Site Seeing & Snorkeling

Yesterday was wonderful.  I went on an incredible trip to Scott's Head and Champagne Bay and it couldn't have been a more perfect day for site seeing and snorkeling.  Scott's Head is at the Southern tip of Dominica where the Caribbean Sea meets the Atlantic Ocean.

We walked up a short trail to an amazing lookout.  Clare and I are both "semi-retired" teachers who are so lucky to be traveling instead of being a part of the back to school madness happening in America right now. 

The water is so clear you can easily see the reef below where we went snorkeling.  Cabrit's Dive shop also offers scuba diving here, and I can't wait to see this place from a different perspective.  There is a drop off where the reef descends over a hundred feet. 

From Scott's Head, we drove up to Champagne Bay where the snorkeling is seriously out of this world. Bubbles of air stream from underneath this beautiful reef.

The photos of Champagne Bay are courtesy of Kristen Beevers, as my underwater camera is on the outs right now; one too many trips underwater. 

Champagne Bay is truly the best place I've ever snorkeled.  The water was calm and warm, hundreds of different kinds of fish were swimming around, there are multiple reefs within swimming distance, and the champagne bubbles were just icing on the cake. 

It's Our Domiversary!

 
Exactly one year ago today, Chris and I started our adventure in Dominica. In the last year we've had many ups and downs, but this is what I've taken from it:

- I am tougher than I give myself credit for

- chances are, someone else knows what you are going through

- I can live without a Target or Starbucks and still be happy 

- it's okay to take a break and do nothing for a while
 

- happiness isn't about what you have but who you're with

- everything, somehow, works out in the end

Bye Bye Baby

The alarm sounded early this morning to wake up and help my husband get ready to fly from Dominica to America.  My body was really confused between "is it really late or really early?"  Don't you hate that feeling?

Flying back and forth to the states is not cheap, it averages us about $1000 round-trip per ticket.  This break, we decided that it was worth it for Chris to go back to take care of some legal business for us and to visit his mom because she's had a hard time since his dad passed away earlier this year.  

So, I've got the house to myself for the next 10 days.  I made this tour of our apartment a few weeks ago to help an incoming spouse decide if she wanted to move in here (she did!). 



I'm pretty sure that someday I will look back on our time in this little apartment fondly.  There is something to be said for the simplicity of life in a 500 square foot home: or at least that is what I keep telling myself. 

The Magicians by Lev Grossman

What if magic was real?  Follow Quentin as he gets invited to join an elite magical college.  Mature readers who loved Harry Potter and The Chronicles of Narnia will enjoy this new series where magic abounds both in our world and the land of Fillory.  The end of this first novel caught me by surprise, and I look forward to reading the next installment, The Magician King, which was released this August.

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

The Help was a great summer novel.  I've never been to "the south" and I felt like this book gave me a good idea of what it might have been like.  The characters were endearing and the "good wins over evil" theme made this book so lovely to read.  If you read The Help and want more, I recommend reading Cane River by Lalita Tademy.