Dominica

 

This 290-square-mile (750 sq km) island is a must for eco-tourists, naturalists, botanists, divers and visitors seeking holiday adventure. Dominica is one of the few Caribbean islands that has truly changed very little since Columbus visited and named it 500 years ago.
Known as the NatureIsland of the Caribbean, Dominica has a unique micro-climate – lush rainforests, volcanic peaks, thundering waterfalls, cloud-covered hills, sulphur springs, pools of bubbling therapeutic mud and hot mineral streams. This tropical wonderland has 365 rivers, many of them providing excellent swimming. The exotic animals and plants that have been wiped out on nearby islands thrive here. Nature is spectacularly and uncontrollably rampant.
 
Capital:            Roseau
 
Currency:         Eastern Caribbean Dollar                        US$ widely accepted
 
Population:      75,000
 
Area:                290 square miles (751 square kilometres).
 
Language:       English; French-based Creole/Patois widely spoken
 
Economy:         Tourism, salt production.
 
Religion:          Mainly Roman Catholic but many Protestant denominations also represented.
 
Government:  Independent state within the British Commonwealth
 
Telephone Codes:       - 1 – 767
 
Airport Departure Tax: US$12.00
 
Entry requirements:     Australian and New Zealand passport holders do not require visas 
 
Banking Hours:            Banks are open Monday to Thursday, 8am-3pm, and 8am-5pm on Fridays.
 
Shopping Hours:          Shops open on weekdays from 8am-4pm with a break for lunch. Saturdays 8am-1pm.
 
Electricity:                    220 volts 
 
Time Zone:      14 hours behind Sydney (EST)
 
Weather:          Wintertime highs average in the mid-80sF, while summer days hover around 90F. It is cooler in the highlands and downright cold on mountaintops after you've been soaked by rain. The windward side of Dominica's central mountains is one of the rainiest places on earth. Up to 400 inches can fall in a single year, while the Caribbean side is relatively dry. Dry season is January to April, rainy season July to October.
 
Transportation:            The taxi fares from MelvilleAirport are set by the government. It pays to share a ride if you're heading to Roseau, even if it means waiting until everyone is through customs. Rental cars are available at Canefield near the international airport and in Roseau. Driving is on the lefthand side.
 L'Express Des Isles offers daily service aboard modern, high-speed catamarans from ports in Guadeloupe, Marie-Galante, Les Saintes, Martinique and St. Lucia.
 
History:            Normally, when one speaks of Columbus discovering an island, what is meant is that the ensuing settlement caused the extinction of an indigenous people. Not so on Dominica, where 3,000 Carib Indians live on in peace. The French and English did try to join the Caribs a number of times during the 17th century, but the Caribs would have nothing of it. In the early 1800s, the British established their authority over the leaf-shaped island; this time, the Caribs yielded. Exactly 485 years after Columbus named the island for the Sunday he spotted it in 1493, Dominica was granted independence.
 
 
When you hike through the island's forests, you are as close to nature as it is possible to get. Rich in ferns, wild orchids and giant, flowering trees, they are home to bats, iguanas, stick insects and blacksmith beetles so big they can be heard moving about on the forest floor. There are five species of snakes – none of them poisonous – and more than 160 bird species, including two endemic but endangered parrots, making Dominica a magnet for bird-watchers.
Some of the island’s most dramatic sights can be seen in the 17,000-acre (69sq km) MorneTroisPitonsNational Park, a designated World Natural Heritage Site. Here you’ll see mist-veiled peaks looming over the rainforest and marvel at the BoilingLake, where sulphurous springs sizzle and steam at up to 197F (92C).
Sealife off the island is equally awe-inspiring. There are excellent dive sites with peaks, sheer walls, valleys and hot springs on the seabed. In the winter breeding season – November to March – humpback, pilot whales and especially sperm whales and their calves can be seen in the deep, calm offshore waters. Whale-watching trips are very popular with visitors.
Another vital aspect of Dominica is that it is now the home of 3,000 surviving descendants of the Caribs, the pre-Columbian people who gave the Caribbean its name. Although the Carib language has perished, they have their own territory, where their baskets and wood-carvings are sold to visitors and some of their traditions are maintained, such as whaling.
The capital, Roseau, is the best base from which to journey into the interior. It’s a quiet town where, although English is the country’s official language, you’ll hear the French-based Creole patois spoken in the streets, markets, cafes and many rum shops. Night-life is usually calm and relaxed except, perhaps, when the island hosts the annual three-day World Creole Music Festival, attracting star singers and musicians from throughout the French-speaking Caribbean, the United States, Africa and Europe