Day 101 - Roseau

We woke up in some sort of paradise once again.  Just outside the ship was a mountainous island nation covered with lush greens.  We rushed out and after a little apprehension hired a taxi for the day.  The island is small, about 12 miles by 24 miles, but getting anywhere takes a long time because the roads to the various tourist destinations go far up the mountains and are not connected.  The road was winding and filled with spectacular views of steep cliffs and magnificent mountains, the tallest of which sits at about 4,700 m.  Our driver was constantly pointing out plants used for herbal remedies, teas, baths, or other natural life enhancements.  He stopped sometimes to pick some fragrant leaves for us, like lemongrass.  We drove past numerous crops, including coffee, banana, plantain, guava, papaya, pineapple, breadfruit, and breadnut.

We made it at last to our first stop: Emerald Pool.  We had to walk a short trail down into a small cove where we found the pool, fed by a waterfall emerging from the greenery above.  The water was unexpectedly cold, but well worth it.  We waded in and swam until we got used to the temperature and took our time hanging out under and around the waterfall.  There were plenty of lizards around the pool to keep us entertained.

We eventually had to move on, and we drove back down the mountain and back up the mountain to Trafalgar Falls.  At the entrance, we met a policeman named Daniel who was instantly very friendly toward us.  He insisted on walking us down the easy pathway to the falls and took many photos of us.  At the viewing platform, we could see a giant cliff covered by greenery in front of us and two waterfalls coming out of its face.  Daniel took many photos here.  Then he coaxed us to go farther, down to the waterfalls.  We followed.  We climbed down a narrow mud pathway and made it down to the waterfall’s stream.  We couldn’t really reach it because the water level was lower than usual, so we kept climbing huge, slippery boulders to get closer.  This is where I discovered that my new sneakers had zero traction.  Daniel in his rugged boots with sturdy rubber soles helped us with our balance.  He also took many more photos, sometimes letting us wear his police hat.

We reached an area where we could dip a toe in a tiny, shallow stream, then decided we had had enough and it was time to turn back.  This entailed again climbing huge, slippery boulders.  Once out of the rocky area, we stopped at a small pool that was muddy and misty.  Daniel convinced us to swim in it, so we undressed and waded into the hot sulfur spring.  We were hot enough after climbing over boulders, but somehow the hot spring was still refreshing.  Plenty more photos here.  Finally, Daniel was called away and our consciences caught up with us, and we returned to our driver, who was busy listening to music on his phone back in the parking lot.

  

Before our day was up, we visited the Botanical Gardens.  The gardens were not set up like conventional botanical gardens.  Rather than a formal enclosure, it was just an open space with native plants growing in it.  We found water lilies and giant palms, along with a peculiar tree with rope-like structures hanging down from its limbs that we used as swings.  We also found a tree covered in coconut-like fruit that we broke open by throwing it against a rock.  When we did this, our driver came over and scolded us.  These were called cannonballs, and when cracked open and left in the sun, for example in the yard of a neighbor you didn’t like, they would stink up the whole place.  We promptly left.  We finished the day off at a vista overlooking our docked ship before returning for dinner.

Back on board our worlds were turned upside down.  There was an announcement to meet in the Union, and I was surprised to see the auditorium packed.  It was the most horrendous site I had ever seen: people crying convulsively, holding each other.  After several minutes of silence except for the crying, Dean John finally announced that a girl was in a boating accident and died on the way to the hospital.  It was easy to spot the students that were on the trip with her.  I didn’t know her, even though she lived just across the hall from me.  Nothing could describe the disbelief that such a tragedy could happen on our last night in port, less than one week from debarkation.  One by one we filed out in silence from the Union to the dining rooms, forgetting all about going out to dinner.  The ship food was better than usual, and the waiters more unresponsive.  The only words of wisdom we could come up with were “What now?”

Getting anywhere on the ship took ten times longer, delays coming from hugging and comforting everyone you ran into.  When being on the ship became totally unbearable, we set off to find wi-fi to contact our families, despite the deans’ advice that we stay onboard.  We found a bar just across the street from the ship that turned off its music on request of one of our professors; students and faculty filled up the place for the rest of the night.