Snorkelling on Dominica.

We had a reasonably calm sail down to Rosseau and picked up one of SeaCat's mooring balls. The man himself came aboard for a sundowner when he returned from his day out, we caught up and arranged to spend a couple of days hiking with him, but turned down the offer of a hike to The Boiling Lake the next day. We did the 9 hour hike last year and thoroughly enjoyed it, but we wanted a day snorkelling off Scott's Head and Champagne Reef when there were no Cruise ships in.
So the next morning we had a leisurely start and caught the bus down to Scot's Head at the Southern end of the island. There is a spit out to the Scott's Head, which is a hill with fortifications on the top. As you walk along the spit you have the Atlantic on one side and the Caribbean on the other. 

The Atlantic was full of crashing waves as the wind came roaring across. The bay on the Caribbean side was choppy but further out the sea was calm. The difference between the two was remarkable. I always find it quite unnerving that the Atlantic looks much higher here than the Caribbean.
We swam out around the edge of Scott's Head to the wall, which is a huge drop that divers love. The coral is fabulous and there are loads of fish. We saw a shoal of cuttlefish which swim backwards.

We then walked a couple of miles along the coast road to the fishing village of Soufriere, where we were dry enough to be allowed on a bus, to take us to Champagne reef. This is in a popular bay, as the water is warm and has streams of gas bubbles rising from the sea bed from the volcanic activity below the earth's surface. The warmth attracts the fish and the coral grows well on the protected area. It's fun swimming through the bubbles. We were lucky enough to see an octopus swimming and changing colour, although it took exception to Darrell and squirted ink at him!