Dominica is the southern most Caribbean island of our cruising adventure this year. Saving the best for last! It is an island more lush than you can imagine, with steep mountains including five active volcanoes and waterfalls everywhere. The island bills itself as “The Nature Island” and relies heavily on eco-tourism. They structured it in a way that provides jobs for its residents while helping visitors enjoy and learn about so many of its charms. Many areas require guides to access them, but surprisingly, the costs for tours are very reasonable. This is such a unique place that having a guide really enriches your experience. We took advantage of some of these tours and services this past week and also did some trips on our own.
When you arrive in each of the two main anchorages of Dominica (Portsmouth and Rousseau), men in small brightly painted boats approach you and ask if you want some help tying up to a mooring ball. Although we normally prefer to use our own anchor rather than mooring balls (we trust our tackle more), sometimes the water is too deep to safely anchor or there is a lot of coral in the area and they are trying to protect it by not having anchors and chains break and damage the coral. If you have ever tied to a mooring ball, you know it can be tricky, especially if the wind is blowing hard, as it always seems to do in the Caribbean. Having someone in a small boat to pass your lines to help secure your boat to the mooring ball is a big help. We decided to pay for a mooring ball in both locations. The “boat boy” then talks to you about possible tours you might want to do and also offers other services like trash collection, laundry etc. They provide all sorts of information about the town, where to leave your dinghy, where to get groceries, etc. They also provide security in the harbor, which in some of these islands is a big deal. Dominica had a bad reputation several years ago, but they have organized themselves in ways to provide services and security (PAYS in Portsmouth) and we felt very safe in both of these anchorages.
PAYS boat service men helping a boat with their mooring
Now for the fun stuff! Our first activity in Dominica was the Indian River boat tour which we shared with a German family with two teen age daughters. Our guide, Martin Providence, described the vegetation, provided history about Dominica and even entertained us with singing his country’s national anthem as he gently rowed us down the river (no motors allowed)! The river narrows and the jungle vegetation grows overhead creating this cool green cave effect. There are huge bloodwood trees with their massive buttress roots as well as all sorts of palms and ferns, flowers and green vegetation. The river was used to film the second of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies with the witch Calypso’s swamp shack (we stopped there). We heard lots of birds and parrots, saw green back herons flying low along the river, saw iguanas, crabs and other birds. We stopped for a snack of fresh coconut as Providence plucked one off the ground and broke into it. Further up the river we stopped at a jungle bar where we enjoyed fresh juices and rum punches. We took a short walk through the vegetation and Providence described the many uses for the herbs and plants along the way. Dominica is working hard to preserve this local knowledge. It was a delightful other worldly morning.
Indian River Boat Tour was so peaceful.
Our guide, Providence, entertained and educated us well!
Bloodwood Tree buttress roots grow in the strangest shapes.
The witch Calypso's hut from Pirates of the Caribbean 2
People weave cushions out of grass and then carry heavy baskets on their heads, no hands! I had trouble just keeping the cushion balanced on my head!
David and I enjoy hiking and this is the natural place to do that! We did an all-day guided tour in the Rousseau area that included a hike around Fresh Water Lake. We hiked up steep steps and walked along knife edge ridges to wind swept views of the Atlantic Ocean. As we are discovering, all hikes in Dominica appear to be wet and muddy as this one was, but there were some strategic ropes so you could pull yourself up the especially muddy steep parts.
The Fresh Water Lake hike had lots of steps, and thankfully, lots of ropes.
Our tour also included a visit to Trafalgar Falls. There are two beautiful waterfalls here. The “Daddy” falls have boulders at the base that you can climb, watching out for the hot steam that is escaping in between some of the rocks! At least the steam makes these places easy to see! The Momma falls has only cold water.
The "Daddy" Trafalgar Falls with hot springs in the boulders below
I think my favorite part of the day was Titou Gorge. This is yet another cold mountain river that flows between high canyon walls. After donning a life jacket (required), you start in a pool and then swim into the darkened cavern. David thought the echoes of voices bouncing around inside was very eerie! You have to swim about 50 meters and then sunlight shines down from above on a small but powerful waterfall. Very cool (literally!) experience.
Waterfall at end of Titou Gorge
Entrance to Titou Gorge
David and I also attempted the hike billed as “the best and hardest hike” in Dominica, Boiling Lake Trail, without a guide. This was an extremely steep and muddy trail (I use the word “trail” loosely here) filled with rocks and roots and water. We don’t have our hiking boots onboard unfortunately and tennis shoes weren’t the best footwear so we took it slow. After a few hours of steady climbing, we came to a small clearing at 3168 ft and amazing 360 degree views! From there, you descend into the Valley of Desolation (I just love that name!) and you can see steam rising from the boiling lake within the crater. At this point we were slipping and sliding in the mud and started thinking, hmmm, we are going to need to climb back up this on the way home and that will not be fun. We will be wet muddy messes and then still have a two hour hike back. Following our motto this year “that this is SUPPOSED to be fun”, we opted to not do the last 0.5 mile of the hike through the hot swirling boulders in the Valley of desolation and up to the Boiling Lake. The lake is supposed to look like a cauldron of bubbling greyish-blue water that is enveloped in a cloud of vapor. It is believed that the lake is a flooded fumarole, a crack through which gasses escape from the molten lava below. Although we didn’t get to the end, it was still a beautiful and fun hike.
The mist on the upper left is coming from the Boiling lake. The whitish boulders are the bottom of the Valley of desolation and hot gasses and different colored water swirled around them.
The hike involved two river crossings. we soaked our aching feet here on the way back.
There are sulfur smells and bubbling mud all over the island. Hot mineral spas are tucked into odd places everywhere we went. One of the coolest manifestations of this hot gas that we saw was on Champagne Reef. We snorkeled in an area where there are tons of tiny bubbles coming up from the sand and warming the water. When the fish swim in and out of the bubbles and the sun is shining down, it is just a magical effect!
One of the many hot springs spas
Hot gas bubbles rising from the sand floor
We still have more adventures planned here in Dominica. It is such a unique and beautiful place. It feels very “second world”, less civilized than other places we have been. This island, as so many of the Caribbean islands was hit hard by Hurricane Erica in 2015 and Maria in 2017. 85% of the building roofs were destroyed by Maria. Mudslides are not uncommon. An herbal oil factory and all of its workers were swept away by a recent one. The country has suffered, but they seem to be a resilient and welcoming people. If you love nature and the beautiful wild outdoors, this is the place to visit!
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