Dominica was fascinating.
It didn't a great impression -- the car we ordered from Avis expecting to get it near the ferry turned out to be at the airport which would be 2 hours away by car. So the Avis dealer offered us a "private" rental. Um, ok. Yes, it was a car and yes it got us from place to place.....but it wasn't in anything resembling pristine condition.
But that was ok because the roads were awful. Narrow, curvy, filled with potholes except where the holes were larger, with deep ditches (gutters) on either side. And aggressive drivers. The speed limit was 30....km....but we were rarely able to go that fast.
We got to our lodging which was more spartan than we'd expected, but with a lovely seaside balcony from which we watched 3 sunsets (we were there 4 nights). We were tired so we went to the hotel restaurant which had been recommended by our guidebook but it was obviously an outdated recommendation. Turned out we were the only people there which became a theme as we never encountered another guest at any of the 4 breakfasts (included with the room price) or 1 lunch we ate there.make
Roseau is the capital. Generally not an attractive place, though of course that's the only place many cruisers will see. Lots of poverty.....the one day we tried to watch the sunset downtown we were approached by several aggressive panhandlers before we finally gave up.
And yet the scenery above ground and under the water were spectacular! We wondered why there's such a difference between Dominica and St.Lucia -- the former seeming like a 3rd world country and the latter a 1st world country. Not sure how much is historical -- England and France fought over St. Lucia with each owning it 7 times -- how much is geographical -- St. Lucia has many more flat places for towns and for agriculture -- and how much is opportunistic -- St. Lucia seems to have markets for its produce and got into the tourism business earlier.
Glad we visited this interesting place, but also glad we don't live there.
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