2021 Travel the World - Week 32

I started a 50-week series in 2019 that I called Travel the World. Each week of the series I visited a randomly-selected country, sharing bits of information about that country. I then chose one tidbit of information about that week's country as inspiration for a card. As I explored those 50 countries in 2019, I knew I would continue on until I've visited every one of the 195 countries in the world, so I continued the series in 2020 and here I am in 2021, the third year of traveling the world. 

This week's country is...

Dominica

Dominica is an island nation located in the eastern Caribbean Sea of North America.

Dominica is home to endless rivers, waterfalls, rainforests, and volcanoes – which has rightly earned it the nickname the nature isle of the Caribbean.

It is an island country with no land borders.

The island faces the Atlantic Ocean to the east and the Caribbean Sea to the west. Its nearest neighbors are the French islands of Guadeloupe to the north and Martinique to the south.

Dominica was named by explorer Christopher Columbus after the day of the week he sighted the island in 1493: Sunday – or Domingo in Latin.

The country is 415 times smaller than Poland.

As of 1 January 2016, the population of Dominica was estimated to be 72,665 people.

The official language in Dominica is English.

About 70% of the island is protected rainforest.

There are no international airports in the island. To arrive there, one must either fly in via another Caribbean island or arrive by cruise ship.

Agriculture and tourism are its two main industries.

Bananas and other agriculture dominate Dominica’s economy, and nearly one-third of the labour force works in agriculture.

Dominica is home to an endangered species of frog known as the mountain chicken.

Dominica’s national symbol is the sisserou parrot, a rare bird indigenous to the island.

It’s possible to see and even swim with the world’s largest toothed predator, the sperm whale in Dominica.

There are 195 recorded species of fern, 75 kinds of orchids, 50 kinds of butterflies and 176 species of birds in Dominica.

There are 8 plant, 2 reptile and 2 land bird species that are endemic to Dominica.

The world’s second-largest boiling lake is in Dominica. Discovered in 1875, it is actually a flooded crack in the earth that allows hot gases to vent from the molten lava below.

In Dominica, there’s a river for every day of the year – 365 in total.

The country offers 300 miles of hiking and biking trails. 

One of the most impressive and photogenic waterfalls on the island, the Victoria Waterfall, in Morne Trois Pitons National Park, is formed by the White River cascading over a cliff into a warm pool below. Minerals give the water a milky-white color.

Dominica’s most famous dive and snorkel site, Champagne Reef lies in a marine reserve off the country’s southwest coast. Geothermal activity causes thousands of bubbles to emerge from beneath the rocks, a few meters from shore. Frogfish, flying gurnards, squid, and sea horses are just some of the species found in the warm waters here.

Dominica is home to nine active volcanoes, although there hasn’t been a major eruption since 1997 and before that in 1880. As such, Dominica has the world’s highest concentration of active volcanoes.

Due to the high concentration of volcanoes, many of the beaches in Dominica have natural blank sand. 

The unique wedding tradition of Dominica is the ritual of exchanging coins brought on a tray by a little boy. The groom passes the coins to his future wife, thus vowing to share with her all the material goods. By taking the coins, the bride, in turn, signifies her agreement to do the same.

Music and dance are important facets of Dominica’s culture. The annual independence celebrations display a variety of traditional song and dance.

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest was filmed in Dominica. The movie’s “Cannibal Island” is Dominica; the place where Will Turner and his shipmates are hanging in bone cages is Titou Forge in Morne Trois Pitons National Park; the Indian River became the “Pantano River;” and several villages were settings for other scenes.

My inspiration for this week's card is based on this fact about Dominica... It is the only country which is home to whales all year round. 

Thanks for stopping by my blog today!

Stamp Set: MFT Best Catch Ever Stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black Ink and colored with Copic Markers

Paper: Cougar 110# White, Recollections Black, and SU Ballet Blue CS

Dies: MFT Stitched Mod Rectangles, MFT Stitched Rectangles, and Simon Says Sentiment Labels

Stencil/Ink: Newton's Nook Retro Sun and Palms Stencil blended with Lawn Fawn Inks (Forget-Me-Not, Freshly Cut Grass, and Moonstone) and Memento Ink (Tuxedo Black)

Embellishments: Recollections Rhinestones