The Country
In January 2018 I went on a sailing ship cruise through the Lesser Antilles in the Caribbean with Sail Windjammer on the S/V Mandalay. Dominica was one of the stops on this cruise. Dominica is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations. We arrived in Dominica after one of the longest sailing legs of the cruise from Saint Lucia. After the visit to Dominica we continued north to Terre-de-Haut, a French possession.
Columbus is said to have passed the island on Sunday, 3 November 1493, and the island's name is derived from the Latin word for "Sunday".
Dominica was settled by Spanish, then French, and then British settlers. It became a British colony in 1763. It became independent on 3 November 1978. Like Saint Kitts and Nevis, it provides economic citizenship to anybody. It costs $100,000. If you invest at least $200,000 in real estate, you pay $50,000 for the citizenship.
Dominica has been nicknamed the "Nature Isle of the Caribbean" for its natural environment. The island has lush mountainous rainforest, and is home to many rare plants, animals, and bird species.
Dominica was devastated by Hurricane David in August 1979. In the wake of David, a new orchid was found on the island. It has been called David's Orchid.
Dominica was again devastated by Hurricane Maria in September 2017. There was widespread damage when I visited the island in January. Dominica doesn't have much own resources, so they have a very difficult time recovering from the devastation. Just a few days after my visit, the first cruise ship since the hurricane was scheduled to port in Roseau. Tourism is the main income generator for Dominica, so everybody was eagerly awaiting the cruise ship.
I went on a land excursion on Dominica to visit some nature areas. Everything was severely affected by the hurricane. Most trees were stripped of their leaves and smaller branches, only the trunk and the largest branches remained. Since then leaves have regrown, but not smaller branches. This makes for strange looking trees.
See the Wikipedia page for Dominica.
Following are links to various pages with pictures:
All pictures are © Dr. Günther Eichhorn, unless otherwise noted.
The total number of pictures online on my website from Dominica is 51
Page last updated on Wed Apr 24 19:28:36 2024 (Mountain Standard Time)
Dominica - Devastated by Hurricane Maria on geichhorn.com
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