Champagne -- The Toast Of The Caribbean

I did 4 dives here in Dominica. The diving here is fantastic, some of the best diving in the Caribbean! The underwater topology here is unique, extremely varied and rich with sea life. I don't have any underwater pictures but I found this picture on a website.

The 1st dive was Scott's Head Bay (West Rim), in the crater of an extinct underwater volcano. Max depth 85', 51 min. Saw 2 Moray eels and a brown Sharp-tail eel (first time!). The 2nd dive was Champagne, probably the best dive and most famous dive site of Dominica. This is an underwater hot spring with thin ribbons of bubbles streaming up from numerous vents in the sea floor over a large area. The effect is really like you are swimming in a giant glass of champagne! The water gets suddenly very warm as you approach, and some of the vents are too hot to touch. On top of that, there is a wreck here of a ship from the early 1800s. Of course the wooden hull has long since rotted away, but a few artifacts are still visible, including a cannon and two links of a giant chain. I found this video of the Champagne area.

The 3rd dive was Carib's Leap/Sorcerer's Peak, so named for the sheer 200' cliff wall that rises straight out of the water. According to legend, unfaithful Carib wives were given a final farewell kiss on the top of the peak, then pushed off the edge into the sea. The peak was also the site where the Witch Doctors/Sorcerers would perform magic rituals. The sheer wall (rim of extinct volcano) continues underwater, covered densely with coral up to about 80'. The wall continues into the murky depths that seems to drop off into infinity (perhaps as much as 8000 ft!). Saw several sea turtles (Hawksbill). I was following one for a long while, close enough to touch. The next thing I knew, I was down to over 95'! I love turtles :) I was frequently surprised at how close the various sea creatures will allow you to get to them, as long as you are quiet and make no threatening moves (the situation is quite different when you have a speargun in your hand!).

The 4th and last dive was at Dangleben's Pinnacles/Coral Gardens. Another fantastic dive with two large sharply rising pinnacles. Saw several frogfish (first time). These are bizarre looking fish that look like alien creatures half way between a fish and a frog. The colors vary from orange to fluorescent lime green to bright yellow (they have the ability to alter their color to match the background).

That brings my total to 23 dives on this trip alone -- far more than I imagined I would do when I started! I never even used my brand new wetsuit I bought in Grand Cayman; the water temperature everywhere I went was 80-85 F and made a wetsuit unnecessary. The Caribbean is truly scuba diving heaven!