Dominica – boiling over with nature

The small, forest covered, nature island of Dominica had been on our “must-see” list for some time, so we were excited about being there and eager to start exploring some of the many walking tracks that criss-cross the island.   The anticipation was doubled with the knowledge that Ruffian had arrived a few days earlier and Iain had already promised one of his epic adventures to give us a taste of what the island offered.

Dominica was hit by Hurricane Maria in 2017 and over 85% of buildings were destroyed or damaged, displacing over 50,000 people of a population of less than 70,000.  Two thirds of the island is rainforest which cover the nine volcanoes, many hills and deep valleys that make up this beautiful island.   As there is no international airport, most of the visitors arrive by boat or small plane, so tourism is exclusive but important to Dominica.   The locals are proud, welcoming and friendly people who love their country and are keen to share their love of it with visitors, having worked hard to rebuild and recover from the devastation caused by Maria less than five years ago. 

As we arrived in the bay a couple of boats welcomed us with the men introducing themselves as working for PAYS (Portsmouth Assoc of Yacht Services).   PAYS own a number of mooring buoys which they encourage new arrivals to use until checked in.   This is not a requirement but is a forceful request, which we ignored and anchored close to the fishing wharf, explaining that we had engine issues.

We checked in to the country, using an agent as our research prior to arrival had led us to believe we were required to do this, at considerable expense.  The benefit of using an agent was the process was made incredibly easy with passports and papers collected from the boat, so all the paperwork was done in our absence while we were able to make Cerulean “Shipshape” again after the sail.   The downside of using an agent is it was expensive and, as it turned out, unnecessary.  

Together with Zen Again and Ruffian, we set out on our first adventure, feeling excited and guided by our enthusiastic leader, Iain.   The six of us went on the first of many adventures together, catching a minibus to a small settlement called Bense, on the north western side of the island, and then walked about 3km along a well marked track to Chaudiere Pools.   The last part to get to the pools was a scramble along big rocks where Iain and Steve lost no time stripping off and jumping into the clear, deep pools from high rocks above the inviting river.   The water was cool and refreshing as we all soaked off the heat of the day and enjoyed the seclusion under a canopy of trees while new sounds of unknown birdsong filled our ears.  Heading back was interesting as we discovered very few buses used the route, so we walked down to a “busy” main road to try our luck there.   As we walked down everyone we met greeted us with a cheerful “hello” and often engaged us in conversation.   The houses all have gardens and most grow their own vegetables and fruit with Papaya, mango and banana trees in most gardens.   Everything grows well in the fertile volcanic soil and we watched a couple planting their field with yams which will take seven months to grow before they are ready for harvesting.    The six of us sat on the roadside waiting for a bus to go past, but as the sun began sinking, so did our hope of being able to get back to our boats, which were 15km away on the other side of the island.   Just as we were giving up, a man pulled up in a minivan and, unsure whether he was a bus or a taxi, we jumped in with relief!  

On another day we went on a tour of the northern part of the island with Martin, a local guide who is a botanist and has a real love for his home and people.   He is also an OCC (Ocean Cruising Club) Port Officer, and as the six of us were all members of OCC it made Martin a perfect choice.   Martin expertly entertained, educated and guided us around the northern sights and villages.   We visited the cold Soufriere which is a strange phenomenon of a cold volcano – you can see the mud bubbling but it is cold.   We also visited a chocolate factory and had a tour of the process from plant to bar, purchasing a number of the delicious produce after tasting the many different flavours.   We ended the day at Red Rock, a lookout point with views over the Atlantic while standing on the natural sandstone ledge.  It was a lovely day spent in great company and we even swam in a river that Martin insisted would make us appear 10 years younger after our dip, but I’m still waiting for this to happen!

Our next day trip started with catching a bus to Roseau, the capital of Dominica, located in the south west of the island.   The bus took us along good tarmacked, twisty roads following the coastline as we headed south.   We passed through several villages, built along the roadside, or in valleys and surrounded by high hillsides and lush rainforest.   Roseau was a bustling but small capital with few buildings of architectural splendour, as most shops were small and scruffy and houses were often built by those who lived in them so were simple, small and generally basic with few frills.   We were again told there were not many buses to take us to where we wanted to be dropped off, so this time took the number of the driver who gave us a ride, just in case we had problems.   We were headed to Middleham Falls which was well worth the hike to reach them.   The sight and sound of the water falling 67m into the pools below was wonderful and the fact we were able to enjoy swimming in the cool waters on our own was a huge bonus.    Swimming in clear water in the middle of a rainforest is a fabulous experience and one we will never forget.

