Why is Dominica called the Nature Isle ?

Each Caribbean destination is blessed but some more than others and Dominica is perhaps the most blessed for nature. 60% of Dominica is covered by rainforrest. It is covered with spikes reaching to the clouds. Perhaps Dominica has been ignored as it is not blessed with beaches and this has kept the traditional resorts and vacationers away. What they don't know is benefiting the hiker right ! The adventure tourist in you should visit and get an alternative vacation. It's hard to consider an island without beaches in the Caribbean. The volcanic nature of the island has perhaps caused the underwater world to be just as jaw dropping with caves and walls and topography to delight many a diver.

Relatively Undiscovered

The other factor that is holding the visitors back perhaps is the need to arrive via boat or small plane as the two airports cannot land big international flights. Melville Hall Airfield north west is more busy than Canefield in the south west.

Ferries arrive at Roseu and you may just be stayingin the Castle comfort area then a taxi is a cheap way to get your pack off.

When to visit Dominica ?

Be careful to visit in the dry part of the year from January to June - this doesnt really apply too much to the other islands but here 'rain da cum'.

Shipwreck Portsmouth Dominica

There are some very interesting reasons to pass by Carriacou if you get to the main island and nation of Grenada. It has some amazing beaches but you should try to get some street party action which is very good and it really feels like a different place than Grenada.

Before we get to that lets thank Lloyd for his superb Carriacou images from flickr >>

The Carriacou Carnival - this year starting very soon the 25th Jan to feb 17th sees verses of Shakespeare recited along with more regular carnival type fun. There are any events organised over this period. Read more >>

The Carriacou Regatta and Big Drum Dance - read more >> Carriacou has held onto pre christian spirituality more than perhaps anywhere else in the Caribbean and the Big Drum Dance is perhaps the best example of this when those passed away talk to their descendants. This is the culmination of the Regatta time in August.

I came across this treasure trove of diving photos from bonaire. I simply like blogs that are very real and so am taking the time to share the link.

Here it is Bonaire Photos

A very interesting dive site indeed and well filmed so not boring to watch.

Just a nice way to view the Bahamas and Bimini - if your in any doubt what it might be like then spoiler alert - DONT WATCH THIS NOW !

Caribbean Video Production Services are available now with wonderful GPS controlled Quads at a fraction of the cost of traditional helicopter. The art that is photography is still a requirement so don't think you can just do it yourself. It's cheap enough anyway to get some real unique footage for you're Caribbean Interest.

I still haven't been through the whole of this video as its an hour - but you will get a very good idea of Barbados before you go. It kind of takes away some of the adventure of travel doesn't it this internet tool. So you could just turn off your computer and go drink a rum and book a flight to Barbados and let the adventure come to you...

Aqua Marine Silver provides hand made jewllery in silver for the marine lover. Check out sea horses dolphins to less obvious octopus items for example on their website.
http://aquamarinesilver.co.uk

Photos thanks to AQUILASTEVE

Bonaire is primed as a fantastic vacation destination by its proximity to the equator. exactly 12 degrees north or the equator gives a year round average of just over 80 F. It does get rainy days in the ‘rainy season’ Oct to Jan. The showers are not torrential normally adding up to 20 inches per year. October sees the most cloud cover at 50% marking the start of the rainy season when you could get some light showers breaking up the heat. There’s a pretty consistent easterly 12 not wind that blows.

Ok great so it’s good for most any sport except climbing with a highest point of just 780 feet. Bonaire is most known for its reefs surrounding the island. Scuba divers flock here to take advantage. It's particularly good for diving because the reef is close by lending itself to be shore dive capital of the world but its the clarity of the water you will be impressed by. Being a dry island there is little runnoff as well. The conditions are set for fantastic diving. You can fill your tanks in a drive through - the only place in the world. Drive to any place marked by a yellow rock and you have a shore dive. So also you expect snorkelling and kayaking to be popular as reefs knock the surf down.

Other top activities in Bonaire include

Windsurfing, kitesurfing, hiking 
Horseriding

Bonaire is one of those places that for whatever reason has remained unspoilt. It has the typical unhurried pace and is backpacker friendly as much as support the luxury flashpackers alike.

It is possible for the younger backpacker to walk to the factory through some interesting surburbia to get to the Rum Factory - I call it the factory as the rum is distilled mostly at another plant - however you see all the equipment that gets the process from Sugar Cane Molases to the bottle.

It is a fun thing to do isn't too long and is a great way to meet fellow visitors to Barbados. The guides do a great job in telling you the story of not only how rum is produced but its the story of how rum really came to be as this island is where that happened. So yes you learn how rum was invented on the island of Barbados.

