Botanical Gardens - how far from ship? worth going to? safe walk?

[atlgirl]

We are an older couple on the celebrity equinox in dominica on april 7. Can anyone give us further info on the Botanical Gardens? are they worth spending time at? how far are they from the ship and is it a safe walk? my husband is a photographer so really just want to get some good pictures. Thanks.

[marylizcat]

As no-one else has answered, I will just say that we visited these gardens briefly on our ship's excursion 'Easy Dominica'. We were taken on a short walk around and I found it interesting, especially the 'cannonball tree', which I had never seen anything like before! It looked as though it had cannonballs hanging off it - very strange. I would say the gardens are definitely worth a visit. However, we did not drive there directly, but first drove up to a viewpoint, so I am unable to say how far it would be to walk. However it is just at the back of the town, so probably perfectly doable. There were taxi-drivers offering to take people there, I noticed, as we came off the ship. As to safety, well, the town is a pretty poor one, but difficult to advise really.

 

Incidentally, our tour then drove us inland by the river through wonderful scenery to the Jaco Falls which were very pretty. I can recommend this half-day tour highly.

[Snail_Pace]

A little under a half mile walk from the downtown dock. It's safe to walk in Roseau. The town is nothing like you'll find in the USA, and that is good. While there are sidewalks, they're not exactly like you would find in downtown USA. Sometimes you have to walk in the streets even though there is a sidewalk. People that have walked in Roseau know what I mean.

 

Since I had absolutely no thoughts of trying to parking inside Roseau, I parked by the Botanical Gardens and walked into town to do shopping. I safely make it back to my car carrying an armful of groceries. In a country like Dominica, food is a valuable commodity. Of course follow the normal rules regarding for being a tourist. Didn't visit the gardens though, too tame for me ;)

 

You are likely to be approached at the dock area and at the gardens by people wanting to provide you with a paid ride/tour. Some people are uncomfortable with making the friendly hand wave off and saying no thank you while smiling. The downtown dock is at the foot of King George V St. as shown in the following link. If you dock at Woodbridge Bay, I wouldn't recommend trying to walk it.

 

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=dominica&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Dominica&gl=us&ll=15.299419,-61.383662&spn=0.013495,0.026157&t=h&z=16

[KroozFoolz]

see this thread for more info/opinions:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1200558&highlight=gardens

[NakedBeancounter]

We visited the gardens a week ago. They are not too far away from the main dock in Roseau (maybe a mile) but beware that sometimes cruise ships dock in Woodridge Bay, which is 1-2 miles North of Roseau, which means the walk is twice the length.

 

It took us about 30 minutes to walk from the gardens to Woodridge Bay, which was easily do-able to be honest, but you do spend some of the time walking on the roads...just pay attention and give way to anything big!

 

The gardens are pretty, the huge tree that fell in a hurricane and crushed a school bus still has the bus pinned underneath it. Just be aware that the toilets there can sometimes be closed (as they were on our visit). Wasn't overly impressed with the parrots, but the various plants and trees were beautiful.

[Hotshot80]

We visited the Botanical Gardens in December where I got some great shots of Hummingbirds. Not too far to walk but we took the precaution of going with another couple-safety in numbers. Unfortunately while we were in the Gardens a fellow passenger was robbed at knife point.

[M&T]

Do you also see butterflies? Thanks. Marlyne