This is the report of our vacation to Dominica from 22 April to 02 May, 2008. The wife and I booked an 11 day, 10 night, 10 dive (5 days of 2-boat diving) package from the Anchorage Hotel, which uses its own dive operation. Price was about US$ 1300 per person, and the package included one of the oceanfront/superior rooms with queen bed and refrigerator, full breakfasts, airport transfer to and from Melville Hall (DOM), breakfast, and unlimited tanks for shore diving. We used our own equipment and in addition to the usual I was carrying a fairly large camera rig (Olympus E330 DSLR in an Ikelite housing, with two DS50s on 8" and 12" long arm segments).
GETTING THERE
From the states, getting to Dominica is not too challenging, but will likely cost you an additional night's stay on the way. We flew from DFW to San Juan, PR (SJU), stayed over, and then took the next day's American Eagle flight to DOM. Our return flight was originally scheduled to occur in one day, as the DOM to SJU leg was arriving at 4 p.m. or so and there was a 6 p.m.-ish departure direct back to DFW. But American trimmed this from the flight list and rather than fight an extra transfer thru either Ft. Lauderdale or Miami, we opted to spend a night in San Juan again on the way home.
Luggage allowance for the flight to SJU was usual U.S. limitations of two checked bags, 50 lbs each, with one 40 lb. carryon and one 'small personal item' (NOTE: As of the time of this writing many U.S. airlines are of course changing this and starting to charge for the 2nd checked bag.) The limits for the ATR flight to Dominica however are a total of 70 lbs checked per person. The Dominica tourism website cautions travelers that while they might get a 'bye' on the way in, they are very strict on the way out, and the max overweight is 55 lbs. for one bag but you still cannot have over 70 lbs. total. On our return wait at the airport we saw many people frantically repacking things in carryons and the like. I personally was right at the limit, with a 46 lb dive bag (also had the 8" camera dome and tray-handle for the Ike housing), and 24 lbs in a much smaller clothing bag. The bulk of the UW camera equipment was in a LowePro Vertex 300 AW backpack which was a godsend - very comfortable to carry on the back, significantly reduced my concern about theft reports from checked baggage at SJU, and even fit under the seat on the ATR to Dominica. (My laptop was in a smaller backpack my wife carried as her carryon that went above).
The flights were relatively on time both ways. There was the usual sweaty wait for the bags at DOM upon arrival, followed by a very cursory incoming customs inspection (really just a question about what was in each bag, followed by "enjoy your stay"), with the pushy 'let me move your bags 5 feet to get a tip' type 'greeters' as well as taxi drivers trying to get us to ride with them, despite our repeated statement that we were being picked up by a hotel arranged taxi. The arranged taxi did arrive, and the driver was courteous and professional (and we later realized, very "cautious" compared to the bulk of Dominican drivers to not shock us too much upon arrival). Our return drive was a lot more of a seat-gripper as our driver was concerned we would be late (seems American often closes the incoming line for the 2:25 return flight at 1300, so he wanted to make sure we made it), but at that point we were acclimated and appreciated both the concern and the roller coaster appeal of the drive. Roads there are paved, but for the most part narrow and the island topography definitely makes for some tight turns and fun slopes, especially in a spot of rain. The ride from the airport over to the Anchorage which is a bit south of Roseau on the western coast took around 75-90 minutes, and the return drive about 60-65 (in an early afternoon thundershower, no less).
THE LODGING
The Anchorage, the Evergreen, and Castle Comfort are all along the same short stretch of coastline just south of New Town and north of Loubiere on the west coast. The Evergreen and Castle Comfort (and Fort Young, up on Roseau itself) all share Dive Dominica as a dive operation, the dock for which was visible from our hotel just to the south. Anchorage has its own dive operation and dock extending from its own property. We had really no complaints at all about the Anchorage as a hotel. We'd read a lot of reviews, several mixed, on different travel sites indicating that the rooms were spartan, showing some wear, with some plumbing and/or AC problems, or issues with staff being unresponsive. But we really encounted none of these, and it was clear to us that the entire 'oceanfront' building was getting some renovation (new furniture was being constructed and put into many of the other rooms as we left, since we were there just after the tail end of the 'high season'). The bed was a queen with a very comfortable and consistent firm mattress, the AC unit was new with a remote control and held 16-17 degrees (C) fine without being too loud. The shower was clearly recently retiled and the water pressure and shower head (the one perk I really can't do without when diving) was actually fabulous. In fact my home water pressure seemed inadequate my first night back!