One cool thing that you can do while in Barbados is check out Needhams Point. It is located just behind the hilton Resort Hotel and is at the souther point of Carlisle Bay.

You might consider a walk from Bridgetown down the beach stop for lunch at a beachside bar in Carlisle Bay and continue down towards the hilton. Going away from the water you get to some cool places you can spend some time reviewing. The garrison area here is where you have the horse racing track, and some other government buildings and landmarks. I chose not to visit as I was pushed for time and wanted to desperately stay in the sun. So I elected to find Charles Fort at Needhams Point.

Walk over to the hilton hotel and keep going or ask. You will quickly find cannons and great views. Some of the cannons long fell into the sea and plastic ones help with the illusion somewhat. But its a pleasant area and probably very much so at night. Maybe combine this with a restaurant stop in the hilton hotel.

Anyway I wanted to share this free cool attraction with you guys. Please consider to share it on your facebook and twitter pages etc...

Hurricane Gonzalo

One island hit bad is St Maarten reports Sonja Van der Drift "This is where St Maarten shines, unity and a community that steps in to help others." she says reporting that the island spirit is alive and well. One life was lost.

Image thanks to Sailing Anarchy

Hurricanes DO hit around the Caribbean at this time of year and they tend to go away over the northern hemispheres winter months until the next season. It isn't the end of Hurricane Gonzalo and its heading towards the UK after hitting bermuda and already started in Hawai.

Here are some images of the damage - https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=hurricane+gonzalo+2014+st+martin&espv=2&biw=1440&bih=732&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=KftFVNvHH4yw7AaGqYAQ&ved=0CD4QsAQ

Caribbean – In a word!

The Caribbean offers some of the best scuba diving on the planet. And more so for the absolute beginner or newly certified (licensed).
The reasons for this are numerous.

Dive Culture:

If like me you learned to dive in the Caribbean then dived say in the Red Sea, you will notice the rush and hustle of diving in the red sea.  The caribbean runs on time for diving don’t get me wrong but its not the culture that is so busy that means you need to ‘rush to wait’ due to the sheer numbers of divers.

Easy Boat Rides:

Pick your island to take advantage of this one but on the whole the dive sites are not far away. Especially easy are the dive sites of Utila and Roatan or Bonaire with many dives from the shore.

Dive Resorts:

The Caribbean has Scuba Diver Resorts especially designed for ease and well that diver feeling. Here you will learn a lot and meet other divers. Visit Caribbean Diving Resorts to start your search.

I found this little video and the rum punch across the caribbean holds a spot dear in my heart. Often associated with a fond welcome into a Caribbean Resort by way of a welcome drink the rum punch is a special cocktail indeed. Barbados think they have the best rum going - they certainly have a great claim to be the inventors of the drink. Here is what they say about the rum punch.
Note that the people in the video are some of Barbados' finest citizens.

Chances are, if you’re visiting Barbados, one of the locals will recommend the Oistins Fish Fry to you. Located in, of course, Oistins, in the parish of Christ Church, is a quaint little fish market coupled with a multitude of food service stalls, all serving you the freshest fish this side of the equator. The fish varies anywhere from Tuna and Marlin, to Swordfish and Barracuda. There is, from what I’ve come to discover, a lesser known type of fish in the northern regions, such as America and the UK, which the locals refer to as ‘Dolphin’. Rest assured, this is not the mammalian kind, but rather a tropical fish known as Mahi Mahi.

Ok, so you’re on your way to Oistins by now and you’re wondering, “Where do we eat?”

If you’ve tried asking anyone where to go, I’m willing to bet my last dollar that they told you to go to Uncle George. Which, no doubt, is quality fish and a tartar sauce you’re going to be tempted to dip even your chips and salad in. However, rather than go to Uncle George’s and stand in a line longer than a department store’s on Black Friday. You’ll be delighted to know a little known fact that the food is actually good everywhere. Well, I myself haven’t been to every stall, so perhaps take what I just said with a grain of salt, but what I’m trying to say is that my experience in Oistins, with regard to food, has been generally good whether I eat at George’s or not.

This particular night, prior to this post, I ate at Sea Water Front and enjoyed the Marlin. For $25 BBD, about $12.50 US, I received two sizeable (In my opinion) steaks of fish, macaroni pie with salad, and coleslaw and if you’re looking for a strong drink or two then this particular stall serves anywhere from Absolut to Johnnie Walker, sold by the bottle in varying sizes, but it should be said that a majority of the stalls do the same.

There are some other islands in the Caribbean but perhaps the best one to learn to surf on is Barbados.

You have some really easy spots to learn and you probably will be able to stand up on the first lesson. Freights bay if the swell is good enough produces a nice clean left hand wave that is very gentle on the debutant.

