Saturday 21 March 2009

DOMINICA

Arriving at Dominica dock Dominica - road that runs by the dock Somewhere in there is our old home 2nd & 3rd floor was our home My Dad parked our car under that building Typical Dominican home View from ships deck
I had set my alarm for 6:30 AM and phoned Marlene to get her up but she was already up on deck watching Dominica come into view. What a beautiful island it is when you see it like that, all mountains and coastline. Gorgeous. Marlene and I stood up there till the ship was docking, then we went and had some breakfast and got ready to set out on our big adventure.

Well that was a huge disappointment !!! I had made arrangements with someone down here that we met last time we were here, to drive us up to Portsmouth and around to a few other places we remembered from our childhood. We waited at the pier from just after 8 AM to 9:30 AM and he never showed up. Needless to say when I get back home he will receive an email from me and it won’t be cheerful. He basically ruined our visit to Dominica. There were lots of tours available but they were all to places like Trafalgar Falls, the Emerald Pool, Indian River Excursion, Champagne Reef. There were no tours for Portsmouth or the Cabrits. We did not want to take those kind of tours just wanted to see the north end of the island, but I guess it was not to be.

We did walk into Roseau and found our home, Dorset House. Oh my goodness !! Last time Ken and I were here in 1998, it was being used as a lawyer’s office and looked very nice, but between then and now it has been vacated and looks like a dump. It was terrible, heartbreaking really. We noticed how run down Roseau is, we wondered if it was like this when we were kids and just didn’t notice or if it has gotten this way over the years. It really is pretty bad, and sad, very sad. Marlene and I both felt so sad at the condition of the roads, sidewalks, houses. Lots and lots of houses and buildings are boarded up and vacated. Dorset House was one of those too. We walked past the fort and went to the library, the one that had the big (or so we thought at the time) veranda all the way around it. Marlene commented on how small it looked now. The Fort has now been turned into a hotel, Fort Young Hotel. The main market, which is where you would shop for your fruit, vegetables, meat, chicken etc, is now a straw market, it also appeared so small. The market that sells all that stuff is now over by the Roseau River. Both Ken and I commented that we didn’t think Roseau was this rundown when we were here in ’98.

We did take several pictures, and Marlene took many more than I did, oh nice tree, oh look at those lovely flowers, you know how it is!! LOL!! I will upload the one of Dorset House.

So sorry Joyce, that we did not get up to Portsmouth, that was a very big disappointment for both of us. But Bob said well at least then we weren’t murdered !! Geeze !!!!

Tonight is another formal night at dinner, dress up time again.
Til later then..give my dogs a hug.

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