We had plenty of hot water whenever we showered. The floor was tile and looked a little worn, but who cares when you're going to be walking in and out in wetsuit booties anyway? (We did see another room with the door open had newer looking wood or wood laminate flooring, we didn't inspect too closely though.) If there was anything 'wrong' with the room at all it was the little louvered glass windows in the bathroom (along the shower stall) didn't pivot "completely" closed, so mosquitos could have found their way in a bit...but we just closed the door to the bathroom and turned the bathroom light off so they had no incentive to do so and really had no problems in the room to speak of (the room was supplied with an outlet appliance and 'Bugmat' fogging agent we could have used, but never did). Of course we were there in part of the dry season and it didn't rain the majority of time we were there, so maybe that had something to do with it too.
We found the staff to be mostly quite friendly (some were a little less outgoing than others, but no one was surly or ignored requests). Laro at the bar was excellent and very engaging, as were the ladies who served breakfast in the morning. It felt weird being often the only people there for dinner, but we ended up wandering into Roseau most of the time for dinner anyway so we understand why. You could find yourself waiting a while for food and/or for the check, but that's just "Island Time" in general.
DOMINICAN FOOD AND DRINK
Food on Dominica was not bad, but certainly not "the reason" to visit the island. There are a lot of local roots like dasheen, etc. that are often boiled and ground or mashed as a starch side dish (or stewed with fish or meat), as well as varieties of both sweet and starchy plantains, collectively referred to as "provisions". To the coddled U.S. palate the food might be somewhat uninspired or unrefined sometimes - for example orders of fish - good fresh slabs of mahi-mahi - were substantial, but a bit overgrilled and often 'steak cuts' right thru the fish complete with spine and rib bones intact. If like my wife you have a diner that prefers deboned fish, you might want to take care. Chicken was prevalent, as was (strangely to us, since we never saw a pig) bacon. But we never were at the slightest risk of going hungry. There were a few restaurants in Roseau we really liked, like The Garage (which was perhaps the most Westernized/modernized in terms of having a computerized ordering system, laminated menus, coherent decor and theme, and promotional bar events for Carib beer etc. while we were there, but still served a lot of local Dominican dishes like "salt fish and fig water"). Perky's Pizza gave us a back-to-home break in the middle of our trip, with a few not as normal to us ingredients on the pizza (corn?) that was actually pretty good. La Robe Creole, the well-reviewed, higher end Creole restaurant, was nice inside and okay, I guess, but not in my opinion living up to the hype or worth the price premium. We didn't get to eat at La Maissone due to some sort of official private event the day we tried. We ate most lunches at the hotel (or just snacked on something light) but did try a few of the little snackettes and found them to be good, especially Cindy's which is an unsigned, brightly colored shack in the COURTS building lot, just across the street from the Texaco near the Anchorage/Evergreen/CC sites. That's where one of our DM's took us for lunch and it actually was one of the best experiences in terms of price to taste and quantity (we ordered 'small' servings of rice and lentils with chicken and found it quite filled a reasonable-sized styrofoam to-go container...more than enough for lunch, for about EC$7 per person). Although the hotel offered a full breakfast 'buffet' when it was more full, when emptier we just ordered what we wanted for the package included breakfasts. Eggs and the like were available but most mornings I found myself ordering the "hot belly" which was a bowl of cream of wheat (or oatmeal) with coconut milk, and was quite filling and tasty.
