Beautiful Church plus a Hot Beach

Yesterday, I got the chance to visit the village of Soufriere, on the southern end of this island. It is located near Scotts Head, which I've previously visited and written about, but I'd never been able to actually stop in Soufriere while passing through it. Actually, I learned that the arc that runs from Soufriere to Scotts Head is part of an old volcano, whose crater now lies beneath the Caribbean Sea.

There is a beautiful old Catholic church there, built in the late 1800s. As shown in the picture above, the left side front door was open, so we went inside to look around. No one was around, but I'm very glad we were able to see what the interior was like. [There are probably some official Catholic terms for some of the stuff I try to describe inside, but I'm still pretty new to this denomination, so forgive me in advance for not explaining things more accurately.]

Below is a closeup of the mural at the front. It shows some traditional dancing or cultural celebration on the left, a view of Soufriere and Scotts Head in the middle, and fishermen working on the right side. It was painted by Lennox Honychurch, an artist and historian who is well known in Dominica.

There were lots of colorful stained glass windows, and the afternoon sun was shining through on one side. Below are pictures of two of the windows I found most interesting. Not all the windows were this fancy, but even the ones without saints were still nice.

As we were heading out, I noticed a small, circular stone stairway leading to the bell tower. I snapped this picture of the sunlight angling in through a narrow slit window and illuminating the steps. Out of respect, I resisted the urge to climb to the bell tower. [I'm not sure that this attempt at creative photography is as compelling to you the viewer as it was to me at the time.]

After we left the church, we simply walked about 10 yards to the beach in front of the church. Here is a view taken from the fence line at the beach looking back at the church.

The beach in front of the church is known as “Bubble Beach.” Just like Champagne Reef where I've snorkeled a few times, Soufriere—which is a bit further south from Champagne—has a lot of volcanic activity not far below the earth's surface (you may recall that I recently visited some hot springs that are located further inland from the village of Soufriere). Thus, there is hot water venting into the sea in this area, and lots of little bubbles streaming to the surface. At Bubble Beach, they have placed rocks to cordon off some of the sea water, thus creating a hot springs bathing area (as shown below). The water is quite warm!

Finally, I let a friend snap a picture of me standing behind the touristy “Photo Bench.” Notice the fishing boats anchored in the background. Fishing is a major activity in the Soufriere/Scotts Head area.

All in all, it was an interesting visit to a unique and beautiful part of this amazing island. Now, back to getting ready for the opening of school tomorrow.