They say if Christopher Columbus came back today the only island he would recognise would be Dominica! Talk about unspoiled natural splendour, perfectly beautiful. It was the last of the Caribbean Islands to be colonised. The Caribs who settled here in the 14th century, called the island Waitikubuli which means “tall is her body”. Columbus changed the name to Dominica which is Sunday in Italian, the day of the week he discovered it. Sunday 3 November 1493.
I don’t know about you, but then someone says “Caribbean Island” the picture that is conjured up in my mind is white beaches, slight dunes with coconut palms, clear water and small bikinis. (J That’s Andre’s bit) Many Caribbean Islands are something quite different and it’s always a surprise to discover it. Dominica is a prime example; mountains, rainforests, waterfalls, gorges and black volcanic beaches. It is an absolute unspoiled “Garden of Eden”.
As it turns out he was right; the Dominicans are friendly, sociable people, they know their main resource is tourism and the beauty, safety and friendliness of the island; and they live it!!
The next day we took our dinghy to the nearest jetty, locked it on and went into town. The owner of the jetty assured us we did not need to lock it on but we told him our insurance insisted on it, he laughed and said no problem. It turns out he was right, Dominica is awesome.
As most of the attractions are in the middle of the Island, we booked the car to be collected at 0800 the next morning.
We woke to cloudy skies and rain showers (here they call rain liquid sunshine) so we took a taxi into town only to be told he couldn’t give us a car as they had run out of petrol on the island and no one could fill up. What a disappointment! A few enquiries revealed that there were still taxi’s running quite near to Trafalgar falls. The falls tumble off of the top of the mountain crashing onto the rocks below surrounded by lush rainforest. Passing through the entrance a short walk takes one to a wooden viewing platform. From there you can see Mother falls on the left and Father falls to the right. This is where all the cruise ship tourists stop and take photos. (It was cruise ship in town day) Just a little further along the path is a sign stating “go further at your own risk as river is prone to flash floods”. Perfect it meant there was no one else there. We climbed over the rocks to the base of the falls. The water runs over the rocks and forms small pools which run one into the next. Among these cold pools from the waterfall warm sulphur water springs bubble out of the rocks. So one pool is cold and right next to it a warm water spring, the two run together and a warm pool is formed. It was too much to resist, we stripped off and climbed into the warm pool ducking in under the hot waterfall then cooling off in the cold one. Wonderful; our own “private” spa.
We stopped for coffee to allow a huge downpour to pass and then set off on foot to the next attraction. One thing about the Caribbean, they say if you don’t like the weather wait half an hour!, We get drenched in a shower and before the next shower starts you have dried off already.
Wotten Waven is a rural village basically surrounded by sulphur springs. The walk up to Wotten Waven is along a shady road edged with rainforest you pass by the local’s houses and the school. It is less touristy than other towns as the road between Roseau and Trafalgar falls has only recently been built to pass by Wotten Waven, so in effect it is still to be discovered by the cruise ship crowd.
A bill board advertised, Tikiwa Spa; Hot Sulphur baths, mud pools, waterfall and rum tasting in natural gardens. This appealed to us and we set off to find it. A long steep climb brought us to the entrance. It is private property where the enterprising owner has set up a spa using the natural flow of the sulphur springs and river water. They have channelled the water through bamboo poles from the source to old iron ball foot bath tubs. The poles run overhead and gravity drops the water in a small shower into the four baths. Nearby they have built a deeper big pool to wallow in. From one of the overhead bamboo runs icy water to cool off under. We wallowed in the hot water taking advantage seeing we have not been in a hot bath for over a year! But nope no soap allowed L
We thought we were in for a long walk back but as we left the spa a bus passed us and promised to come back and fetch us, which he did. Back in town we heard there was still no petrol and wouldn’t be for at least two days.
A short snorkel when we arrived had convinced us diving was a must. The next two days we joined Action divers, as diving without a guide is not allowed in Dominica, we did four dives.
We dived Scots Bay, on the southern point of the island. A pretty dive; with lots of coral and reef fish. The next dive was Caribs leap. This is at the base of a sheer mountain cliff. The Carib men were allowed to have more than one wife, but the women not. If the men suspected or caught a wife being unfaithful he would throw her off of this cliff. The dive site displayed none of its historical dramas.
