Dominica the Anchorage Hotel and Dive Center Monday May 815, 2006 We were doing a shore dive in 25ft off the dock at the marina. Surprisingly our group of six divers were banging our tanks, quacking our sub-ducks, waving, and pointing look at this, over here, check this out, quick! Everybody seemed to have found something cool, one after another, in rapid succession. Johnny found the orange seahorse clinging to the base of a matching gorgonian. Spotted Snake Eels and white spot Morays seemed to share their rubble residences, a three pound lobster poked at a Longspined Urchin who menacingly brandished its weapons. Three juvenile Spotted Drums danced around the opening of a small coral crevice and a mating pair of Flying Gunnards pranced and nuzzled together on the sand flat then spread their colorful pectoral fins and flew away. Im not usually big on muck diving but this leisurely drift from the rocky boulders around the pier to the mini patch reef off in the sand was one of the most relaxing and pleasant dives of the whole trip. My buddy won an auction for a five day stay at the Anchorage Hotel. Then he started drumming up interest in a group trip. Before long wed signed up four couples, upgraded to the superior rooms, and booked 8days-7nts in early May. Billed as the nature island Dominica personifies relaxed easy diving on beautiful healthy coral reefs. Its a gorgeous tropical paradise that hasnt yet been totally discovered. Twenty nine miles long and 16 miles wide the island is covered by dense tropical rainforest. There are dozens of waterfalls, clear lakes, drinkable rivers, gorgeous forest preserves and national parks, including a Unesco world heritage site. Basically a massive geothermal hot spot on the subduction zone between the American and Carribean plates Dominica has several volcanic mountains rising over 4500ft tall, a boiling lake, hot springs, vents, fumaroles, and many other interesting geothermal features. Almost as noteworthy is what there isnt: no casinos, high rise structures, or mega-resorts. One of the poorest and least developed islands in the Caribbean the 69,000 inhabitants include a community of 3000 indigenous Carib Indians who still practice the art of traditional basketry. Flying in on a Caribbean Sun (Dash 8) puddle jumper those on the right side of the plane were awed by a pre-historic, Jurassic Park like, vista of lush mountains rising up all over the island. Although there are two airports, Canefield Airport just above Roseau and the southern hotels & dives centers cant accommodate large aircraft. When youre flying in on a plane of any size youre landing at Melville Hall (DOM) on the Northeast side of the island. Unfortunately on arrival, our packed flight discovered that over 20 pieces of luggage hadnt made it onto the plane when it left San Juan. This is evidently not an unusual occurrence and although each couple in our group had either missing dive gear or clothing we had all packed the bare essentials in our carry-ons and managed to rent dive gear and borrow each others clothes until everything finally arrived on the third day. After a no problems mon clearance through customs and immigration we were picked up by a van driver who treated us to an hour &1/2 ride on one of the most twisting, turning, hair raising roads up and over the mountains in a fractured diagonal line across the backbone of the island. Make sure airport transfers are included in your package if youre staying at Castle Comfort, the Anchorage, Roseau, or Soufriere because a cab ride can be very expensive. Arriving at our destination we were greeted by a friendly front desk staff that fairly quickly led us through the sign in procedures and headed us towards the bar for the free welcome rum punch. The Anchorage, which first opened in 1971, has developed into an eclectic assortment of structures built with different materials and methods. Block buildings covered in stucco connect to wooden construction or concrete and tile. The one unifying factor is a wild hodge-podge of pastel paints that cover everything. The property fronts on the main coastal road between Roseau and Soufriere and has several hundred feet of ocean frontage. Immediately next door, also sandwiched between the road and the bay is the other well known property, Castle Comfort. The guest rooms are divided into two buildings, a three story block of 12 standard rooms which look out over the fresh water swimming pool, and a two story motel like linear structure housing 20 superior rooms. My group all sprang for the extra $20 per night and were rewarded by a beautiful balcony facing directly out over the water with a marvelous view of the bobbing sailboats moored in the bay. Amenities in both classes of room included A/C, cable TV, a balcony or patio, alarm clock, phone with voice mail, a good sized separate bathroom, 220v to 110volt converters, and internet access. The superior rooms added a little more space, two queen size beds (rather than two twins), a refrigerator and coffee maker. Our rooms were painted an assortment of odd colors: peach, apricot, sky blue, and one couple who landed in a garish cardinal red room. All utilities functioned as expected although on the last night a pipe burst in one suite flooding the place and requiring a midnight move of all their stuff. The sight of my buddy squatting under the sink with his finger in a squirting pipe priceless! The open air terrace restaurant sits above the lounge and serves breakfast from 7:15 till 9:30 and dinner from 7:00 to 9:00. Lunch and snacks are served downstairs in the Carib Bar & Lounge tucked between the swimming pool and the sperm whale skeleton. Meals were a little more expensive than we wanted for what we got. A modest selection for each meal was ordered off the menu and our group tried everything from the assorted seafood offerings, chicken or pork dinners, to the cheeseburger platters. No one really raved about the cuisine but all meals were acceptable, filling, and we didnt have to go too far. We quickly established a morning ritual of gathering at a table with a view, drinking coffee, and chowing down on various interpretations of American style eggs and carbs. Cold cereal and fresh fruit were also offered each morning as well as bakes an interesting bread/bun/biscuit. Our cheapest meal of the trip was when we ordered pizza delivery from Perkys Pizza downtown. While it took an hour and a half to get five pies they cost only $64 (delivery & tip included) rather than the $50 to $70 a couple which was about the going rate at most restaurants. One night we walked next door to the slightly more upscale Castle Comfort but their prices were even more for about the same menu and the highly touted Evergreen next door to that was virtually empty but didnt think they could handle our group of eight. Travel back and forth to town was easy after we discovered the local bus service. For about a $1.50 you could ride anywhere they went and service was fairly regular. Our ladies made a foray into the local market and grocery and returned with lots of delicious fruit and lunch fixings. Just about everybody with a minivan doubles as a tour guide. Our group couldnt fit in anything less than a small bus and with high gas prices a quick trip to town was pricey. I was floored when the concierge suggested that itd cost us $240 to hire a van guy just to take eight folks to dinner and back. What I didnt know is that he threw in a short tour of the botanical gardens in town and a visit to the beautiful Trafalgar Falls on our way to the dinner engagement at the Papillote Gardens & Wilderness Retreat. This gorgeous, manicured, spa-like compound captivated us as we wandered for an hour through beautiful jungle trails surrounded by spectacular flora and fauna. The girls went ga-ga over the flowers and exotic birds and the guys were in awe of the massive amount of work necessary to craft the rock structures, plunge pools, natural statues, and garden like ambience of the place. But the food there sucked. The specials that night were both native production and should have been reasonably priced. But for $75 my wife and I each got a drink and small portions of baked chicken or curried goat which was mostly gristle and bones. Several of us were not quite full when we left the place.