Multi nationally vacinated!

We were on the staff bus at 9:30 with about 10 other staff who were all very jolly and polite, ranging from gardeners, builders to waitresses. We went to their nearest medical clinic which is a suburb of Roseau, closest to the hotel. There was a huge open sided tent with about 30 chairs and we all sat and waited with other locals. We stuck out like sore thumbs, everyone questioning in whispers what the white people were up to! All so polite, everyone is greeted as they arrive and lots of cheerful banter, even the bad ass dreadlocked Rasta’s were polite and engaging, playing with the bored tetchy toddlers who had been dragged along.

Waiting for our second vaccination.

We were thrilled they were happy to give us the jab even though our vaccination certificate from St Vincent said we were only due our second dose on 13 May (8 weeks later). Luckily in Dominica they are giving the second jab after 4 weeks. Both the St Vincent and Dominica AstraZeneca batches are the same as they all come free from Covax, which meant they were happy to administer a second dose for us. We gave a good tip, feeling rather bad that it is all being dispensed free. I think that basically anyone involved in tourism is being told they have to have the vaccination to work. Some are fairly reluctant to get it done, and sadly the Swiss yoga manager is not getting it. She wants to wait and see, she doesn’t see why she should have it yet as there are only 3 current cases in the country! What a terrible example she is setting.

The whole process took about an hour and a half and we were soon back on the bus with the staff joking about some of the characters at the clinic. It has meant though that we have cancelled our gruelling walk tomorrow as we thought we wouldn’t risk over exerting ourselves after the jab, having heard that some people have more side effects after the second jab. We’ve extended our stay another night so that we can get our PCR test done for St Barts which is the next island we hope to head to on Saturday. The main medical clinic in Roseau is the only place on the island where you can get a PCR done. It is meant to be a bit chaotic so we are advised to get there at opening time at 8am, which means leaving at 7am tomorrow morning.

After lunch Wee Fee met us to take us snorkelling at Champagne reef. This was about halfway back to Roseau, just the other side of the edge of the crater. Again this is a major tourist attraction but it doesn’t look like anyone has been there in ages. It was amazing snorkelling with Wee Fee as he has grown up in the water, he can spot things that would have passed us by. He found a couple of Octopus hiding behind clam shells in deep crevasses. A couple of moray eels and some really well camouflaged fish. We then got to the champagne bubbles, they are gases escaping from the volcano, quite amazing to be swimming through them, the water was certainly hotter in patches, but it didn’t seem to disturb the fish at all. This is a marine park and Wee Fee found a fish trap which he took out and was reporting it to the authorities. The coral was not in the greatest condition, it had a lot of algae on it. Apparently a lot of sea urchins were killed as they put off tourists, but they are the cleaners of the coral and are desperately needed back. They have had a very successful project eradicating Lion Fish, as they are good to eat, locals can catch them in the park and sell them.

Champagne beach.

A little Sargent Major desperately protecting his eggs!

Another fascinating day ending with a massage and relaxing yoga. Rowan had a rabbit dish tonight, but we have definitely exhausted the menu and look forward to having supper at Wee Fee’s bar in town tomorrow.