Setting: In Flight from Antigua to Barbados
It hasn’t even been 24 hours since leaving Dominica and I’m already drafting this blog post. Whenever I start typing before I reach back you know the trip was one for the books. This is a two-part series so make sure to tune into the upcoming post about actually traveling to this beautiful country.
WHY DOMINICA?
Since Ubersoca Cruise was missing me this year, the Dem Girls squad decided to head to the Nature Isle for the annual World Creole Music Festival (WCMF). I had never heard of the festival before but @melrosereports knew of it and suggested the trip a few months prior. I’m always down to explore a new country; but, once I saw the lineup of artist performances I was sold.
GETTING TO DOMINICA
There aren’t any direct flights to Dominica from the U.S. so if you plan to go, you’ll have to pick your poison when it comes to connecting countries. The most labor intensive part of the trip for me was the travel. I had to mentally prepare for frustrations and idleness.
We opted to fly to Guadeloupe with a layover in Miami. From Guadeloupe we took a ferry to Dominica. If I had to do this over again I would totally skip the ferry and just take a flight to Dominica.
LODGING
We were fortunate enough to connect with a friend of a friend… who has now turned into a friend LOL (I hope you followed that). We shared an AirBNB with her and her family who were visiting home for the festivities. We honestly couldn’t have asked for a better host. The apartment was located in Roseau, Dominica and was a 5 minute drive from the stadium where the performances would be held each night. It wasn’t a lavish spot, but it definitely got the job done. All I ever need is a place to rest my head, wash my bamsie, charge my phone and I good.
WORLD CREOLE MUSIC FESTIVAL
We purchased our tickets for the festival online at www.dominicafestivals.com. Patrons had the option of buying a season pass for all three nights or purchasing individual tickets for select nights. We purchased the general admission season pass for $137US. VIP passes were also an option and included small bites and unlimited alcoholic beverages.
There was a small stage setup on the outskirts of the stadium in addition to ample bars and food stations. If you didn’t want to deal with drink lines you were welcomed to BYOB so long as you didn’t have any glass bottles. I was shocked and amazed when I found this out.
On the inside was the main stage, a VIP cabana and NUFF stadium seating. At first I wondered why anyone would want to be sitting down during the performances. But, after experiencing WCMF I now know that those stadium seats are lifesavers.
Aside from Sunday night, the shows began at 8:00PM sharp. These people were ON TIME okay! There was no official order of performances that were announced to the public. But, history showed that the main acts would perform toward the latter part of the event. I was totally unprepared for the insomnia the first night and literally stormed my way into VIP. I made friends with a cushioned bench and slept for a good 2 hours while Triple Kay Band performed. This one man kept tapping me to see if I was okay… I was like “Sir… I’m not drunk…I’m sleep deprived”…LEAVE MEH! LOL.
The performances didn’t end until the next morning; we religiously didn’t leave the stadium until after the sun came up around 6:30AM. The only time we got home at a respectable hour was Monday because the show started from 5:00PM on Sunday. Sunday was the lightest night with the smallest crowd. Clearly, people were being responsible adults and preparing for the work week. But FRIDAY! PACKED I tell you… shockingly there was still plenty of space to move around and enjoy yourself. WCMF was rhell vibes. De ting sell AWF!
Unfortunately/fortunately, the fun didn’t stop after the stadium. There were after parties on the dock Thursday and Friday night. The bars and food vendors were set up from early ready to receive the hungry patrons. The live bands were on point, and the atmosphere was always positive. TAKE ME BACK!
EXPLORING DOMINICA
Although our trip was short I think we did a respectable amount of touristy activities. Since we were already in the heart of town, we stopped by the market on numerous occasions for some Dominican eats, light shopping and liming.
We visited the countryside which had impeccable views. Our host and her family treated us to one of many homemade meals which forced us to then nap under the Dominican sun.
We stopped by Tia’s Suphur Springs in a private sulphur pool area to heal our bodies from the soreness that came with the weekend pump. It was a much needed soak.
Dominica is known for its black sand beaches, so of course we had to stop and indulge; but, not before stopping by a friend’s bar for an impromptu bush rum tasting lol. We found ourselves at Mero Beach thereafter, where the water was warm and the sun was shining bright. We couldn’t have asked for a better time.
For more photo and video evidence from my trip tune into the recap video on my YouTube channel and be sure to check out the next installment. I’ll be dishing out planning tips on getting to WCMF in the Nature Isle.
Thanks for reading!
Sha Sha Out…