There are bakeries all over - Sukies seeming to be the most populous. All the bread on the island, from that used for toast at breakfast to the breads and rolls used for sandwiches, was excellent. Small pies with fish or meat were available as snacks, as well as pastry type breads stuffed with grated coconut and other concoctions, and it was all very inexpensive (like EC$1 - 1.50 for a good sized coconut roll that would be enough for a light breakfast).
The water is perfectly drinkable right out of the tap - in fact we bought bottles of water only our first day or so, and then kept the plastic bottles for refilling from our sink at the hotel and put them in the fridge overnight to have cold water for the next day's post-dive rehydration. Dominica has so much topology (the primary mountains basically make a lot of the local weather) it has lots of rivers, so its kind of unlike the low-scrub, "desert" Caribbean islands built more on ancient reef limestones where it can be a bit less available. We had no occurrance of 'travellers trots' from either of us from drinking the water or eating fresh fruit, and I'm usually somewhat susceptible to that even with trips in the U.S. just from eating out too much and schedule disruption. Local juices were also superb and plentiful...every morning (and after every dive on the boat) there was a choice of at least two in-season juices like grapefruit, soursop, passionfruit, guava, etc. Some were clearly pureed whole fruit - the guava in particular was practically a shake in thickness. (We were there a little early in the year for mango season, but did see more than a few people eating them as we passed on the road.)
Alcohol wise, the local beer, Kubuli, is extremely good (award winning, as well) and made with local spring water. Small bottles go down fast, but it's inexpensive, served nicely cold (sorry to you Brits out there, but cold beer is my preference when in the islands) and can be had anywhere. We didn't even drink Carib at the Carib promo night at The Garage when it would've gotten us entries into a drawing for promo stuff (hats, drinking bottles, the usual markety stuff). The most recommended rum seemed to be the Soca. Don't buy into the whole Boi Bande myth, even the locals laugh at that. Rum punches at most places were strong and quite good, with the rum well enough hidden (not harsh at all) they could blindside you. Our overland tour guide served us a 'rum punch' that I believe was more of just a cask rum spiced with cinnamon and cane sugar and who knows what else...it was clearly 'home made', smooth, and had a wicked right hook. We heard tell of "Mountain Dew" and other types of moonshine but didn't get off the beaten trail enough to really encounter it personally. More reason to come back, I guess.
GETTING THERE
From the states, getting to Dominica is not too challenging, but will likely cost you an additional night's stay on the way. We flew from DFW to San Juan, PR (SJU), stayed over, and then took the next day's American Eagle flight to DOM. Our return flight was originally scheduled to occur in one day, as the DOM to SJU leg was arriving at 4 p.m. or so and there was a 6 p.m.-ish departure direct back to DFW. But American trimmed this from the flight list and rather than fight an extra transfer thru either Ft. Lauderdale or Miami, we opted to spend a night in San Juan again on the way home.
Luggage allowance for the flight to SJU was usual U.S. limitations of two checked bags, 50 lbs each, with one 40 lb. carryon and one 'small personal item' (NOTE: As of the time of this writing many U.S. airlines are of course changing this and starting to charge for the 2nd checked bag.) The limits for the ATR flight to Dominica however are a total of 70 lbs checked per person. The Dominica tourism website cautions travelers that while they might get a 'bye' on the way in, they are very strict on the way out, and the max overweight is 55 lbs. for one bag but you still cannot have over 70 lbs. total. On our return wait at the airport we saw many people frantically repacking things in carryons and the like. I personally was right at the limit, with a 46 lb dive bag (also had the 8" camera dome and tray-handle for the Ike housing), and 24 lbs in a much smaller clothing bag. The bulk of the UW camera equipment was in a LowePro Vertex 300 AW backpack which was a godsend - very comfortable to carry on the back, significantly reduced my concern about theft reports from checked baggage at SJU, and even fit under the seat on the ATR to Dominica. (My laptop was in a smaller backpack my wife carried as her carryon that went above).
