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Hello again to my readers. Let me begin by thanking everyone who e-mailed to find out how we are doing in Dominica. The quake which happened about 26 miles SSE of Roseau Dominica at 3:00pm and was felt all over the Caribbean or as far as we've learnt, as far as St. Maarteen. The quake was the hardest I have ever felt but can happily say that there were no loss of lives or damages on the Island. My e-mail address has been going off with everyone who have heard about it and want to know what happened to us in Dominca. Let me once again say that we are ok and the Island is just fine. Thank you so much for your concern.
MORE!!!!!!!!!! MORE!!!!!!!!!! MORE!!!!!!!!!! MORE!!!!!!!!!! MORE!!!!!!!!!!
More news coming to us. We have just learnt that the quake shook as far asTrinidad to the south and Puerto Rico to the north. Some of the Islands are reporting minor damages, but so far nothing major and no loss of lives.
To those who have booked tours with me and have emailed asking about the quake, I might not be able to respond to eveyone's e-mail today, hope you all understand. I will do so as soon as I can. Check out this site for more info. http://earthquake.usgs.gov/.eqcenter/ . |
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| Posted by Levi Baron at | | | |
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Today the 29th of August, is the 28th anniversary of the passage of hurricane David on Dominica, but talking to some people or just listening to people on the street, you would not know it, if you don't listen to the radio. David was one of the deadliest hurricanes to hit Dominica in recent memory, for those of you who have been to Dominica , I am almost sure you've seen something David left with us ( the crushed school bus at the Botanical Gardens). Twelve days after dean, it's still all about dean. Although the Island is almost back to normal, utilities are back in order, except for cable tv ( 13 and counting days I haven't seen any TV and NFL pre season is on  but I will survive). Just got my internet to work normal again after a few days. so it's not more going to the surf cafe for me  . There was only one change for the cruise visitors and the Destiny on Tuesday 29th August, was that the ship docked at Wood Bridge Bay instead of the normal docking area in Roseau but business went as usual. The roads are about 89% cleared from broken trees and landslides but should (hopefully) be right about 98% by the time the Destiny returns on September 4th . For anyone who would like to find out more about tours in Dominica, or book a tour, you could email me at levibaron@bumpiingtours.com and also visit the site at www.bumpingtours.com. |
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| Posted by Levi Baron at | | | |
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Hello agian readers.
The official word came in last night about the extent of the damage caused by hurricane Dean. Island wide therewere about 500 homes with some form of damaged caused by the hurricane. Most of the damage were to the roofs of the buildings. Like I said in my first report on Dean, the farmers got the worst of it. As most people know, majority of the population depends on farming as their main source of income and the word came in last night that about 95% of the crops were distroyed or roughly 20 million dollars worth of damge done to the agriculture sector. The Goevernment has already agreed to compensate some of the farmers, which was really good news for all. Local firms has already began donating to those most in need. The tourism sector got a little set back today, 21st August, as the only ship which comes to Dominica during the off season (Carnival Destiny) cancelled. The ship which was suppose to be in port did not come in , which is understandable. I to really beleive that it was a bit soon, although it's how I make my living but maybe we need a few more days to get the roads completly cleared and as safe as it was before the storm (mud free). This might take us about to week or so.
For those who will be in Dominica on the 24th of August, I will keep you posted as to what is happening.
Thanks again to all you keeps sending e-mails of concern and wanting to know what is going on in Dominica. |
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| Posted by Levi Baron at | | | |
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LET ME FIRST THANK ALL OF YOU WHO E-MAILED TO FIND OUT WHAT WAS GOING ON ON THE ISLAND AND FOR KEEPING US IN YOUR THOUGHTS. LET ME ONCE AGAIN SAY A SPECIAL THANKS TO ALL AND KEPP US IN YOUR PRAYS.
It's been three days since Dean and I must say that things are moving on alot quicker than most of us in Dominica expected. Although it's calm now, but we had one more death from an accident which was caused mainly by a slide which came down during the passage of Dean. A young man was traveling from the north of the Island from a small village known as Villecase with 5 other passengers, when his vehicle skided on the mud and went down a cliff, killing one of the passengers.
Although the strom did not cause too much damge to buildings, the little it did, still has a number of people in shelters. I must commend the Government officials who wasted no time in helping some of those most in need.
For those who are coming to Dominica in the next week or so, and have already booked your tour with the ship or otherwise, please be a little flexible and understanding, just in case your tour change for some reason. Seeing that we are still in the hurricane season and Dominica gets alot of rain throughout the year, it might be difficult to get to some of the areas if we get alot of rain in the coming days/weeks. I will keep everyone posted as to what the weather is likeand how possible it is to do their tours. For now it's ok to get to almost all the sites, but for those who are going to do river tubing, that might be cancelled. You could check with the company you booked the tubing with for more information.
For those Jamaicans who might be reading this or those who famlies are in Jamaica, let me, let them know that they are in our thoughts and we will be praying for them. We know they got it alot worst than we did, so lets pray for the best and the lord will keep them safe and there will no lost of lives.
