The Eternal Question: Beach vs. Mountains??

Can you believe I still have more cruise days to share with you?  I hope I'm not drawing this out!! I want to remember these amazing details, though, so each day gets its post :)

So I've had this little debate raging, positively raging, in my mind for many years now.  If you could only pick one, only one to be your surroundings for the rest of life--would it be the mountains or the beach?  Seriously, I agonize about not having an answer to this.  How it perplexes me!  But thankfully we don't have to choose, not even on a Caribbean cruise.  You can have your beach AND the mountains, too.

Dominica (as Castella on St. Kitts pronounced it Dom i NI ca) is known more for its mountains than its beaches.  Its jungely, rain forested, cloud covered mountains.  A jungle with zero poisonous animals?  That is my favorite kind!  The Mr. and I both believe that a lot of the time, pictures are better than reality.  Like when you're looking at a picture of a beautiful lake, you're not thinking about the reality of mosquitoes or wind.  Or when you're looking at the picture of the beautiful beach, you're not thinking about the scorching sun or the sand in your sandwich. . .

But let me just burst that bubble and say, at least in April, Dominica was awesome.  The weather was beautiful.  Not too humid at all and it was so green, with leafy canopies towering over you that I felt like I'd stepped onto a different planet.   Our excursion took us to Trafalga Falls and Emerald Pool, both must see's.  Our short hike down to Emerald Pool I felt like I was in an Indian Jones movie--like natives were gonna pop up at any second from behind the trees (in my imagination the natives are friendly).  I was so in love with every single leaf on every single tree I wanted to take a picture of each and every one of them!

Swimming in Emerald Pool was a huge highlight for me.  Jill had said on St. Kitts that she had just lived out her dream of holding a monkey.  On Dominica, I lived out my dream of becoming a Emerald Fairy and swimming in one of nature's most marvelous of spots.  If only I'd had a water proof camera you'd see what the view looked like from the water.  Instead I soaked it up in my memory and will be going back to that memory repeatedly when the heat of the desert hits full force.

 People name their cars here.  Ours was Barbie.  We saw another called "Life Must Go On."

 

Leaves, I am in love with you!

After this morning packed with luxurious rain forest adventures, we still had time to visit Champagne Bay.  This was equally extraordinary and a highlight for my water loving husband.  After a short boardwalk stroll over a rock strewn beach we arrived at our snorkeling destination.  The champagne name refers to the fact that there are constant bubbles drifting up from the rocks out here due to some subterranean activity.  They looked even prettier than I imagined they would.  And the fish were blue and iridescent.  I am heady just thinking about it, no champagne needed!

Taken from the boardwalk as we walked to the snorkeling spot. . .

Can you see the iguana in this picture? 

      

How about in this one, taken a few seconds later on a neighboring tree?

 Rocks at Champagne Bay

 Somebody else's underwater pictures at Champagne Bay.  They don't do it justice. 

I think you'd need a video camera to capture the shimmering sparkle!

Whoa, that island wore me out!  I loved every second of it, even the white knuckle driving on twisty roads with crazy steep grades and insane drivers.  But if you think I'm out of stories, just wait until tomorrow's stop at Barbados;  I did promise you some celebrity sightings and jelly fish stings!