Question 1

Roseau on Your Own

Accepted Answer

Roseau's old center, its museum and the botanic gardens can all be done on foot from the downtown pier. For one short ride, take a taxi or bus south to snorkel at Champagne, then come back early, because the roads are slow. The old center: Start at the Old Market Plaza, where the crooked streets of the French period begin, and walk the French Quarter for its wooden houses with balconies. King George V Street has much of the French-era building. Museum and cathedral: The Dominica Museum is on the bayfront in a building of 1810, and the Roman Catholic cathedral, consecrated in its present form in 1916, stands just to the northeast. The gardens and the view: The botanic gardens lie at the foot of Morne Bruce. Jack's Walk, a steep trail built in the 1880s, climbs from the gardens to the top of Morne Bruce, with views over the city. One ride: Champagne, on the coast south of Roseau, is a snorkeling spot where volcanic vents send up streams of bubbles. You reach it by taxi or bus and a short walk down from the road. Saturday market: On Saturday mornings the market near the mouth of the Roseau River sells fruit, fish and spices. Getting back on time: All-aboard is usually about 30 minutes before sailing, and your ship posts the exact time. A ship will not wait for passengers touring on their own, and island roads are slow and winding. Watch the clock: Dominica keeps Atlantic Standard Time all year, an hour ahead of US Eastern time from November to March, so check whether your ship is keeping local time.

Question 2

Getting Around Dominica

Accepted Answer

Minibuses leave Roseau for most of the island and are cheap, but their destinations are not usually posted on the front, so ask locals which stop serves the town you want. Taxis are more comfortable and can be reasonable when two or more people share the fare. Dominica drives on the left. The island is small, but its tight mountain roads make journeys slower than the distances suggest. Buses and taxis run much less on Sundays, so arrange transport in advance for a Sunday call. Agree a taxi fare before you set off.

Question 3

Food & Dining

Accepted Answer

Dominican cooking is Caribbean Creole, built on local produce and herbs with Kalinago, African, French and English roots. The national dish is callaloo, a soup of leafy greens and coconut milk, sometimes with salted meat or seafood. Green fig and saltfish is green banana with salt cod, onions, peppers and garlic. Bake and saltfish, fried dough with salt cod, is a breakfast favorite. Fish broth, goat water and pelau are other local dishes, and roadside stands sell fried chicken and tasty bakes, a fried dough. Kubuli is the local beer, and fresh juice, made from whatever fruit is in season, is popular.

Question 4

Culture & History

Accepted Answer

Dominica's culture is Creole, shaped by French and British rule and by the Kalinago, the island's first people, who still live on its east coast. The French influence shows in Roseau's crooked streets and architecture, and the British in its town houses, public buildings and street names. The Kalinago Territory is a 3,700-acre district on the east coast. Dominica officially changed the name Carib to Kalinago in 2015. The Kalinago called the island Wai'tu kubuli, which means "tall is her body". Roseau was built on the site of a Kalinago village called Sairi, and its name comes from the French for the river reeds that grew along its banks. Creole in the Park, a four-day music festival in the botanic gardens, is held in the last week of October as part of the World Creole Music Festival and Independence celebrations. Independence Day is 3 November.

Question 5

The Kalinago, Colonialism, and Independence

Accepted Answer

Dominica was the last Caribbean island colonized by Europeans, because of fierce Kalinago resistance. France and Britain then fought over it for more than a century before independence came in 1978. The first peoples: Arawak peoples settled first, and the Kalinago, who arrived around the 14th century, displaced them. A Sunday sighting, 1493: Columbus named the island for the day he sighted it, a Sunday, on 3 November 1493. Spain never settled it. Neutral ground: In 1660 France and England agreed to leave Dominica to the Kalinago, but French woodcutters from Martinique and Guadeloupe set up permanent settlements from 1690, bringing the first enslaved Africans. French and British rule: Dominica came under French rule in the early 1700s. British forces captured it in 1761, and it was ceded to Britain in 1763. Forts and raids: The British built Fort Young in Roseau in 1770. France took the island back in 1778 and returned it when the war ended, and on 22 February 1805 a French raid burned much of Roseau. Emancipation, 1834: Slavery was abolished in 1834, and by 1838 Dominica was the only British West Indian colony with a legislature controlled by Black members in the 19th century. Independence, 1978: Dominica became independent on 3 November 1978. In 1980 Eugenia Charles became prime minister, the first woman to lead a Caribbean government. Hurricanes: Hurricane David in August 1979 killed 42 people and destroyed or badly damaged three-quarters of homes. Hurricane Maria, a Category 5 storm, struck on the night of 18 September 2017 and devastated the whole island. To learn more ashore: The Dominica Museum, on Dame Mary Eugenia Charles Boulevard on the bayfront in front of the Old Market, covers the island's geology, archaeology and history, with a replica Kalinago hut and Arawak pottery and tools.

Question 6

Traveling with Family

Accepted Answer

With children, keep the Dominica day close to Roseau: the botanic gardens and the snorkeling at Champagne are both short trips. The island's long hikes, such as the one to the Boiling Lake, take most of a day and are not for a port call. Younger children: In the botanic gardens, a huge baobab tree that fell in Hurricane David in 1979 still lies on the school bus it crushed. Look for lizards found only on Dominica and three kinds of hummingbird. School age: At Champagne, bubbles from volcanic vents rise through the clear water around snorkelers. The beach is rocky, so bring water shoes. Teenagers: Scotts Head, at the island's southwest tip, is the only tied island in the Caribbean, a headland joined to the shore where the Caribbean Sea meets the Atlantic, with an old battery and a small lighthouse at the top. Not on a port day: The Boiling Lake hike is a round trip of about 12 miles and some eight hours, on steep, often wet trails, so save it for a longer stay.

Question 7

Beaches

Accepted Answer

Dominica is not a white-sand island: its beaches are mostly black volcanic sand or stones, and the draw is what lies offshore. The usual spots near Roseau are Champagne, for its bubbling volcanic vents, and the marine reserve at Scotts Head. Champagne Beach is south of Roseau. The shore is rocky with patches of black sand, and the water is clear. Soufrière Bay, overlooked by the fishing village of Scotts Head, is protected as the Soufrière Scotts Head Marine Reserve and is popular for snorkeling and diving. Wear water shoes on stony beaches, and bring your own snorkel gear if you can.

Roseau, Dominica

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