5:00 am. That’s when the alarm went off, a sound that I had not heard in six weeks. My eyes were definitely voting on cancelling the whole thing. The brain seconded that motion and quickly converted the notion to “Around the island trip- 16 months of Limin in the VI.” Even when I sobered up, I thought back to the last weeks and how nice everything was when you have zero responsibility, even to a point where the clock had fallen off the night stand and I hadn’t even picked it up. By 5:30 I was back on track and the trip was a go.

There was not much left to do since I had pretty much moved myself out the day before. Loaded up the car, took one last remembering glance and headed off. One would think that I would be boiling with excitement or fearful of making a huge mistake, but surprisingly I was in a quite of a lacksadasical mood. I suppose that if I went straight from work to this trip it would have been a lot more stressful, however, with six weeks to play, plan, and pack, it was going to be just another day.

Stopped at the entrance way to the airport to drop off the hoopdy mobile. It was then that I got to experience the unpreparedness of my packing style. Heaving that pack was a little bit of a shock. Adding my book bag that contained all of my electronics gear easily doubled that weight. This was not good. With my backpack strapped to my back and the book bag positioned in the front, I became as wide as I am tall. It was kind of like being pregnant, twice. The first hundred yards were fun and I was energetic about it. The last quarter of a mile became a tad bit strenuous. Had I been able to lean over to take the packs off, I would have waited for a taxi to take me the last hundred feet. No, Steve was not in shape.

Having flown out of STT a dozen or more times, check in was fast and easy. I was however flagged to have the full pat down security shake down. The lady nervously approached me about this, but having some conspicuous stamps in my passport I have long gotten over the stress of the special treatment I get at these and most customs areas. I've been lucky enough to get to view quite a few of the different interrogation rooms around the world. I guess it’s a Fresno thing. There is no other hot bed of terrorism than the central valley of California. After a a 30 minute search and body rub (not the good kind), I was off to meet my co-island hoppers.

My flights took me to St. Martin, Antigua, a layover in Guadeloupe and then finally Dominica. What started out in a decent prop plane with a cute stewardess and locked flight cabin, turned into a three seat across puddle jumper which we shared with the two pilots/stewardesses. Lest it be known, no drinks were served. I actually think the co-pilot flew much of the flight with his leg dangling out the door like you would on a open Jeep. The views of all the different islands with the lit up emerald water were mesmerizing so I pretty much slept through the whole thing. One thing to know about me is that I: 1) can take a nap anywhere, and 2) I like naps. Actually, the title of this blog was going to be "All the cool places that I have been- and slept right through them." The landing in Dominica however, was more like a WWII fighter game so I didn't quite get to sleep there. The differences of this island even from the air were astounding. Even though I am quite a bit of a jaded island hopper, this island definitely had a rough edge to it. Once we ended the little bit of airplane juggling we bounced down and headed to the airport. How I was treated here was a total reversal from the STT experience. Everyone else on the plane seemed to be local so they pretty much ran to baggage claim so they could get through customs the quickest. I on the other hand, having a couple of years to waste walked as such. Once I got my bag and headed through to customs there were probably a dozen people ahead of me. The single Customs agent must have spotted me because he started handing out the customs declaration forms to the people in front of me and telling them to move away from the counter while they were filling it out. Once it got to me I expected to be handed a form, however, he took my passport and started to fill out the form for me. Once he got my information he thanked me, smiled, and sent me on my way. It was so nice I sort of felt awkward at the special treatment, but I figure it was a trade off for my cavity search at STT.

I had yet to figure out where I would be staying because the place that I originally planned on staying had quoted a $50.00 taxi fee to get there. That was already two days lodging budget right there, and I would not have even hit the ground yet. I talked to the Tourist agent and she gave me a couple of options but they looked way out of my price range. While standing there in kind of a daze, a lady walked up and told me that there were guys expecting me. I was totally confused since the original place that I had inquired about said they would not be able to arrange airport pickup. The lady took me to her car rental booth where I was getting more confused. I told here that I would not be wanting to rent a car. She told me to wait a moment as she raced to the parking area to see if these "guys" were still there. She later came back saying that they had just left. I was starting to get a tad bit anxious at that moment so I told her that there must be some mistake since no one was expecting me, she must have me confused with some other guy from Fresno. She dug through some papers and asked if I was Steve Nakano. That threw me off a bit, but what she had said that there was a taxi driver who had just dropped off some passengers from the 3 Rivers Eco Lodge where I had been planning on staying and that the owner had told the driver to check to see if I had come in. They had only checked America Airlines since that is the way most tourists came in not knowing that I had flown in with LIAT. She called the owner on the phone who contacted the taxi driver to come back to get me. I waited for about a half an hour and a couple of guys, cheerful as all, grabbed my bag and we headed off.