The flights were relatively on time both ways. There was the usual sweaty wait for the bags at DOM upon arrival, followed by a very cursory incoming customs inspection (really just a question about what was in each bag, followed by "enjoy your stay"), with the pushy 'let me move your bags 5 feet to get a tip' type 'greeters' as well as taxi drivers trying to get us to ride with them, despite our repeated statement that we were being picked up by a hotel arranged taxi. The arranged taxi did arrive, and the driver was courteous and professional (and we later realized, very "cautious" compared to the bulk of Dominican drivers to not shock us too much upon arrival). Our return drive was a lot more of a seat-gripper as our driver was concerned we would be late (seems American often closes the incoming line for the 2:25 return flight at 1300, so he wanted to make sure we made it), but at that point we were acclimated and appreciated both the concern and the roller coaster appeal of the drive. Roads there are paved, but for the most part narrow and the island topography definitely makes for some tight turns and fun slopes, especially in a spot of rain. The ride from the airport over to the Anchorage which is a bit south of Roseau on the western coast took around 75-90 minutes, and the return drive about 60-65 (in an early afternoon thundershower, no less).
THE LODGING
The Anchorage, the Evergreen, and Castle Comfort are all along the same short stretch of coastline just south of New Town and north of Loubiere on the west coast. The Evergreen and Castle Comfort (and Fort Young, up on Roseau itself) all share Dive Dominica as a dive operation, the dock for which was visible from our hotel just to the south. Anchorage has its own dive operation and dock extending from its own property. We had really no complaints at all about the Anchorage as a hotel. We'd read a lot of reviews, several mixed, on different travel sites indicating that the rooms were spartan, showing some wear, with some plumbing and/or AC problems, or issues with staff being unresponsive. But we really encounted none of these, and it was clear to us that the entire 'oceanfront' building was getting some renovation (new furniture was being constructed and put into many of the other rooms as we left, since we were there just after the tail end of the 'high season'). The bed was a queen with a very comfortable and consistent firm mattress, the AC unit was new with a remote control and held 16-17 degrees (C) fine without being too loud. The shower was clearly recently retiled and the water pressure and shower head (the one perk I really can't do without when diving) was actually fabulous. In fact my home water pressure seemed inadequate my first night back!
We had plenty of hot water whenever we showered. The floor was tile and looked a little worn, but who cares when you're going to be walking in and out in wetsuit booties anyway? (We did see another room with the door open had newer looking wood or wood laminate flooring, we didn't inspect too closely though.) If there was anything 'wrong' with the room at all it was the little louvered glass windows in the bathroom (along the shower stall) didn't pivot "completely" closed, so mosquitos could have found their way in a bit...but we just closed the door to the bathroom and turned the bathroom light off so they had no incentive to do so and really had no problems in the room to speak of (the room was supplied with an outlet appliance and 'Bugmat' fogging agent we could have used, but never did). Of course we were there in part of the dry season and it didn't rain the majority of time we were there, so maybe that had something to do with it too. We found the staff to be mostly quite friendly (some were a little less outgoing than others, but no one was surly or ignored requests). Laro at the bar was excellent and very engaging, as were the ladies who served breakfast in the morning. It felt weird being often the only people there for dinner, but we ended up wandering into Roseau most of the time for dinner anyway so we understand why. You could find yourself waiting a while for food and/or for the check, but that's just "Island Time" in general.
