Dominica is very typical of many Caribbean locations in terms of the marine life on display. What sets it apart is the approachability of the fish life. Many of them, such as the Yellow Headed Jawfish and Garden Eels appeared to be much less concerned when approached by divers wielding cameras.

For those of you that know me, you may be wondering why I do not have any underwater images from Dominica in my Photo Gallery and only have a few on this article? The reason is simple, on the first two dives of the  vacation my camera housing suffered a small flood. Not wishing to risk destroying the camera itself, I decided to be patient and refrain from further use until the housing had been serviced. This situation was very difficult for me as I cannot remember the last time that I dived without a camera in my hand. My rescuer came in the form of a young lady called Janet who was having some difficulty in coming to terms with changing from using a Motormarine film camera and was in the process of switching over to new digital technology. I was able to offer her some help and advice in return for which she kindly allowed me to take the occasional shot with her new digital camera. Thereby enabling me to get my daily underwater photography 'fix'. Thanks Janet.

For those staying on a dive package, unlimited shore diving (24/7) is part of the deal with a free night boat dive thrown in for good measure. The procedure for shore diving was simple in the extreme, grab one of the many full tanks, chalk your name and time you were commencing your dive up on the board outside the storage room, insert the dive flag at the end of the jetty and giant stride in. A ladder was in place enabling you to get out at the end of your dive. As easy as that.

Normally house reefs are thought of as second rate and somewhere to dive to fill in the time but this is the exception to the rule and it does not matter whether you dive during the day or night this is a great dive. The site slopes gradually from 15 feet at the end of the jetty to 40 feet due east of the hotel and then drops off beyond the depths of recreational diving. The shallow area consisting of large rock boulders among which it is possible to find many different types of crustacean. As you proceed slightly deeper the scenery changes with numerous sea fans and other soft corals in evidence. Trumpetfish seemed to be in abundance along with Sharptail Eels and more Spotted and Goldentail Morays than I have ever seen anywhere else in the Caribbean. But for us the best part of the dive and the area with the richest pickings (if you swam very slowly and kept your eyes open) was in amongst the beds of Green Feather Alga and on the sand/mud slopes between 40 and 60 feet. Here, it was possible to find Batfish, Flying Gurnards (easily approachable), Garden Eels, Shovel Nosed Eels, Margintail Congers, Pike Blennys (blue and yellow throated), Long Legged Octopus, Lesser Electric Rays, Razorfish and Slender Filefish. No matter how many times that you dive this site you will always find something interesting.

Navigation on this site is also very easy with buoys helping to keep you aware of your position and the distance you have travelled. Because there is so much to see in the shallows on this house reef it also makes an excellent dive for novices.

Whales are regular visitors to the island of Dominica and therefore sightings are very common. Twice a week whale watching trips are run, departing from the jetty at 2:00pm and returning at approximately 6:00pm. The crew are very knowledgeable about the movements, social, feeding and mating habits of the whales and use a hydrophone to locate the pods.

During the afternoon that we took the trip we located a total of 9 Sperm whales in two groups, including two very young ones (the previous trip found 17 plus a school of approx 200 dolphins and the following week a group of False Killer Whales were spotted).

To see these huge magnificent mammals up close is a truely memorable experience and is one not to be missed if you visit Dominica.

At the end of the day evening meal was always something to look forward to, with guests swapping diving stories and discussing the days diving in the cosy fan and breeze cooled restaurant as we watched the sunset. The evening meal consisted of home-made soup followed by a choice of fresh fish or a meat dish for the main course accompanied by freshly prepared and cooked local vegetables. Desert was either locally produced ice cream in a number of different flavours or one of a number of different types of tart or pudding. For the two weeks of our stay we can honestly say that without exception we enjoyed every meal. I do not think that in 2 weeks, we had the same menu more than once. Once a week the restaurant is re-located outside onto the lawn where a BBQ is served consisting of ribs and/or chicken, pasta salad, coleslaw and flambe bananas to finish off.

As we were staying half board and the food was so great we did not feel the need to eat anywhere else but we are reliably informed that there are a number of excellent restaurants in Roseau. It is only a 5-10 minute ride to the Capital in one of the many local mini buses ($1.50 EC per person) that pass by outside the hotel. So if you do not wish to eat at the hotel it is eminently possible to pop into town for food.

