“Where the heck is that?” I asked when Dan first told me we’d be visiting Dominica on business. Sure, I’d heard of the Dominican Republic, but it was a little hard to fathom that two Caribbean countries would have such similar names.
As it turns out, Dominica is a tiny island between Guadeloupe and Martinique and it’s pronounced Dom-in-EEK-a. And we would be there in late September with our son Chris, Dan’s business partner, his wife and their son.
Most people wouldn’t choose Dominica as a vacation destination. First off, you can’t get there in one day; you have to fly to Puerto Rico and then fly to Dominica the next afternoon. Plus, there are few sandy beaches and therefore no resorts on the entire island. (Can you say untouched?) Its primary resource is its pristine beauty so it’s a mecca for divers and eco-tourists.
No beaches means no resorts.
It’s often been said that Dominica is the only island that Christopher Columbus would still recognize, and I believe it. As we descended between the forested mountains and saw some of its rivers Richard said it reminded him of flying into ‘Nam.
But there was no gunfire to greet us, just a small, puddle-jumper airport and the desk where we picked up our rental car. We took off for our first destination: Calibishe on the island’s northeast coast. The guys might have business meetings every day next week, but that was days away. This weekend the plan was to relax and enjoy ourselves in this lush, beautiful country.
In 2009 Dan had to visit the Commonwealth of Dominica on business and I created an online journal so our family could read about our visit. Our brief stay on this beautiful, natural island reawakened our fondness for travel and Dan’s love of photography, and eventually my online travel journal morphed into the website you’re reading now, As We Saw It. This is a reworking of one of my very first posts. I hope you have enjoyed it.
Visit our Dominica photo gallery to see more images from this island.
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