OK, we’ve been at this for a while now (thirteen months to be exact), and this is the most beautiful place we’ve been so far. I enjoy the white beaches and turquoise waters of the Bahamas, the friendly people in the Grenadines (and Grenada), the volcanoes, the everything so far. But, Dominica was on another level.
Like some other places we’ve been, I certainly appreciate that I can communicate easily with the people since the official language is English (thanks Treaty of Versailles). Also like the other poorer places we’ve been, there is a decent amount of trash. One morning from our anchor spot we watched the construction crew at a new resort literally bull-dozing trash right into the ocean. It is insane to watch, and I suppose as people from a very rich country, it is easy to pass judgment as well.
Roseau
We stayed on mooring balls in Dominica, rather than at anchor. The primary reason is that the land under the water is a mirror image of the land on the other side of the shoreline. So, very close to shore the water is often still extremely deep and steep, which makes anchoring a bit challenging. Also, anchoring seems to be frowned upon since the island’s economy is largely made up of eco-tourism and anchoring has the potential to cause issues with corals, etc.
Champagne Reef
Our first stop was to a rather unique snorkeling spot. Much like every place we’ve snorkeled in the Caribbean, the coral was underwhelming and the fish diversity was also lacking. There was one cool little shelf with loads of fish underneath.
Fira was going below the surface for the first time to try to look below it.
But, the Champagne Reef was still quite a sight since there are geothermal vents under the rocks and small bubbles pour out from the reef like a glass of champagne.
Morne Trois Pitons National Park
Very near to Roseau is a huge national park. We rented a car for a couple of days and drove in for hikes and swimming.
Trafalgar Falls
The first day we went to Trafalgar Falls and hiked up to the pools. It is two main waterfalls, but at the bottom of the large pool of the taller (Papa) fall, there is a natural hot spring that mixes in with the cold water of the falls.
It was rather hard to figure out how to get up to the pools, but a couple of people gave us some tips for finding our way. There are guides that will show you the way, but we prefer to explore without some random stranger hanging in our back pocket.
Dublin was rather enjoying himself with all the rock climbing we had to do. Flip flops were like milk on a hot day…a bad choice.
Boiling Lake
Our next adventure was a 7.5 hour hike to the Boiling Lake. It is the second largest boiling lake in the world, the largest is in New Zealand…possibly in our future in a couple of years or so.
Again, everyone recommends a guide and the hike was not very kid-friendly, but we went anyway. Our kids are beasts. We never saw any minors on the trail and everyone who saw our kids chugging along was very impressed. I am too.
This is about as smooth and simple as the hike got.
It had quite a bit of vertical climb, extremely slippery mud, sections too steep to walk on which had ropes for rappelling and climbing and quite a few creek crossings.
After a couple of hours hiking we descended into the Valley of Desolation. It was kind of like Yellowstone near the geysers. The soil and water were many different colors based on temperatures and mineral deposits. The small creeks running through the valley were boiling at their sources and everything was smoking and stank like rotten eggs.
After four hours of hiking, we arrived at the destination, the boiling lake.
It was really neat and we hung out for a while eating a makeshift lunch and re-hydrating.
We made it back in just over three hours (more downhill than up on the way back). We were hot, sweaty, tired and hungry.
Right at the start of the hike there is a cold water gorge and we decided to go in to refresh ourselves. We talked briefly with one of the guys who rents the mandatory life jackets about our hike. He was thoroughly impressed by the kids (or scared by our parenting) and referred to our family as ‘special’…just like my mom always told me I was :)
Titou Gorge
Like other spots we’ve been to on this trip, the Titou Gorge was used in part of the filming of one of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. Since we’ve not watched the movies, we just take people’s word for it.
The swim inside the gorge only took 10-15 minutes and within 1 or 2 we had cured ourselves of being too hot. That water was so cold.
The waterfall inside the gorge was kind of powerful and I got in trouble for walking underneath it. Inside the little place where the fall hits, the current was really powerful and was shoving us all around like a Pearl Jam concert in the early nineties.
Portsmouth
This stop near the north end of Dominica was decent, and as we get further away from the time, it will keep getting better. There is plenty to do here, we ate good food ashore and met some nice people. The trouble is that the wind and current made the anchorage untenable. The boat was thrashing so wildly that it was not only nauseating, but downright dangerous to get on or off the boat. Videos never do wave height any justice, but I assure you this is not what you want your house doing for a few days in a row. For scale, consider that our boat is 47 feet long and is just getting tossed about like a pillow.
We left to head north before conditions got worse, but we weren’t ready to leave yet. We did manage to get ashore and do some cool stuff though, so it wasn’t all bad.
Fort Shirley and Cabrits National Park
The anchorage is right next to a small peninsula that is a national park. The 5-6 miles of hiking were so easy after Boiling Lake, but Grete complained about her legs still being tired from it. The Cabrits are two large hills with small cannon batteries on top that were built to protect the port. Also on the peninsula is a very well maintained fort that was renovated and from the look of it now serves as a spot for large group camping.
The Cabrits hikes took us past the old ruins of the fort’s commandant, and several small cannon positions.
Indian River
The Indian River ends near the south end of the bay and several local boat guides do tours into the nature preserve. Our guide pointed out species of trees and birds and gave us bits of history and trivia about Dominica and the Carib Indians.
One stop on the tour was at an old river shack that was built for a Pirates of the Caribbean movie. The shack is not used for anything, but just sits as a tourist spot for movie fans.
Horseback Riding
Our last activity was an early Valentine’s Day gift for Grete. I found a horse ranch nearby and we went on a ride. It was a nice simple walking tour of part of the Cabrits park trails and ended with Grete and Fira riding the horses at the beach.
Dublin and I both weren’t interested in getting sandy and salty that day.
After the ride, it was time to take advantage of the southerly wind and head north back to Guadeloupe to wait out the next wind shifts. Dominica, I’m not done with you and can say with confidence if I ever come back to the Caribbean it will be here.