Last Day in Dominica

Sigh. But, we have a whole week of vacation left! Yay!

This morning we walked down to the beach. When we went there Monday, I called it the most disappointing beach in the world. But, go there when the tide is right, and it was pretty cool! Black sand beach, warm water, gentle breeze, dude with machete walking our way...wait, what?

I had read not to be alarmed by this, that many men carry around a cutlass for agricultural purposes. I said this in my head as D and I stood on a pretty much deserted strip of land with a guy with a very big knife walking towards us. I couldn't help but feel nervous. Turns out, Red Shirt Machete Dude was pretty nice. We chatted a bit and then headed back to our place to get the kayak.

We saw Red Shirt Machete again as we kayaked. We kayaked from the same beach and they had a little camp set up there. Said hello again and we were off.

We kayaked over to Treasure Island, which Red Shirt Machete Dude had told us you could also swim to. We hiked about there a bit, which freaked me out. Wait! How many times I have been freaked out in Dominica? Roads, rocks, guys with knives. Is this the way one should spend their honeymoon?

Then we kayaked into some huge waves and I was thrown from the kayak, which D seemed to think was pretty funny. I'm pretty much on board with that assessment
now, but WAS NOT when it happened. It...wait for it...freaked me out.

We kayaked back to the beach and Jenner, from the place we are staying, came to get the kayak. Then we stayed and swam around some more. It was pure bliss. Floating on the waves, sun shining down on us, clear water. There were two other women swimming as well.

When we left, Red Shirt Machete Dude informed us he had kept an eye on our car since the young boys we had seen earlier could be "trouble". Then he sort of guided us to get the car turned around in the mud. Then has asked for some change for a beer, which we were all too happy to give him. He wasn't really that scary after all, but...I still think that if you want to talk to strangers on the beach, you should leave the machete behind.