LIKE I SAID BEFORE, WE DID NOT GET THE WORST FROM DEAN BUT PLEASE KEEP US IN YOUR PRAYERS, ESPECIALLY FOR THOSE WHO LOST THEIR HOMES AND FOR THE FAMILY AND FIRENDS OF THOSE WHO LOST THEIR LIVES.
If anyone who like more information or news about Dominica, do not hesitate to e-mail me.
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| Posted by Levi Baron at | | | |
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Hello once again to all potential travelers to beautiful Dominica. As most of you, if not all might have already heard, Dominica was one of the Islands in the path of hurricane Dean. Well we can thank God that the island had very little damage and not too many casualties. There was only two deaths caused by a landslide, where a 25 year old lady and her 7 year old son perished. For the past 4 days, some parts of the Island is without elecrticity and water. For the first time in about 10 years i went a day without a shower (lol). Being more concerned of what was going to happen to us, the last thing on my mind was to get a shower. Staying up all night preparing and waiting for the storm to hit, I found myself going more than 24 hours without any sleep. The storm which lasted for about 15 hours, downing trees and causing many small landslides around the Isalnd, had Domincans thinking and getting ready for the worst. Fortunately damages were kept to a minimal. The farmers of the Island were the ones hardest hit, as most of them lost majority of their crops. For those who have already been to Dominica and have seen our small banana fields, just try to imagine the areas all cleared up. For those who will be on the Island from the 21st of August 2007, the roads leading to the site are bout 80% -90% cleared and there should be no problem in getting to some of the most visited areas on the Island, namely, Trafalgar falls and The Emerald Pool. I have not gotten all the information as to work done on the roads leading to the other sites, but just wanted the visitors to know that there are alot of tours which can still be done.
I will be posting some pictures of the some of the landslides and a few damaged houses, when everything is in in order. At present I am unable to do so because I am not able to download them on the computer I am using. There is no electricity in my area , so I had to drive about 35 miles to post this information to update visitors on the situation on the Island. |
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| Posted by Levi Baron at | | | |
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Hello everyone , let me welcome you to my blog, as I tell you a little about myself , my small company and briefly let you know who we are and what we do. After my tours, I will also keep you posted, telling you all about the tour and what happened, where we went to and what we did. My first post will give you an overview of bumpiingtours.
My name is Levi Baron (A.K.A) bumping, founder and operator of bumpiingtours. I am a certified tour guide and taxi driver. We are located to the south of Dominica in a small village known as Pichelin, which is situated about 20 minutes (9 miles) south of Roseau, the capital city. Bumpiingtours was started by me "Levi" in 2005, with the launching of my website in June of the same year.
I started bumpiingtours in June 2005 , shortly after working in the filming of Pirates of The Caribbean 2 & 3. In case you haven't heard , part of The Pirates Of the Caribbean 2 & 3 was filmed here in Dominica. I started offering tours to visitors in September of the same year. Knowing the Island inside out and seeing that I knew all the sites on the Island and had a pretty good knowledge of the Island, I deceided to share what I knew with the visitors who choose Dominica as their vacationing and/or cruise destination (we are very happy to have you).
Who We Are
Bumpiingtours uses three main tour guides/drivers, namely, Levi Baron, Garry Shiliingford and Joseph Walter. All the guides used are certified by the NDC (National Developement Corperation) who deals mainly with tourism and the marketing of the Island. In cases where we have bigger groups I do use close friends to help out with the tours. In cases like that, you will be given a certified tour guide and driver
What we do
We operate with a very small staff to give our visitors maximum attention, as we try our best to meet their every need. We provide tours to both stay over visitors and cruise ship visitors. All tours listed on http://www.bumpiingtours.com can be modified to suit the needs of our visitors. We are very flexible and will do just about anything that we can to make our visitors feel comfortable and have an enjoyable time in Dominica. All our tours are in closed air conditioned vehicle which can seat up to 14 people but most time do not go out with more that ten people per van. We only go with 14 people per van if it's one family or a group who would like to be together. We also offer other services which are listed on the website http://www.bumpiingtours.com .
For Cruise Ship Visitors: We pick you up at whatever port that your ship docks at on the Island. Not all the tours/hikes listed on our website are suitable for cruise ship visitors, but one could suggest what they would like to see and we would organize a tour just to suit their needs. Some of the tours offered, require that visitors are in good health.
To All who Toured With Bumpiingtours And Those planning To Do So In The Near Future.
I would like to thank all those who toured with bumpiingtours for the past year. I really hope that you all enjoyed your time with us and enjoyed what you saw of the Island. We really do hope that we will be seeing some of you if not all of you back on the Island. (lol). I would like to hear from you as to what you thought about the Island , bumpiingtours, Levi, Garry, Joseph, the blog is opened for your comments. To all those who are planning on touring with us, your questions are welcomed, I can promise that I will answer all your questions about Dominica and touring in Dominica
To everyone else who has visited Dominica, I would really like to hear your thoughts about the Island and what you did. I would like to hear from just about everyone. Let others know about your experiences in Dominica and what you think about the Island.
visit: http://www.bumpiingours.com
E:mail: levibaron@bumpiingtours.com
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| Posted by Levi Baron at | | | |
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