAperla was in port with 3286 passengers disembarking for their excursions. It wasn’t too bad though, I think they had just opened the gates (or whatever the cruise ship term is).
Outside Roseau we passed by locals dressed in their Sunday best, heading to mass with their palms (it’s Palm Sunday today). I guess in tropical climates it’s BYO palms :)
The road from Roseau to the airport looks like it was recently rebuilt. It was a full two car-width wide so no worries about passing cars in the other direction on blind corners. It’s a really scenic drive through the mountains, with the occasional rum shack and snackette. We also passed by Spanny Falls, which I had on the itinerary, but we didn’t want to get all sweaty and dirty so just continued on the airport.
The road to the airport passes through Pagua Bay on the east coast. We pulled over for a couple minutes to watch the waves crashing on the shore. I had looked at staying at Pagua Bay House when we were planning the trip. It looked like it would have been a good option, with different scenery than the two spots we stayed at.
The Rubis gas station in Marigot was closed (not sure just for Sunday, or semi-permanently?) There’s not many gas stations in Dominica so we just carried on to the airport. We were supposed to return it with 3/4 tank (presumably having filled up in Roseau) and the needle was just below that so figured on taking our chances.
The Courtesy Car folks were on-site in the car rental office. The guy just did a quick walk around, checked the gas level, said we were close enough, and good to go :) I don't even think he got off his phone the whole time. Very different from the car rental in Yasawa which ended with a 89 point inspection.
Douglas Charles is a small international airport, when we checked in they just took our suitcases right onto the cart that drove onto the tarmac. Our luggage was only checked through to Trinidad, so we'd have access to it while in transit.
Had a small lunch at the airport restaurant (we were still a bit full from breakfast) and then went through security. The departure area was larger than I had thought with two gates, two gift shops and a small coffee shop. They had three departures today! Bought some waters to fill our water bottles and spend our remaining EC.
Our plane arrived (the flight goes from Antigua - Dominica - Trinidad, it’s the same flight we took to get here). All the passengers boarding in Dominica were checked in so we boarded early. I forgot my water bottle at the gate and only realized after we were seated. Luckily one of the ground agents walked on the plane looking for the owner (me). He seemed pretty pleased to have rescued my water bottle :)
We had great views of Martinique, St Lucia and St Vincent & the Grenadines as we flew south. In particular the pilot said it’s unusual to have a cloud-free view of La Soufriere, a volcanic cone at the north end of St Vincent.
It was strange to see Port of Spain as we approached. We hadn’t seen that many houses or such a big flat area in a week :)
We were seated near the front but we exited from the rear of the aircraft so we were last in line for immigration. But it turned out we were two of the maybe five foreigners on the flight so had our own line up anyways. Everyone else just zipped through the nationals line.
The taxi drivers were very helpful and low key sales pitch. One driver suggested we go to the Tourist Info booth and ask them to call our hotel for the courtesy shuttle; another pointed out where we should stand to meet it.
On the way out passed by the local food court that my friend Ram recommended we stop for dinner. (Trinidad is also a common layover when flying from Guyana to Toronto). It was too early though so we just went to our hotel (Holiday Inn Express).
Later we went for dinner at Popeye’s next door. Neither of us had ever eaten at a Popeye’s before. It wasn’t too bad.
On the walk back we saw some birds in the trees on the hotel property (some kind of dove, and a couple Saffron finches). We then had an ice cream and a drink in the hotel lobby. So, birdwatching, a sundowner, it was just like we were on vacation:)
Set our alarms for 4am *gasp* and went bed.
No comments:
Post a Comment