Whale Watching

We finally got a chance to get out on the water and visit Dominica's largest residents on Saturday!  We were grateful that Ross subsidized this trip because they are quite expensive for tourists.

We were out on a catamaran for over 3 hours after a two hour delay, so we got plenty of relaxing time in the sun and a few very exciting minutes when we came right up on a pod of about 8 whales (they can count them based on the echo locations noises from the underwater microphone).  We got a fantastic view of 5 of them on the surface and saw several dive.

I can't get the video to load here, but posted it on Facebook!

Boarding the catamaran right at Coconut Beach by campus

The Boat Captain gives us the safety briefing as we head out to sea

Miles enjoyed the free juice and....

...climbing down a ladder to the washroom!

This kid needs a haircut!

Kim got some reading in during the downtimes

Happy New Year!

We have always eaten Chinese on New Year's Day, so we tried out Riverside Restaurant on January 1, 2016.  Boys were treated to Cookies & Cream shakes

Beautiful setting along the Picard River

On Saturday, we found this great Christmas tree at Fusion restaurant in Roseau

North Coast of Dominica - Capuchin

New Year's Eve was a special day as friends from church invited us over for some local cuisine and took us on a tour to the most northern point in Dominica.  It was an awesome learning experience for us!  We had raw sugar cane, cocoa bean and roasted breadfruit for the first time!

As we passed through the tiny villages on the road to Capuchin, we would stop every few minutes to say hello to a cousin, niece or childhood friend.

Roasted Breadfruit with salt fish and carrotts

This is where the British & French navies continued the fight after the American Revolution

...Miles wanted to stay in the van and nap

To the right is the Atlantic Ocean with rough seas and bigger waves.  The Caribbean Sea is much calmer, on the left.

Elijah looks over the Atlantic.  You can see the French islands of Les Saints & Guadeloupe from here

Last sunset of 2015 is coming!

It's windy out here!

An Island Christmas

Christmas was low-key this year.  We spent time at home for family worship and opened a few gifts on Christmas Eve.  We had a package coming from St. Louis that arrived in early January, Kim's friends brought a few other things back (old Xbox games for the boys) shortly after that, and we got some wonderful Christmas cards/letters in mid-January!

Miles took his money with him on a Kalinago field trip and bought Kim this handmade grass basket....

... and bought Aaron this cool Dominica hat!

Boys got another Xbox controller, so they could play 2-player games from the Chinese store - it broke the next day!!

Kim is now a Second Semester Med Student!

I have been slow in getting this one posted!  Kim finished strong with tests and Finals in December and we are officially onto Second Semester!

While the kids had intercession at their school, we were able to take a day to hang out and enjoy some of Dominica's treasures!

Quiche at the French Bakery in Roseau

Tia's Spa - natural sulpher hot springs in Wotten Waven - just up the hill from Roseau

There are three pools in this section - each have a different temperature from cool to hot