When we got back from our dives on the first day we were delighted to discover, Ocean Spice, Southern Blue and Quest had arrived. There were now four South African Catamarans in the Bay. We told them of our plans to hire a car and Johan and Jeanne on Southern Blue elected to join us. Ocean Spice and Quest had decided they wanted to do the Trafalgar falls we had done on our first venture into the mountains.
Middleham fall is one of the highest waterfalls in Dominica. The hour walk through the rainforest is incredibly beautiful. There are more than 60 species of trees including the huge Chataignier, this trees sends out surface supports making “walls” extending from the base of the tree at about 7 – 8 feet high and about half a foot thick, sloping down until they disappear into the ground. The long steep walk there and back was worth it, the falls cascade over the mountain crashing into the rock below where it has formed a natural pool.
Our next stop was Titou Gorge. Parts of the movie “Pirates of the Caribbean” was shot in this gorge. The rock has been worn out by the water over the centuries and a gorge about 3 meters across and about 30 meters high. You enter the water at a small pool they have built then swim up the gorge. The current of water gets stronger and stronger the nearer you get to the source. The depth does vary as you go and there are places we could stand and take a breath. Although the gorge went up beyond the falls we were unable to get through the current. The swim is awe inspiring and a little eerie.
After the swim in the cool fresh water we all voted for a visit to the Sulphur Spa’s. This time we chose “Screw Spa”. The land owner Mr Screw (Seriously, that is apparently his name) has developed his land around the hot springs. They flow into 5 different pools; the first one is very hot and right next to it the cold water has been channelled to a cooling off pool. As the hot water fills and overflows to the next pool it cools until the last pool is just a little cooler than body temp. We all wallowed in each pool then made out way back to the hot one cooling down in the cold one before we set off back home.
Dominica is known for its “Yacht Helpers”. In Roseau we had used the services of Sea Cat, it was his moorings we had tied onto and used his dinghy dock and water. We were still a mile out when the first yacht helper approached us in Portsmouth. The yacht helpers provide all services for the yachts they will get you fruit, bread and ice. Take your laundry to be done, act as a water taxi, find a technician or any other service you may need. They act together in a group called PAYS: the group provided security, help maintain the dinghy docks and generally try to make sure your stay is as easy as possible. PAYS members primary business is tours, river and mountain. They also have restaurants and taxi’s and a dive shop ashore.
They are qualified guides and we booked a tour up the Indian River. The eight of us from the four SA boats were picked up at 07h00 the next morning. Our guide was Eddison Laville a senior member of PAYS. As Murphy would have it was overcast and pouring with rain when we boarded his boat. The short trip to the mouth of the river was very wet, once we reach the river he cut his engines (no engines allowed on the river) and rowed. The river is very beautiful, the trees forming an arched canopy above. The movie scene of the old witch doctor in Pirates of the Caribbean was shot here and Eddison took us to the site. They apparently booked out the whole area for a couple of weeks while it was being shot. He told us most of the actors hired local houses. They were down to earth and friendly with no airs with the exception of Johnny Depp. He had an attitude of note and demanded to be treated like some sort of god! Where the river becomes too shallow to continue we stopped at the Jungle Bar and sat in the sun warming up drinking their tea and eating our sarmies.
The next day, Sunday PAYS has their weekly beach braai. All the yachties are invited, you pay EC50.00 per person and eat and drink as much as you like. It sounded like a good excuse for a party so we with Southern Blue and Quest took advantage. We took dinghy across to the beach, dumped our shoes, jackets and bags at one of the tables and stood nearby chatting, dancing and drinking. I suddenly noticed Andre’s new hiking sandals were no longer next to mine. A quick search and we realized they were stolen. I quickly informed Eddison and Jeff, the president of PAYS. In no time the police had arrived and half the PAYS members were questioning and searching. They assured us they would get them back. Jeff said they knew who the suspects were and they were now being watched by the police. If and when they eventually wore them they would be arrested and prosecuted to the full extent of the law. They took it very seriously and said they had decided no locals allowed at the beach braai’s. We were impressed but didn’t hold much hope as we were leaving soon and if they found them we figured we would have moved on. To our surprise two days later they arrived at our boat with the shoes, they said they found them on a bench at the braai area. We figured the thief had either borrowed them for a function (hahaha) or had got scared as the police were taking it very seriously, and put them back. Well done Dominica, we salute you and your people.
The next day we waved a sad goodbye to Dominica, definitely an island we could have got stuck on.
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