GAPearl Goes Solo on the Splendor! 11/1/14 SJU-MIA Repo Cruise Review.

[ch27088]

Girl glad you back been checking everyday for your review. Still reading Jamman review glad I can start on yours too. This is so funny it's like we know you.

 

Bigmama9224: I agree with you...seems like we know GaPearl (Kim), and like you, I've been waiting on this review. I'm also still reading the Jamman's review as well. At home, all I need is a glass of wine, and the review, and I'm good!

[Lovetwocruz2009]

I am enjoying your review. I saw similar underwater statues while snorkeling at Chankanaab Park in Cozumel. There is one that resembles Jesus with praying hands. The sun light hit the underwater statue in a majestic way. It definately startled me. :)

[gapearl]

 

 

 

 

 

[gapearl]

Wednesday, November 5

Cruise Day 5- Dominica

 

Dominica first caught my attention a few years ago when Carnival still had it on the southern Caribbean itinerary from San Juan. Unfortunately I didn't have the opportunity to book a southern cruise before it was eliminated, so here was my chance to finally make it here.

 

 

This is right outside the ship where the tours meet and you can grab a taxi.

 

 

 

 

 

The oldest church on the island.

 

[gapearl]

The president's mansion.

 

 

 

My excursion pick up point was a short walk from the ship to the front of the Fort Young Hotel.

 

 

Me with a nice police officer.

 

 

 

[gapearl]

So far this cruise, I've done some pretty cool stuff but nothing too thrilling and I'm a thrill seeker. I knew Dominica was full of waterfalls and I wanted to pay a visit to them, but rappelling down them sounded like a much more fun way to do it. Extreme Dominica is the number one tour company on Trip Advisor and I booked their canyoning tour. At $160 it wasn't cheap, but I've never seen anything like this offered in the Caribbean. The only thing that can even come close to this was my Gros Piton hike in St. Lucia last year, and this was twice as extreme as that!

 

I excitedly booked my space back in September and received an email from owners Liz and Richard saying I was good to go. About a week before, I received another email saying I was the only one booked from the Splendor. I agreed to ask around to see if anyone else onboard might be interested in joining me, as it's best to take out more than one person on this expedition. Pretty much everyone already had something booked or weren't as crazy as I am. Hopefully there would be some last minute bookings from guests staying on the island, but there never were. I lucked out and had a private tour to myself!

 

The drive on the way to Extreme Dominica's office.

 

 

 

 

 

Richard is originally from the UK but has spent most of his adult life living in the islands. After picking me up from the ship at 9 am, he brought me to his office where I had to sign a waiver and met my second guide for the day, a young cutie pie named Berani. I changed out of my regular clothes and got outfitted in a wetsuit, helmet, life vest and a harness. I brought along an old pair of sneakers for this excursion so my good running shoes would not get ruined. Berani asked me several questions to make sure I was good to go- any medical issues, are you afraid of heights, can you swim, etc. My pinky toe was still hurting from when I hit it on the catamaran ladder in St. Croix, but I could push through it.

 

Edited November 18, 2014 by gapearl

[gapearl]

After taking care of business, I went outside for a quick training session on rappelling. I caught on very quickly on the first try and was pumped and ready to do this! :D

 

My awesome guides Richard and Berani.

 

 

This is what I would soon be doing out in the wild.

 

 

Even a princess can get rugged sometimes.

 

 

We had a roughly 15 minute drive on a very curvy, windy road, way up into the hills. It was kind of a scary ride. Trust me you don't want to look down. The ride was so beautiful though. Dominica appears to be one of the least commercialized islands I've ever been to. There's so much lush greenery here and the natural beauty constantly surrounds you. On the way up the hill, we stopped and picked up a local man who was probably waiting on the bus. The buses here, like most of the islands, are vans and not actual buses. Richard asked where he was headed and offered him a ride without a second thought. That really made me admire the sense of community here. Everyone helps each other out.

 

Finally we had made it to our starting point, where I was outfitted with the jacket part of my wetsuit. I was given one last and final chance to back out. Once you're in there, that's it. There are no exits and you have no choice but to go all the way through.

