It is located on
the west (leeward) coast of
Dominica, and is a combination of modern and colonial (French Style)
architecture.
Roseau is
Dominica's most important port for foreign trade. Some exports include bananas, bay oil, vegetables,
grapefruit, oranges, and cocoa. The service
sector is also a large part of the local economy.
[source: Wikipedia]
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TOUR: Safari Champagne
Snorkel
Description
It's
just a 15-minute drive south of Roseau through the picturesque village of
Pointe Michel to the water sports facility at Champagne. Champagne is
Dominica's premier diving and snorkeling site and rates among the top five
snorkeling sites in the Caribbean. Underwater geothermal springs vent gasses in
the form of thousands of warm bubbles giving you a feeling of swimming through
a giant glass of Champagne. The reef here is quite spectacular with a myriad of
sea life including sponges, lobster, parrotfish and a resident population of
hawksbill turtles. You will be outfitted with high quality snorkel gear and listen to an
orientation of the facility and the adventure that awaits you on the reef.
Tours of the reef are led by professional PADI-certified dive masters who will
instruct you on the correct use of your gear and brief you on what you are
likely to see and experience once in the water. After your tour, enjoy the
comfort and convenience of showers and changing rooms, refreshments, a gift
shop and a sundeck overlooking the beautiful Caribbean. You will make you way
back to the pier by taking a scenic drive through the village of Pointe
Michele, stopping en route at the St
Luke's Primary Museum.
[source: MAASDAM cruise website]
Experience
In a 16-person van we drove through Roseau,
then south about five miles to Champagne Reef.
We were equipped with our snorkel gear and headed for the beach. We have seen some beautiful, sandy beaches
this trip. Champagne Beach was not be one
of them being entirely composed of rocks.
We walked along a boardwalk until it became
a dirt path, continuing on to the far end of the beach.
Here we entered the water by walking down a
rubber mat spread over the rocks. It was
marginally effective. Once it the water
and grouped up, we headed out to see what was described in the write-up as “rates among the top five snorkeling
sites in the Caribbean”.
Whoever wrote
that must have arrived at that statistic by only snorkeling at five sites in the
Caribbean. It was a washed out site with
virtually no coral and few interesting fish.
The gasses vented by the geothermal springs did create a bubbling effect
in the water column that was interesting for at least two minutes.
At the conclusion of the snorkeling expedition, it was back
up the rubber mat to the rocky beach, along the dirt path and boardwalk to the
dive facility, into dry clothes, board the van and return to the ship.
The
best part of this tour was its conclusion because it brought with it an end to listening to one woman complain about
everything. When she wasn’t complaining
she was being rude. My personal favorite
was pushing her way to the head of the line when it was time to enter the water
and after the dive complaining about how long she had to be in the water.
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Back
on the pier, and our Roseau
Highlights by Trolley Train tour having bitten the dust due to lack of
interest, we ran into some friends and accepted their invitation to join them
for lunch at a local restaurant. It was
a fun time. We then wandered around
Roseau for a while, even self-inflicted a crafts shop visit upon
ourselves.
Nothing
catching our interest and sailing time drawing closer, we returned aboard. We departed on schedule, heading up the coast
of Dominica as the sun set and watching the lights of Guadeloupe Island pass
along our starboard side while having dinner.
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