Cricket And Snorkeling

Instead of going to Woodford Hill this weekend to visit our comrades on the other side of the island, they visited us. Our primary goal for the weekend was to attend the Cricket match between Australia and the West Indies team in Roseau.  The stadium itself for the game houses 12,000 people, an extraordinary capacity for an island of 70,000. When we arrived we were shocked at the number of Australian flags and Aussie Aussie Aussie Oi Oi Oi chants we heard upon entering the arena. We had seen a few Australians on the island who were visiting for the game, but we did not expect them to turn out in such numbers!

 A View Of The Stadium

An Arena in the Mountains

We had never seen a Cricket game before, and had absolutely no idea how the game was played. This made the event all the more interesting, as we attempted to piece together the rules through observing the game. After the first few hours, we had a general grasp on the game, and with the help of a few natives, we held enough knowledge to be Cricket Captains ourselves (if our life depended on it). The game itself is rather interesting, and most definitely rather British in origin. In fact, it is the only sport I have ever seen that stops the whole game for a tea break at 3:00 in the afternoon... In addition to the tea break, there are breaks for breakfast and lunch throughout the game, as the game stretches from 10 in the morning until 5 oclock at night for up to 5 days until the match is finished! Because of the long duration of game play, we noticed that players take it upon themselves to stretch in ridiculous manners every few minutes to stay limber enough for the next player to bowl. Overall, the West Indies suffered a sad defeat, but delivered a game that I shall remember for a long time to come.

A Player Laying on His Stomach Mid-Game To Stretch

After the game, we dined at our favorite restaurant downtown, and caught one of the last buses back to Eggleston. The remainder of the night was spent playing Boggle and card games with many laughs stretching into the wee hours of the night. 

Today we decided to go Snorkeling at one of the more famous dive sites on the Island, Champagne Reef. The snorkeling was incredible, but we did not arrive to the site without a few transportation errors along the way. After we made it to Shirley's work where the bus was supposed to pick us up, we discovered that the bus had a faulty electric starter and would not start. After attempting to jump the bus's battery and even switch batteries with another car in the lot, we still could not get the bus's engine to turn over. So, in the spirit of exercise, everybody gathered to push the car up a semi-steep hill, and a then sent the bus rolling down the hill. This spun the flywheel enough times to get the engine operational, and put us on the road to the reef. Once we arrived and suited up with flippers and my go-pro, we took to the sea. The water was extremely clear and the colors were incredibly vivid. In fact, I was surprised at the number of fish we were able to see just a few feet into the sea. Once we continued a little further into the sea, we began to notice much more coral and delicate looking fish hiding beneath the rocks. Our guide pointed out some of the more tricky fish to spot, and pointed us in the direction of several squids and trumpet fish that were swimming in the waters below. Our journey took us to the drop off of the reef, where the shallow waters stop and the sea floor drops to 75 feet at the turn of a dime. Here, at the cusp of coral shore and open ocean, an incredible amount of striped fish danced beneath the waves. The scene looked identical to the one in Finding Nemo, where the reef ends and Nemo is picked up by over zealous divers.

Snorkling Selfie

A School of Fish Swarming a Coral Glob

 Phil and I Descending to the Deep

Phil Floating For a Picture

A Coral Bowl Growing Out of the Rock 

Our trip continued to more shallow waters, and to the littered remains of an old Spanish merchant ship that drifted too close to the rocks 300 odd years ago. The only visible remnants of the freighter were two barnacle infested cannons and an indistinguishable anchor that lay derelict upon the ocean floor. Regardless of their poor condition, it was fascinating to imagine the island during the days of old when Tall Ships traversed the Caribbean sea, with pirates and missionaries and and natives all living on the Jungle Island.

Cannon and Anchor

The cannon is the rectangular shape in the center left, the anchor is the large barnacle covered object at the top.

A Fish

A Camouflage Fish Swimming 

The last spot of our snorkeling quest was the volcanic area that gives the region it's name. Many tiny rows of bubbles trailed up from the shallow sea floor from volcanic vents in the tectonic plates below. These bubble pits lining the area justify the name of Champagne Reef, as the water appears to be as bubbly as a glass of 1873 Perrier-Jouët on New Years Eve. In addition to the bubbles, the water temperature raised substantially once we were surrounded by the bubble laden rocks, and felt almost as if we were in a luke-warm bathtub. The yellow coral smokestacks that emerged along the volcanic rock were breathtaking, and appeared as if they were pasted directly out of a National Geographic Catalog or a strange sci fi planet. 

Volcanic Bubbles From Sea Floor

Yellow Coral Smokestacks

Cute Pufferfish Hiding in Coral

We snorkeled until our legs were tired and our hands pruned, and proceeded out of the water to the seaside bar for a tall glass of fresh squeezed passion fruit juice. We noticed several iguanas watching us reminisce about our watery adventure in the trees above us, and decided it was a good time to catch a ride back to the city, find some dinner, and go back to our houses for a good nights sleep.

The Sea Side Bar

Earlier this week we were featured on one of the local radio stations that streams across the nation and on a few other local islands. We were interviewed on the work that we are doing, and what we hope to accomplish during our summer on the island. The experience took me back to my WLTL days of disk jockeying back in high school. As soon as I put on the headset and positioned the microphone in front of my face, I felt at home among the airwaves, and knew it would be a fun experience. After our hour long segment, we were told that they hoped to have us on again in a few weeks so we can give an update on our progress, and further explain to the people of Dominica how we hope to help their industries. We then left the studio, but not before sneaking onto the roof from the balcony to take a few pictures before the sun dipped beneath the horizon on the Caribbean Sea. Today we were approached by another radio host from a different station, who mentioned hoping to host us on his show sometime in the future. I hope that opportunity happens, as I hope to enjoy as much airtime as I can while in this country.

A View From Radio Station Balcony

A View From Radio Station Roof (Ocean in Distance)

We returned to our home tonight to discover that our running water is still out of commission from earlier this morning, and we do not have running water in our house still at this point. It is amazing how blessed we are to live in a country (excluding Detroit) where we need not worry if water will flow when we turn on the faucet. The simple tasks of drinking water and cooking are much more tedious when you have to go outside to the rain reservoir to fill up pots and pans. Going to the bathroom becomes a much more planned out process when you have to fill and carry gallons of water from the outside reservoir to the toilet prior to using the lavatory. Overall, it is a very humbling experience to realize how the simple things we take for granted in America are luxuries elsewhere. 

This was definitely a very fun weekend here in Eggleston, and I am excited for the upcoming days of work and play. We have met with several manufacturers of coconut cheese, and have also seen the factory where the coconut oil is produced on the other side of the island. Slowly but surely we are learning all we can from the bountiful coconuts that litter the island, and hopefully will be able to solidify our improvements to the process in the near future.We plan to continue our research here, and I will continue to keep you updated on my travels. Thank you again for following along! Let me know in the comments if you have any questions! You can post as Anonymous simply by clicking on the "comments" section at the bottom of this post!