Dominica, the 'Nature Island of the Caribbean," promotes itself as a non-tourist destination for outdoor adventurers. Although, an even rougher island experience was not what I was looking for, this island totally took me off guard. The island is a independent republic within the British Commonwealth, and the main language is English based. Dominica is 29 miles long and 16 miles wide. The highest peaks in the Caribbean are found here as well as many active volcanoes. The prior is all para-phrased from the Lonely Planet Caribbean book. Steve's description would be an island where jungle grows on the sides of a bunch of cliffs. Tarzan wouldn't have faired so well here since his swinging would last all of two feet before he ran face front into a mass of vegetation. I was totally taken a back by the freshness that this island brought. It oozed prehistoric/truly natural environment. I had for the first time in a long time, gotten off the tourist track.

After a hour and a half of wild left-hand, passing cars on a one lane road, get you car sick roads, we pulled up to the encampment of 3 Rivers Eco Lodge. They are situated in the south east part of the island bordering the Morne Trois Pitons National Park (A Unesco World Heritage Site) and the little seaside village of Rosalie. Off the main road it is another mile plus of off-roading, river crossing, dirt road driving that takes you to the camp. By the time we got there I thought the fifty dollar taxi fee was a bargain and ended up giving the guy $60. He did take me to a favorite road side stand for some fried chicken since I had not eaten that day. There I met up with Jem (Jim), the owner of the Lodge. He had a hippi facade to him with bare feet, old shorts, and raggedy t-shirt, which was somewhat fitting for what the lodge promotes itself as. He brought me inside and got my info and welcomed me to the camp. He took me on a little stroll telling me a bit about the place and to show me where my shared dorm room would be. I had just arrived when two of the guys staying there had left and the third was moving into one of the private cottages. I was going to have the largest room in the compound to myself for the least price. After I dropped off my pack, Jem had one of his assistants take me on a tour of the surrounding areas, the different lodgings, the three surrounding rivers, the bathing pool, he explained to me how the lodge pulls its water and creates its own power. He also showed me the astonishing amount of plant life that they had planted and labeled to improve the knowledge of the campers. After about a hour tour, he led me back to my room where I had about a hour of relaxation time before the group gathering for dinner. That hour I unpacked my stuff, took a quick shower to cool off, took a deep relaxing breath and hit the hammock for a much needed swing.

Around 7:00 pm I headed down to the main lodge where dinner was to be served. There I met up with Jason and Katie a twenty something, newly married couple (well, a year ago, but they had eloped so they were on their actual honeymoon.) They had been there about four days and were very helpful in giving me a run down on what to expect. They turned out to be great travel companions and camp buddies. This trip, although meant to be something more for my own benefit was also about getting a chance to meet new and exciting people whom I would probably not get a chance to. Meeting them really helped to solidify my reasons for taking this trip. A few minutes later the other pair of guys that were staying there showed up. One was an Aussie and the other an English fellow who had businesses in Dominica. The Aussie fellow was actually being wooed to take the job there in Dominica. Both were the usual European characters taking shots at the US and having a go at each other. For dinner we had a fantastic local soup/stew that a local lady Sheshe (sp) had whipped up for us. That was followed by plates of fresh cut fruits for dessert. We ended up pineing the rest of the night away just talking about a bit of everything. Slowly the group ended with Jem, the Aussie, and myself staying up to midnight just talking about all of our travels. We headed off to bed about 12:30 am. I tried to fall asleep in the hammock, but I could only doze off to be awakened in mid-sleep. I broke down and crashed on the bed, not remembering a thing until waking up refreshed the next morning.

Kind of long winded, huh. Well it was my first day and it has actually been almost a week since I had computer access (being out in the jungle, and not bringing a plug adapter.) It was actually a pretty action packed day. I am pretty sure I won't be so in depth in the future. I figure by day fifty my logs will be: I woke up, I went to the beach, I ate, I went to sleep.