Dominica is not called the Nature Island without good reason. The rain forest and associated hot climate ensure an ample supply of the two things that plantlife needs to flourish; warmth and rain. It is covered by luxuriant colourful plants, many of which we can only grow in a hothouse or inside here in the UK.

For those of you that are non-divers or are divers who occasionally like to come up for air, there are a vast number and variety of trips on offer. The fruit and vegetable market in Roseau on Saturday mornings is a great place to soak up some local colour and meet interesting characters. The Dominica Botanical Gardens and the Museum are also worth a quick look. During our mid vacation 'off gassing day' we embarked on a trip to the Indian River where we were leisurely rowed up the river by a very knowledgeable guide who pointed out numerous large Mud Crabs, Green Iguanas basking on tree limbs, Kingfishers hunting for food, Lizards searching for insects to eat and the smallest birds nest that I have ever seen which was that of a Hummingbird.

Having arrived safely back at our point of departure our waiting driver guide then whisked us off for the second part of our day which was a visit to the Cabritts National Park. Ruins of Fort Shirley, an 18th century British garisson constructed of volcanic stone. Iron cannons are scattered along trails. There were breathtaking views of Prince Rupert Bay where you can picnic, swim, snorkel or dive. The Park also had a newly constructed visitor center and museum giving details of life in the Fort during the days it was occupied. Our full day sightseeing was at an end and we returned back to the hotel for a welcome cocktail before dinner.

They say that all good things must come to end. The final days of our vacation seemed to fly by and so it was that we were finally saying our goodbyes to the new friends (both guests and hotel staff) that we had made during our stay. At times like these it is inevitable that statements such as 'We really do not want to leave' are made. Those words were about to come back to haunt us! For those of you that we said this to, this part of the report is for you.

As you will recall as we climbed into the taxi for our journey back to the airport it had just started to spot with rain (a regular afternoon occurence), but as we started to climb up and away from Roseau the rain increased steadily. By the time we had reached the outskirts of the Rain Forest what was a steady downpour had turned into a major rainstorm. Within minutes small rivers had turned into raging torrents. The road was awash with water and in places there was evidence of mudslides. Parts of the road even began to subside. At this point even the taxi driver started to make comments like 'I have not seen rain like this for a number of years' and 'When it gets like this they usually close the airport'. He was not wrong.

When we arrived at the Caribbean Star Check-in for our flight back to Antigua we were told that due to the bad weather the airport was closed. An hour later we were told by Caribbean Star that the flight to Antigua was cancelled altogether (due to the fact that the aircraft could not land in the poor visibility, low cloud and heavy rain) but that they could put us on a flight to Antigua (the aircraft was already at the airport) via a stop-off in St Lucia and Barbadoes (the opposite direction to Antigua). An hour later than stated the aircraft finally took off on our roundabout route to Antigua.

During the flight we enquired if it would be possible to check if we could meet our British Airways flight at Barbadoes (as it too had to divert into Barbadoes on its way to Antigua). Unfortunately by the time we arrived it had left to drop off passengers in Tabogo (apart from Antigua, Tabago was its final destination before returning back to the UK), so we carried onto Antigua in the hope of catching it there.

Luck was not on our side and when we finally arrived in Antigua the BA flight had long gone. By this time most of the airport was deserted, we collected our luggage and went in search of help. We need not have worried Caribbean Star once again came to the rescue. We explained the situation and within half an hour they had arranged and issued us with vouchers for a taxi to take us to a hotel and return us back to the airport in the morning. They gave us vouchers to cover the cost of the hotel including breakfast, lunch, diner and snacks. They also told us that they would call us in the morning and let us know what could be done to get us home.

The following images were all taken with a Subal housed Nikon F90x camera with 105mm F2.8D lens and AF/MF 105mm flat port before the flood. The strobe used was the Subtronic Alpha Pro Macro on an Ultralight arm.

Arrow crab on Azure Vase Sponge

Whip Coral Shrimp

Yellowhead Jawfish

Squat Shrimps

Arrow Blenny

Peacock Flounder

Coral Grouper

Dive Trip to Dominica, Castle Comfort Lodge - May 2004 (Part Three)