This morning we grabbed some breakfast and headed off the ship about 820am to meet our tour group and guides for the day. We had a few things planned, snorkeling at Champagne reef being the first, followed by a few scenic stops, then Titou gorge, and Trafalgar Falls and the hot springs. We have quite a day planned
Our directions from Bumpiing tours were excellent, and we located them very quickly. We then hung around for about a half hour waiting for the rest of the tour people to show up, and then met our guide Nathan, who preferred to be called Floorboard (as in pedal to the metal floorboard) and our driver Ozzy. They both did a great job and provided a lot of information while we were driving around.
First stop was Champagne Reef, so named because of the bubbling gas (in this case, sulfur dioxide) that can creep up from the rock formations. While the weather wasn't the best for underwater pictures, it was still clear enough to see quite well.
You have to hike down to the shoreline, which is all very rocky (thank goodness for our water sandals!) and then get into the water from the rocky shore, while putting on snorkel gear and fins. Let's just be kind and say it was a giant cluster. There were easily 80 people trying to get into the water at the same time, and most of them had little to no snorkeling experience, so weren't waiting until then were in the water to put on the fins.....which are hard enough to walk in on a flat surface, and a friggin' disaster on these rocks. Wow. Anyway, we managed to get into the water quickly off to one side, and then snorkeled around until the rest of our group was in (about 15 minutes) and then started to see some of the bubbles we had been told about.
I have no idea whose hand that is, but the bubbles were cool.
I have some neat video as well, but can't upload it from the slow wifi on the ship or in port, so will wait until we are home to try.
Some coral and sea urchins
A few fish
We then got out of the water and took off our gear and hiked back up to the entrance and our van. The next stop would be a viewpoint overlooking the city of Rouseau called Morne Bruce. That's a soccer stadium in the foreground on the right.
Anyone ever seen what a cashew nut looks like on the tree?
The fruit is the yellow part, and the cashew nut grows on the bottom. It's removed from the fruit, and you roast the green part, which splits open to reveal a cashew nut. Cool, eh?
Anyone know what this one is?
No? Coffee bean. Split open there are 2 beans, which get dried and roasted to make your favorite morning brew. The fruity part around the bean is sweet, so you can open the berry and suck on it like candy, then spit out the bean. The berries are about the size of a large grape.
Onto Titou gorge!
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