“…we have lost all what money can buy and replace.”

These were the words I woke up to this morning, written by Roosevelt Skerrit, Prime Minister of the tiny island nation of Dominica as the category 5 hurricane Maria ripped through his home and his nation.

While hurricanes are a fact of life in the Caribbean, weathering a category 5 storm is not something to treat lightly as we’ve all seen following the devastation of Hurricane Irma just over a week ago.

I cried a little for Dominica today.

We visited this jewel of a tropical island in April this year and fell in love almost immediately.
Dominica bills itself as The Nature Island and it certainly delivers.  When we arrived in April we were greeted with the view of verdant forests spilling over mountains and valleys tumbling to the sea shore as if in a rush to be the first to splash in the inviting waters of the Caribbean sea.

Almost too perfect: Dominica

Two thirds of Dominica is covered by lush tropical rainforests with a mix of vegetation that includes towering trees, rambling vines and local food sources including breadfruit, passion fruit, mangos, star fruit, bananas, plantains, almonds and others.  The island lends itself to the purest forms of eco-tourism with dozens of marked hiking trails of varying difficulty traversing the crenelated landscape.
The incredible tropical rainforest and vistas inspired our imagination and fueled adoration for this, one of the poorest Caribbean island nations (with a per capita GDP greater only than Haiti and Jamaica).

Exploring Trafalgar falls, one of dozens of fresh water falls and pools in Dominica.

Indian River - a diverse mangrove ecosystem, home to birds, crabs, fish and incredible fauna.

Rolling valleys and crests of tropical rainforest - paradise found.

Rainforest hikes, surrounded by natural beauty preserved by a thoughtful nation.

Another waterfall and swimming hole buried in the depths of the rainforest.

Hope this little guy weathered the storm as well.

Maria was a category 5 hurricane when it passed over Dominica, with winds in excess of 160 mph.  So far there is not much concrete news out of Dominica but based on the damage done by hurricane Irma to Barbuda, Sint Maarten/Saint Martin, the BVI’s and USVI’s, and the Turks and Caicos, I fully expect that Dominica will be reeling under the combined weight of flooding landslides and massive damage to infrastructure and buildings on the island.

With more than one third of the labour force in Dominica employed in the agriculture sector, and agricultural exports accounting for nearly one fifth of the GDP of this tiny nation, there is no question that Maria will have a lasting impact.

At this time, we are hoping that the world doesn’t overlook Dominica and offers the necessary support to recover, much the same as Dominica did when they pledged nearly $1 million US to assist with recover efforts following Irma.

We will continue to watch the news come out of Maria's aftermath and are looking to see how we can help make a difference for a country and island that captured our hearts and feeds our dreams.

Facing My Fears

The first time I ever snorkeled was in 2012 when Darryl and I vacationed in French Polynesia.  You would not believe the fuss I made over this, okay, well maybe those who know me would not be surprised by the fuss I made.  But the idea of putting my face in the water and breathing is completely counter-intuitive for me.  So I basically would hold my breath with the snorkel in my mouth and then come up sputtering.  It was pathetic.  I finally got a hang of it thankfully, but not without testing D's patience.

So you can imagine that the idea of scuba diving never was on my radar.  There is no way I would ever consider being far below the surface without being able to easily raise my face to breath if needed.  Well, here I am now, with my Open Water certification in hand.  Hard to believe that I pulled it off.  Some of the skills were a huge stretch for me.  The idea of taking my mask off under water, swimming around and then placing the mask back on my face, struck fear in my heart.  But I did it!

But this is not all about me.  Doing the scuba lessons with Ella, was one of my proudest mom moments in my nearly 11 years of this parenting gig.  Like mom, like daughter, Ella had some reservations about doing the scuba diving, but she was motivated enough to let us sign her up.  She also had to stretch her comfort zone to get this done, but she did it with amazing maturity and confidence.  She was a rock star in seeing it through.  I could not be more proud of Ella!!!  I can't wait until Iris turns 10 and we can actually all go as a family exploring the Ocean Blue from below the surface.

Darryl, Ella, me and Sherrie with our phenomenal instructor, Lucia at GoodDive.

Ella was not always keen for the walk from the dive shop to the water with the tank, but she did it with dear Lucia giving a helping hand.

One of the last skills we had to master, an emergency ascent, here Ella made it look easy.

Sherrie and I chilling on the bottom.

Of course Darryl would take out his regulator for a smile, not me, still like to keep my oxygen close at hand.

Ella giving the "all good" sign like the champ she is.

Ok, so I always look pissed off in these pictures, but I suppose why should my expression change from land to sea.

Darryl usually had the camera, so a rare picture of him.

I can't get enough pictures of Ella doing her thing!  So proud!!!

I love this picture of Sherrie, if you can read her slate it says "Did we pass?".  (We won't point out that she is giving the wrong hand signal!)  ;)

Ella and I as we near the end of our final dive for our certification.