 

 

I'm in for another exciting vacation workout.

 

[gapearl]

My initiation into this excursion was immediate. There would be a total of four waterfalls that we would rappell down, and the first one was 60 feet down.

 

Trekking through the rainforest.

 

 

I had to get from the top of here to the bottom of way down there.

 

 

Every single step of the way, I had a guide in front and behind me. Berani went first and I watched him make the journey down with such ease.

 

 

When it was my turn, I had the ropes attached to me and I stepped to the edge of the cliff. Oh shoot (didn't really say shoot but something much more graphic). Here I was standing at the edge of a cliff with a rope and a harness thinking one wrong move and that's a wrap folks. I had Richard to reassure me that the rope would hold me. I ate a lot last night, just saying! :eek:

 

He promised me I'd be fine. Oh man thats a long way down! Once at the edge of the cliff, I had to lean back as Richard slightly lowered my rope. My legs were straight out in front and now it was up to me to do the work. I held the harness and rope in front of me with my left hand and my right hand was behind me with the other part of the rope. As I lowered my body, my legs would have to catch up and walk down. Then I'd lower my body back again, and walk down some more. Richard was guiding me on how much rope to use and when to take a step. I had to be very careful of how I went down as one wrong move could slam me into the hill or I could even end up upside down. It took about 2-3 minutes to make it down the first waterfall. What a thrill it was when I made it to the bottom!

 

Berani was cheering me on the entire way. Once I was almost at the bottom Berani asked if I wanted to be easily let down into the water or dropped. The drop was about 10 feet and I was ummm, nah man I'm good. He kept persuading me, promising me it would be fun. Oh what the heck, when will I be here again to do this. At the count of 3 he unhooked me and I had a quick free fall into the cool natural pool of water below.

 

I was let go from just a little be higher than where he is.

 

 

This excursion rocks!

 

 

[gapearl]

Here's a video for you.

 

 

We made our way further through more canyons, pools, over lots of slippery rocks. It was slightly uncomfortable a few times when we were climbing over rocks because of my toe, but I kept pushing.

 

Nature at it's absolute best.

 

 

 

 

[Chelleum]

Our waiters serenaded us with That's Amore. After dinner I went to the promenade to take some pictures at all the different backgrounds but I only got to one. They were tearing their equipment down earlier than I've seen on any other cruise. Since my photo shoot ended rather quickly I went to the Punchliner Comedy Club and caught the second half of the 10:45 pm show of Donnell Grey. Monicia joined me for the 11:45 pm show of Jim McCue. He was funny and gave a good show but didn't really tell any jokes, just interacted with the audience and picked on everyone. We were in the front row and were first to get picked on but it was all in good fun.

 

Lol! I was in the comedy club when he picked on you and Monica. Your right He was funny but he didn't really tell any jokes.

 

Chelli

 

 

 

 

 

Sent from my LGMS659 using Forums mobile app

[gapearl]

I had the chance to jump from here but chickened out. I'm regretting it now and wish I did.

 

 

That moment when you turn around and look at what's behind you.

 

 

More hiking.

 

 

Here we go again!

 

 

 

Another video here.

 

[Chelleum]

I stayed lost in Ponce! haha It's a really nice city and I hope more people might consider renting a car for a day trip. Did I meet you at any point? I met so many people I can't remember! lol

 

Kim this is Chelli from the group. No we never got to meet. I saw you a couple of.times on the ship but didn't get an chance to meet you.

 

 

Sent from my LGMS659 using Forums mobile app

Edited November 18, 2014 by Chelleum

[gapearl]

In addition to the waterfalls, we had to use the ropes to navigate these steep canyons.

 

 

 

Walking through water.

 

 

I've gotta get from way up here to way down there again!

 

 

Too much awesomeness happening at this moment.

 

 

Looking up, that's how far down I came.

 

[gapearl]

The picture overload continues.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[gapearl]

The last big one.

