August 1, 2021 - Today is our first full day in Dominica. Tomorrow we head out for day one searching for sperm whales. I am excited about kicking things off and getting things started. I am filled with excitement for whatever nature has in store for us.
Today, three of our guests (Terry, Lisa, and Eldad) and I went on a land tour to visit some rivers, waterfalls, and hot springs in Dominica. All I can say is I am blown away by how beautiful Dominica is. Just wow. This island is so green, and it has so many mountains and rivers. You feel almost claustrophobic with how many and how close they all are. Dominica boasts that they have 365 rivers on the island, one for every day of the year.
Above are some beautiful sights on Dominica, including this wild shot… A hurricane caused this tree to fall in 1979 on top of this school bus, and it has been there ever since. FYI, no one was hurt when the tree fell.
Below is this Puerto Rican Crested Anole (new species for me). I saw this little beauty in the grass eating this earth worm. I was trying to find a good angle to photograph it, but the grass kept covering it up, I just could not find a good spot. I was creeping around slowly because I did not want to scare it off. Suddenly it jumped onto this rock in perfect sunlight and stayed there. It looked like it wanted a better view of this strange human crawling around in the grass, trying to figure out what I was doing, and if I was a threat. I couldn’t of asked for a better moment to capture of this anole. Felt lucky and privileged to have been able to snap this. A great start to a new adventure!
We had a lot of fun doing the tourist thing, the waterfalls were amazing, we enjoyed swimming in the rivers, getting mudded up at the hot springs. It is wicked because active volcanos naturally heat the water. It was just so damn cool.
While we were out sightseeing, I searched for wildlife, birds, replies, and mammals. There are quite a few endemic species on this island: some really beautiful lizards and birds. I am hoping to find as many as possible, especially the; Fantastic Least Gecko, Dominican Anole, Lesser Antillean Iguana, Imperial Amazon Parrot, Red-Necked Amazon Parrot, and some beautiful hummingbirds. I will be trying to find these species every chance I get.
Ok. it is late, but I needed to finish this report and I had to watch tonite’s Gold Cup Finals… The US vs. Mexico. The US wins. A fun way to finish up a nice day.
Tomorrow it begins!!!