Dominica – We Arrived!

So, we did it! We said goodbye to Victoria, BC, Canada, and left for Dominica in the Eastern Caribbean! Flying from Victoria through Vancouver and Toronto, we had three days in Barbados before getting on the final LIAT flight to Dominica.

Hunte’s Gardens, Barbados – in October 2014 (photo Derek Galon)

Air Canada prepared for us a farewell surprise – they lost our luggage. We arrived in Barbados in rather warm long-sleeve Canadian clothes, and were kept on a warm side for two extra days until our luggage materialised again. That did not stop us from visiting our favourite places in Barbados – the Welchman Hall Gully and Hunte’s Gardens. Both places look quite amazing, they matured and changed quite a bit since our last visit.

Hunte’s Gardens are now  a definite #1 attraction on Trip Advisor, and we fully agree with it.  It is an unbelievably designed, beautiful garden full of nooks and surprises.  Photographing it was actually our first job in the Caribbean as Caribbean residents. Despite the sweat  (our warm clothes) we spent several hours documenting recent changes all over the place.  These photos will be used by Virgin Atlantic for their guide to Barbados, and by Barbados Tourism Board for a local tourist map.

Hunte’s Gardens – lower level (photo Derek Galon)

 

Our welcome surprise in Dominica!

Dominica greeted us with truly beautiful weather and very smooth proceedings through customs. We felt like returning home. A short ride brought us to the apartment we are renting in Eggleston – a village high in hills above capital town of  Roseau. A nice surprise – Dutch friends who live in Dominica dropped off some grocery shopping for us, along with a fine composition of local exotic flowers! Thank you!

Evening view at Caribbean Sea – from patio of our apartment in Dominica.

So, here we are, awaiting arrival of our car ordered from Japan, taking care of formalities (permanent residency permit), and accommodating to the new life style. The last one is not so difficult, as getting around is a true delight to us.  Super friendly people, relaxed atmosphere – it all is just what we need at the moment.

View from our apartment at hills and volcanic mountains of Dominica.

Today we received news from Canada that our container started its journey from Victoria to Dominica, so we will be awaiting its arrival in about a month time.

Our container gets off – first meters of 7,000 miles journey

In regard to our photography work – it seems like a nice start. We are discussing with Montserrat Ministry of Tourism a week-long photo shoot in Montserrat (it would be lovely to return there – remember our volcano shots?), and we are also getting accreditation for the International Creole Fest here in Dominica. We arrived right in time for this huge yearly event. Three days and nights of concerts, with participation of the best Caribbean and international artists. We may not stay awake until 6am every night (yes, concerts end at 6am!), but I am sure there will be lots to photograph while we will be awake!

Stay tuned! And SHARE/FOLLOW if you like this!

Cheers!
Derek
(please respect copyright of my photos)

Today Is The Day (personal thoughts)

Today, after some 28 years of living in Poland and next 26 years spent in Canada – we are moving to Dominica! It will be a major challenge. Will we enjoy and handle it all? Well, we already changed our country of residence before, and we hope we will cope. We plan to put all our skills, professional experience and enthusiasm, to promote the beauty of Dominica and other Eastern Caribbean islands. But will the Dominica be good for us? So many unknown factors.

walking in Victoria, Canada…

We went for a last stroll on Pacific shore, right here in Victoria, British Columbia – on Vancouver Island. It is a beautiful place indeed, and some people say we must be crazy to leave it for an unknown future. Perhaps we are a bit crazy, but we hope to find the new destination rewarding, with a more balanced life-style. We hope to leave behind the race for better jobs and always more money, we hope to find a bit of time for ourselves.

My last photo session in Victoria – with friends Michael Ward (on photo) and Jon Hoadley.

Yes, changing the life style is perhaps the most appealing factor behind our decision. But still, before we can hope for that, it will be a hard start. We don’t have a place to live and we will need to quickly rent something, we don’t have any gigs in the Caribbean yet. We are not kidding ourselves, it will be a hard start. But we really hope it will be worth it. So, will the Caribbean be good for us? We love this region and were always happy to return to do our photography and publishing work. But it is different to be visiting – even frequently – and living there permanently. So many unknown factors. We will be newcomers. We will need new contacts, opportunities, friends…

We know one thing for sure, whoever will hire us for world-class photography services or our internationally awarded publishing – will not regret. We know we are good at what we do. It is for others to try and discover it… so, perhaps we also need others’ good will and a bit of trust.

Ah, there is one more thing we will need – some good luck! We hope you can wish us good luck…

Thank you!
Derek

PS.
We will be posting progress of our moving and settling in Dominica here. We will stop in Barbados to see friends (Hunte’s Gardens, Welchman Hall Gully, and others), then we will fly to Dominica a few days later.
Stay tuned and Follow this blog to get all these news. And of course – please Share and Like it!