 

 

 

All I wanted to keep doing was just pause and take in my surroundings. I wonder what was God thinking when he made a place as beautiful as this.

 

 

This is the canyon's wedding chapel. Get married under the arch here. lol

 

 

One last video. Amazing!

 

 

Teresa, be sure to show this to your daughter. Does she still pose in pictures like this? lol

 

[MrsPhoenix91]

There are several different Martinique signs with different colors and backgrounds where you can take your picture. I must have taken three or four different ones. The man taking this for me was shocked a woman could travel by herself. Where's your family? At home. Where are your girlfriends? At work. Where's your husband or boyfriend? Don't have either. Well let me stop. Yes, please do that. :rolleyes:

 

Thank you for including such vibrant pictures! I am sure his questions were very irritating to you, yet that may be typical for Martinique's traditionally Catholic society. You handled it very well - just twirl on:D

[gapearl]

We made it through the canyon in about an hour or so. It went by very quickly because it was just the three of us. You can count on a longer time depending on how many people are canyoning with you. Richard told me Extreme Dominica can accommodate up to 25 people. Larger groups will have extra guides and you'll be split up.

 

We finally made it out of the canyon, but we weren't out of the woods yet. Literally. Now we had a 20 minute uphill hike through the rainforest. The Gros Piton hike flashed before my eyes. By the way you can read about the Gros Piton hike in my 2013 Valor review.

 

 

 

You hear those reports of people going to other countries and a bug will somehow get under their skin in places like this. I was praying that didn't happen.

 

 

 

 

Check out all the lemon trees on the left. There were some grapefruit trees out here too.

 

[MrsPhoenix91]

Que c'est beau!

[gapearl]

More hiking!

 

 

How do those people on Naked and Afraid do it? Living out here for 21 days with bugs crawling all in your biscuit. I'm not about that life. :o

 

 

I finally see an exit!

 

 

No, I don't think so.

 

 

[gapearl]

Richard said the good news was that we were done climbing over rocks and the hard part was over. The bad news was that it was a 45 minute walk back to the car. Oh dear, well let's get to it. A couple minutes later we were right back where we started and that was just a joke. haha

 

 

This was a one lane road. I was like how are they gonna make this work?

 

 

Somehow they did it.

 

 

On the way back to the office, we stopped at this little stand where there were a few handmade items for sale and I had a chance to take some great pictures.

 

 

 

[gapearl]

I was feeling pretty awesome right now, feeling like I could do anything.

 

 

 

This has got to be the best view of the island.

 

 

Me inside the gift stand.

 

 

Me with Berani and Richard. They were the perfect pair today!

 

[gapearl]

Once back at the office, I changed out of my wetsuit back into my clothes and we all went over to the Cocoa Cottage Guest House Richard and Liz own across the street.

 

I was served fresh lemonade and a homemade fruit cake. They also gave me samples of some of their chocolate.

 

 

Liz and Richard make and sell their own chocolate here.

 

 

Pictures from Cocoa Cottage. It's only 6 rooms and they rent for $125 a night.

 

 

 

 

 

While here, I met Liz and Richard's daughter who was visiting from Germany, as well as her mom that works in the office. Richard took me back to the ship around 1:30 pm. This was truly an unforgettable day. The only thing that could top the excitement of what I did today is skydiving, and that is definitely on my must do soon list. Any other thrill seekers booking Extreme Dominica on your next trip?

 

Again, thanks for continuing to follow along. Dominica part two will be coming later.

[vonvon]

I am enjoying your review. I saw similar underwater statues while snorkeling at Chankanaab Park in Cozumel. There is one that resembles Jesus with praying hands. The sun light hit the underwater statue in a majestic way. It definately startled me. :)

 

do you have a photo?

[Lovetwocruz2009]

do you have a photo?

 

I can check..but I don't want to hijak Ms. Pearl's thread. I'l post on the Cozumel port board instead. :p

[Name Of The Game]

Thanks but can you please edit out of your post the specific name? I keep my employer name quiet on these boards. Thanks. ;)

 

Sorry, I left the board and saw your post too late. :o