More Adventures in Dominica
Wednesday 6th - Friday 8th March 2024
On Monday evening, the night before we left Saint-Pierre, Wendy and Darrell stopped by in their dinghy to say hello and invite us over for a drink later that evening. We had to decline that invitation because we were busy getting ready for our passage the following morning up to Dominica. However, we arranged to meet up in Portsmouth in the days ahead.
Wendy and Darrel have been living aboard their beautiful 55 ft Tayana sailboat “Scirocco” for the past several years. Their travels were significantly influenced by Covid and as a consequence have spent much of the past three years down in Grenada and Trinidad. At one point during the pandemic, they left Fort Lauderdale, Fl to sail to the Caribbean, but were not even allowed to enter Bahamas waters and so sailed further eastwards towards Bermuda and then south directly to Grenada. With nowhere open to re-supply they had to make their supplies, including diesel, last for several weeks, so they kept sailing even when winds were really light. By the time they had cleared quarantine in Grenada they had spent more than 40 days without getting off their boat. Their plan now is to sail back up through the Windward and Leeward islands, visiting some of the places they missed on their way south, and then around June make their way over to Panama, through the canal and onwards …
We had a relatively laid back day on Wednesday, checking in (and out) at customs and immigration and walking around Portsmouth. Wendy and Darrell arrived later that afternoon. We had booked a rental car for three days starting on Thursday and so we got together and have spent the last two days touring around the beautiful island of Dominica.
We started at Titou gorge, up in the southern highlands. This turned out to be an exceptional experience, unlike anything we have done previously. We rented lifejackets (obligatory) and then entered the river, which felt pretty chilly! Swimming upstream you enter a narrow, steep sided canyon that is reminiscent of desert slot canyons you might find in Utah or Arizona … but full of water! The water here was far to deep to touch bottom and the sides too smooth to climb, but after about a hundred yards we arrived at a constriction, where the water flowed really fast. However, it was possible to clamber onto a submerged shelf and walk through to an incredible waterfall that emerges through a hole in the roof of a cave. It was absolutely amazing, and the only drawback was I didn’t (couldn’t) have my camera with me. We could have (should have) rented a waterproof bag for a cell phone, but didn’t, and even if I could have kept my camera dry you would have needed a tripod and there was nowhere to set that down. So sadly, all we have is our memories.
Our next stop was Freshwater lake, way up in the mountains. The weather was perfect and the location so much more impressive than the name might lead you to believe. Gloria and I hiked the trail around the lake (guidebook - 1 hour, moderate) that took us 1.5 hours and we thought was quite challenging. It followed a series of peaks and ridges with astonishing views of the surrounding area. At several points there are rope handrails provided because the path, although stepped, was incredibly steep.
Our third and final stop for Thursday was Trafalgar falls, which Gloria and I had visited previously. On this occasion Darrell and I were able to clamber up the rocks to the base of the “Papa”waterfall. It was quite a scramble and I’m not sure would have been possible in the wet conditions we experienced on our first trip. Once again, the views were impressive.
Today we toured a number of locations that we visited a few weeks ago. It was a very wet morning up in the mountains and a different experience from our last trip. We went to Emerald Falls, Jacko Falls and Red Rocks out on the east coast. We managed to buy some Johnny Cakes with salt cod filling for lunch. They were delicious and I also had a bottle of fresh fruit drink of unknown origin! We also found time to stop by a chocolate “factory” and finished up the day with Ti Punch rum drinks aboard Scirocco.
Mike
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