Champagne Reef, Dominica

This week, our Travel pics series is D for Dominica.

Dominica is one of the younger islands in the Caribbean – in fact, it is still quite active, in a volcanic sense.

There are thousands of fumaroles – vents which allow volcanic gases to escape – across the island.

There are also a number of these just offshore from the island, particularly at a location called Champagne Bay.

It’s called Champagne Bay because of the bubbles which ‘spritz’ the area, gloriously warm, dancing in the sparkling clear water.

There are a number of companies which run boat trips to the bay for snorkelling expeditions – some associated with cruise ships and some which operate independently.

The snorkelling was quite good – not the best I’ve ever undertaken, but significantly better than others .. but here’s a thing.

When we slipped into the water, one of the first things we spotted was a Pterios – or Lionfish.

And when someone mentioned it to the snorkel guide leader, he said something like “Yes, we see lots of them here!”

Which is fine – but it WASN’T followed up with any warning such as “They are amazing looking fish – but quite venomous so don’t try to touch them.”

Given that some in our group had never snorkelled before, that was an omission that could have proved quite serious 😦

Having said that, there were lots of other fish that attracted our attention, as we grabbed theirs … so it was gorgeous way to while away an hour or two.