Our trip back to Roseau was interesting.  Just as we emerged onto the road a flatbed truck came by.   We noticed an elderly man climb in the back, having been told by the driver that the backseat was full of eggs.  We asked if we could also jump in, so the six of us joined the rather amused elderly man, and his sack of potatoes, in the open truck.   After five minutes another man hailed to the driver and also squeezed in beside us.  The trip was made all the more memorable as my daughter rang me just as I was climbing in the truck, with some distressing news and I attempted to hear and comfort her as the eight of us, and a sack of potatoes, clung to the side of the truck as we sped towards Roseau!

Fi and I took an early morning boat trip up the Indian River where Martin introduced us to numerous birds including a close encounter with a couple of hummingbirds which fluttered above us.  There are three breeds of hummingbird on Dominica – the Purple Throated Carib, the Antillean Crested and the Green Throated Carib.   All are beautifully coloured and showed off their fluorescent colours in the morning sun.   We were paddled slowly up the river into thick mangroves as Martin pointed out different trees and wildlife to us including a male Dominican anole lizard as it puffed out its yellow throat to attract a nearby female on a tree in the mangroves.    

We hired a car to explore other parts of the island that were not easily accessible by bus and spent a wonderful day walking to more waterfalls and watering holes, including Syndicate Falls, Jacko Falls and Secret Pool.  We were lucky enough to have all the beautiful locations completely to ourselves and swam at each place.  The walks to find the attractions was often steep but well worth the climb/scramble as we picked our way over rocks and down muddy banks.   The reward at the end was a cooling swim in clear pools with the sound of water cascading down from the high rocks above us.   We drove back along a very rough road through the Kalingaro Carib Village where most of the aboriginal people live.   It was interesting driving through their neighbourhood, which had quite a different feel to the other Dominican settlements, with the villagers out on the street, playing cricket in the middle of the road, only stopping to let us pass as we appeared to be the only vehicle passing through.  

A group of eight of us took on the biggest challenge on the island, a six hour demanding, guided hike to the Boiling Lake, a flooded fumarole.    I have to confess that the hike was really at the limit of my fitness abilities but I’m so happy I pushed myself to get there.   The view above the, literally, boiling lake in the middle of a National Park was incredible.   To get there we walked over sulphur crusted rocks where a hot stream cascaded down the hillside.  An attempt was made to cook eggs in the stream but once the shells turned black, they didn’t cook right through!   We walked through rain forest, scrambled over rocks, slid down steep hills, waded through mud and rock hopped over rivers.   The company and support from our group of friends was wonderful and, even though I managed to get blisters under two toe nails (how does that happen…?) I’m so glad I pushed myself to complete the challenge!    Steve rounded off the experience by swimming through Titou Gorge at the end of the walk – he loved it as he swam upstream in refreshing water, through a gorge to an underground waterfall.

Our final adventure was to the south, visiting Champagne Beach where we snorkelled in the clear water, swimming with a turtle for the first time.   The coral was better than we had seen anywhere else and the fish life was good.   Small bubbles of gas rise from the volcanic sea floor which was unusual and beautiful to swim through.  

Dominica turned out to be a gathering point for many friends we had met at different times during our travels.   We had a very social time catching up, sharing drinks and making new friends. Nicki, from Zen Again celebrated a special birthday and we enjoyed celebrating it with her at a local restaurant which served a huge amount of traditional food to us as we sat outside undercover to shelter from the occasional rain showers.   It all added to the lasting memories of this very special island which became our favourite destination in the Caribbean.    We felt we had experienced so much in our short stay, but the wind was telling us it was time to go and, when you have no usable engine, we needed to take advantage of the good conditions.   Ruffian had already left on their journey to Antigua and St Martins, and we left with Zen Again to continue our journey in the opposite direction, island hopping to Martinique, just 80NM to the south.    We left in the late afternoon for an overnight sail which we anticipated to be frustrating in parts but hoped we could avoid too many wind shadows caused by the tall mountains on both islands but we hadn’t anticipated the strong current we would encounter along the way!

Photo credit: Some photos provided by Ruffian