DOMINICAN FOOD AND DRINK
Food on Dominica was not bad, but certainly not "the reason" to visit the island. There are a lot of local roots like dasheen, etc. that are often boiled and ground or mashed as a starch side dish (or stewed with fish or meat), as well as varieties of both sweet and starchy plantains, collectively referred to as "provisions". To the coddled U.S. palate the food might be somewhat uninspired or unrefined sometimes - for example orders of fish - good fresh slabs of mahi-mahi - were substantial, but a bit overgrilled and often 'steak cuts' right thru the fish complete with spine and rib bones intact. If like my wife you have a diner that prefers deboned fish, you might want to take care. Chicken was prevalent, as was (strangely to us, since we never saw a pig) bacon. But we never were at the slightest risk of going hungry. There were a few restaurants in Roseau we really liked, like The Garage (which was perhaps the most Westernized/modernized in terms of having a computerized ordering system, laminated menus, coherent decor and theme, and promotional bar events for Carib beer etc. while we were there, but still served a lot of local Dominican dishes like "salt fish and fig water"). Perky's Pizza gave us a back-to-home break in the middle of our trip, with a few not as normal to us ingredients on the pizza (corn?) that was actually pretty good. La Robe Creole, the well-reviewed, higher end Creole restaurant, was nice inside and okay, I guess, but not in my opinion living up to the hype or worth the price premium. We didn't get to eat at La Maissone due to some sort of official private event the day we tried. We ate most lunches at the hotel (or just snacked on something light) but did try a few of the little snackettes and found them to be good, especially Cindy's which is an unsigned, brightly colored shack in the COURTS building lot, just across the street from the Texaco near the Anchorage/Evergreen/CC sites. That's where one of our DM's took us for lunch and it actually was one of the best experiences in terms of price to taste and quantity (we ordered 'small' servings of rice and lentils with chicken and found it quite filled a reasonable-sized styrofoam to-go container...more than enough for lunch, for about EC$7 per person). Although the hotel offered a full breakfast 'buffet' when it was more full, when emptier we just ordered what we wanted for the package included breakfasts. Eggs and the like were available but most mornings I found myself ordering the "hot belly" which was a bowl of cream of wheat (or oatmeal) with coconut milk, and was quite filling and tasty.
There are bakeries all over - Sukies seeming to be the most populous. All the bread on the island, from that used for toast at breakfast to the breads and rolls used for sandwiches, was excellent. Small pies with fish or meat were available as snacks, as well as pastry type breads stuffed with grated coconut and other concoctions, and it was all very inexpensive (like EC$1 - 1.50 for a good sized coconut roll that would be enough for a light breakfast).
The water is perfectly drinkable right out of the tap - in fact we bought bottles of water only our first day or so, and then kept the plastic bottles for refilling from our sink at the hotel and put them in the fridge overnight to have cold water for the next day's post-dive rehydration. Dominica has so much topology (the primary mountains basically make a lot of the local weather) it has lots of rivers, so its kind of unlike the low-scrub, "desert" Caribbean islands built more on ancient reef limestones where it can be a bit less available. We had no occurrance of 'travellers trots' from either of us from drinking the water or eating fresh fruit, and I'm usually somewhat susceptible to that even with trips in the U.S. just from eating out too much and schedule disruption. Local juices were also superb and plentiful...every morning (and after every dive on the boat) there was a choice of at least two in-season juices like grapefruit, soursop, passionfruit, guava, etc. Some were clearly pureed whole fruit - the guava in particular was practically a shake in thickness. (We were there a little early in the year for mango season, but did see more than a few people eating them as we passed on the road.)
Alcohol wise, the local beer, Kubuli, is extremely good (award winning, as well) and made with local spring water. Small bottles go down fast, but it's inexpensive, served nicely cold (sorry to you Brits out there, but cold beer is my preference when in the islands) and can be had anywhere. We didn't even drink Carib at the Carib promo night at The Garage when it would've gotten us entries into a drawing for promo stuff (hats, drinking bottles, the usual markety stuff). The most recommended rum seemed to be the Soca. Don't buy into the whole Boi Bande myth, even the locals laugh at that. Rum punches at most places were strong and quite good, with the rum well enough hidden (not harsh at all) they could blindside you. Our overland tour guide served us a 'rum punch' that I believe was more of just a cask rum spiced with cinnamon and cane sugar and who knows what else...it was clearly 'home made', smooth, and had a wicked right hook. We heard tell of "Mountain Dew" and other types of moonshine but didn't get off the beaten trail enough to really encounter it personally. More reason to come back, I guess.
