Monday, February 20 – St. Lucia

Sadly, not much to report today. I worked on a journal entry, did some laundry and took a walk into town to visit an ATM and pick up some groceries. And some hammock time!

St. Lucia Information

• Currency: Eastern Caribbean Dollar
• Language: English
• Traffic: Drive on the left
• Weather: Highs in the mid 80s, lows in mid 70s, moderate humidity
• Covid Entry Requirements: No vaccination or testing requirements for entry
• Mask Wearing: Observed very few people wearing masks
• Electrical Outlets: UK style
• Tap Water Drinkable?: Yes
• Timezone: 1 hour ahead of US Eastern

Tuesday, February 21 – St. Lucia

Sorry to say, but today’s report will closely follow yesterday’s! I spent a fair amount of time sorting out my Jamaica itinerary and accommodations (I’ll be splitting time between Kingston and Montego Bay). All I have left now for the rest of the trip is the Belize itinerary and associated bookings. It will be good when it is all finalized!

Otherwise, I went for a swim in the nearby harbor and spent some more time in the hammock!

Wednesday, February 22 – in transit from St. Lucia to Dominica

I’m taking the ferry today from Castries to Dominica, departing at 1pm. I’m looking forward to it, just sit back, relax and enjoy the scenery.

The cost of the ferry ride was 86 USD. In addition there was a St. Lucia departure tax of 12 USD that was paid at the ferry terminal (I think it’s usually included in the cost of the ticket when departing by plane). And I was NOT asked anything about a return or onward ticket by the ferry ticket agent! So, the lesson learned here is if you want to stay on a Caribbean island longer than legally allowed, travel there by ferry! You’re welcome!

There was an outside viewing area on the ferry, but it is small, with no seating and mainly obstructed views. I ended up taking a few pictures from my window seat.

The ferry made one stop on the way to Dominica, in Martinique. In the upper section where I was sitting, I’d say about half the seats were occupied.

We arrived at the dock in Martinique at 2:35pm. Probably 2/3 of the passengers disembarked here. However, a LOT of passengers boarded as well! That seemed odd to me, that so many tourists would want to visit Dominica. It was only later that I learned that following the Dominica stop, the ferry was traveling on to Guadalupe. Oh. (I’m a little slow…) We departed Martinique around 3:30pm.

Travel Note: You may be wondering why I didn’t stopover in Martinique? I’ve actually been there previously, 30+ years ago. It was while I was working for the dredging company. I stayed at a Club Med.

We were scheduled to arrive in the port town of Roseau, Dominica at 5:30pm. And we were in the harbor on time. However, it appeared there was another ferry there blocking our spot. We finally ended up docking at 7pm. Only about 20 of us exited here. There was only one (slow) immigration agent on duty, and I was near the back of the line. You get the picture… Oh, and no, he did NOT ask me about my onward or return travel!

Roseau is located in the southwest of the island. I chose an Airbnb that’s located in the northeast; a kind of remote area that looked like it would be a relaxing place to stay. Well, once again I failed to understand the logistics (and cost) of traveling between the two points. So I ended up with another one hour, 80 USD taxi ride! And unlike in St. Lucia, I need to make the return trip because I’m taking the ferry again (to Guadeloupe). I’m an idiot! The hubris of my “no itinerary” travel again rears its ugly head. And I’ve realized it’s only going to get worse, but I’ll save that story for another journal entry! I arrived at the Airbnb at about 9pm.

Thursday, February 23 – Dominica

I was pretty tired after my journey yesterday, but finally got motivated around noon to get out and explore the area. I’ll be heading north, to view more of the west (Atlantic) coast.

Airbnb Note: Back to my reference about the construction taking place on the Airbnb roof. The host told me about it when I arrived on Wednesday night, but said any work taking place during my stay would be “quiet”. Well, as I was around the apartment this morning there was a lot of pounding going on. And when I returned in the late afternoon it was more of the same. So I sent the host a message via the Airbnb website, voicing my frustration. To his credit, he made the decision to shutdown the work until I departed. I expressed my appreciation to him, but in my mind that was the right thing to do. It really shouldn’t have been taking place to begin with, or he should have made it clear at the time of the booking.

Travel Note: This is probably going to sound stupid, but I’m feeling a little burnt out at the moment. So I’m not really sure how much of Dominica I’ll be exploring. I can see spending most of my time just checking out things in the area around the Airbnb. I’ll finalize my Belize plans, do some reading, maybe start working on my taxes (fun!). We’ll see, I might become motivated to do some exploring in a few days? In the meantime, my posts might be a little boring in the short-term. Sorry.