If you want to see how good Barbados surfing gets then here is Soup Bowl on a good day

At the moment I dont know what white balance is exactly. But I do know it is important and helps make your shots look great. The good news is that you can alter it later. Shoot in raw and then expect to do this or manually set it with a white slate or diving tank as the 'test area' at differing depths.

here are some links from people that know more than me 

http://www.uwphotographyguide.com/underwater-photography-ambient-light-manual-white-balance

http://photoblogstop.com/photoshop/accurate-white-balance-adjustments-in-photoshop

I met a nice guy from Brazil who was taking a weeks break from Sao Paulo (its just 5.5hrs flight and 1 hr time difference). We both were asking the driver about the stop for crane beach in barbados. The beach is in th e lower right of the island and to get there you need to take the bus marked something castle . It was a lot of fun playing in the waves bodysurfing a local brought us pina colladas he said he was raheem sterlings cousin.

Editors note : the bus you need to catch is the Sam Lords Castle one and isnt as frequent as the regular services but you shouldnt wait more than 40 minutes on a  bad day. more info on Sam's castle here - http://www.barbados.org/samlords.htm#.VCcsryl4HZc

Will fill out some detail and post the links to the products used here.

And here are the first results after a couple of tanks in Carlisle Bay I quickly edited the best of the footage together including some slightly pixelated zoom shots.
The GoPro can handle a bit of that but it isnt going to be a MACRO shooter at all.
I also notice that its very inconsistent, this could be due to my use and non use of the light.

I am not quite sure what duration I am going to take but am leaning to a week to 10 days and then taking another break to get my full 2 weeks later in the year. My reasoning is that I am travelling alone and it is a risk to fall into a dead resort spending a lot of money and it being quite boring apart from the 2 key activities I am going to base my trip around.

Barbados Resorts on this site

Surfing This is mostly going to happen on the south and east coasts I understand.

Scuba Diving
Basing myself in the west is going to be key to getting to the dive sites fast as the shops are here to be confirmed. But just how quite is the west ?

So How Did It Go ?

I didn't need to worry about being in a dead place for 2 weeks. In the month of September though it wasn't high season and after the school holidays it was nicely busy. They were getting ready for a busier period as the northern parts start to chill on down to the minus levels.
I have to say if something spoilt the holiday it was not the fault of Barbados. I had been working extended hours and this had given me a chronic back problem that did start to get better as I stopped sitting for long periods and started exercising again. The first week though was painful and it did affect what I was doing. The first week I spent here in the Oceans 2 Resort - you can read my review there as well. I wish I had spent a bit more time chilling by the pool and the beach instead of chasing scuba diving. The diving did not go smoothly. First two dives were good but a little short, this was ok this time round. I got a pickup from the hotel which was cool as planned.I also got some diving video shot and testing my gopro rig and light setup. BUT I have noticed it takes me a while to get back into my diving after not having dived for a good while (almost a year) and my equipment is also complaining that it isn't doing enough either. My regs are leaking (minor) on many tanks now at the first stage and they are now retired after this trip but well done to the scuba pro mark 1 ! Oh yes my go pro leaked in the bucket on the boat which was salt water not fresh - why would you use a bucket with salt water on the boat, they say to rinse masks, please make any salt water buckets clear in future dive boats ! It leaked I think because I used foil to pack out the extra space in the housing as I forgot the lcd backpack. My mask strap broke too but due to my nose being uncomfortable in this mask I shall be getting a new mask too. I don't just have a dive shop I can try on masks though. The scuba diving was also interrupted by a cold giving me a real problem to equalize my sinus spaces. It was just everything was going wrong and lack of use certainly key here.
The second week I went to zeds surfing adventures in inch marlow to try and recapture some past experience. This week was a more enjoyable one for me surfing through pain caused by a fresh rib injury. Just paddling out it popped and I was not the only one to get this injury. Surfing is hard on the body if you are doing it daily.

When it comes to navigating the Caribbean and exploring everything that the numerous islands have to offer, very few people may actually consider taking in the sights by car – but why not? Getting behind the wheel can be a liberating experience, allowing drivers to see everything at their own pace while really getting into the heart of the action. Traversing the Caribbean Islands by car can also enable tourists to feel a little more at home, giving them the freedom to choose where they go and when. Sound inviting? Then dive right in…

Image thanks to Devils Bridge Antigua

So much to see

With so much to see and do it’s essential for would-be road trippers to have an itinerary before setting off, or else they risk missing some of the most breathtaking sights. The Caribbean comprises more than 7,000 islands, each with their own amazing quirks: unsure where to start? We’ll try and keep it brief…