Indian River Trip
Beez Neez now Chy Whella
Big Bear and Pepe Millard
Tue 17 Mar 2009 23:51
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Indian River
Trip
The most popular tourist thing to do
when on the north of Dominica is to take a boat trip up the Indian River.
Dominica has three hundred and sixty five rivers, rains every day in the wet
season and is proud of its World Heritage sites, Indian River is one of the most
protected.
   The entrance to
the river is not glamorous, Albert our guide
picked us up from Beez Neez at 07:00 and we headed toward one of the larger wrecks lying across the river
entrance.
 
 As soon as we entered the river,
Bear got out and bought river tickets at the Texaco
garage, gave them to the warden and off we went. I pass no comment about
inserting my husband between the wrecks at the river
mouth .........
   A colourful
t-shirt, for a colourful canoe and oars to match. When we got under the bridge Albert had to turn off the outboard and
begin paddling. The river proper soon showed its
beauty.
 We were soon in dense tropical forest, the river at its widest
is one hundred and forty seven feet, but much of it is winding and
narrow.
   Albert with his finely tuned eyes
soon pointed out an iguana waiting for the sun to come out and warm him. In
the first picture we had to be told where to look,
more obvious in the second where you can see the shape much more clearly in
the central branch. What he looks like up
close.
   We rounded a bend and I was delighted
to see our first chap, centre. Then a red leg and
another.
     A land chap in
hiding, a red leg chap, dusky moorhen we saw
feeding at the waters edge, fiddler crabs we saw
hundreds - the biggest in leaf -lined des-res - small ones nearer the waters
edge and a red necked pigeon.
   The Swamp
Bloodwood Tree is so named after the sap which
oozes when the tree is cut, if the tree is not destroyed by hurricanes or soil
erosion will live up to one hundred and eighty years, they have what is called
buttress roots which are eighteen to twenty feet long. The wood from the tree is
too soft, so not of any commercial value. Albert told us that many plants and
trees are used in home made remedies but that the skill is not being handed down
anymore as regular healthcare and pharmacies take over. The oldest women who
ever lived on Dominica was born nearby in Planvilla and died aged one
hundred and twenty eight, many went to her for herbal advice. We saw many
fragile looking wild hibiscus that here was pale orange, also seen on the same plant pale
yellow, yellow and deep orange. We also saw many Elephant Ears, Wild Sugar
Cane that yields no sugar and is known as Roseau Weed. Glory Cedar looks similar
to the White Cedar used locally for furniture making, Albert told us he had been
treated with Glory Cedar. The leaves are mixed and ground with sea water and it
is rubbed on to nappy rash. Leaves boiled and cooled with fresh water is drunk
to "clean the blood".
  Disney spent six months in the area
building and preparing for the scenes shot for Pirates of
the Caribbean. They built the witches house on the
shore in the first photo. They filmed on a gloriously sunny day but used
lots of fog machines to give the effect in the finished movie.
The full list of shots taken on
Dominica are:
Indian River - site
of the witches house
Vieille Case - Old
Church
Hampstead Bay - Waterwheel Titou Gorge Londonderry River - Beach High Meadow, Soufriere Scotts Head - Cannibal village    We saw a couple of
baby Green Backed Heron and could hear mum nearby. She landed but made the
babies come to her for breakfast.
  Mum and babies are well disguised in the centre of the
photo, but the babies were happy to climb up and pose for
us.
   We
could see from the first shot how high the river gets in the
wet season, we had trouble passing a couple of places as the river is
currently some six feet shallower. The deepest part
seventeen feet where we saw hundreds of Snook and
grey mullet. Albert told us the fish had been getting progressively bigger as
fishing was banned some eleven years ago.
    We
went further on until the landing jetty. There
was much sniggering as to how easily I would extract
myself from Albert and his boat. Bear of course immediately orderred
himself a rum punch as soon as the bar showed itself,
I opted for a beer - the earliest at eight forty five I have ever had a
beer bottle in my hand.
   While
Bear was buying the drinks I went off to explore, finding some interesting plants and flowers.
    The
workman / gardener here sleeps al fresco. Above his
bed he is currently finishing what will become a couple of
tree top chalets for guests to B+B. Full wash and
toilet facilities and his tool at the
ready.
    Albert
put a spoonful of sugar at the edge of our table and within seconds a female bullfinch landed, first one then
two Bananaquits, quickly and greedily digging
in. Then one decided sugar was no substitute for rum and helped himself
off the bottom shelf of the bar. You can just see him in the centre of the shot.
   We
finished our drinks, just time for me to get a plant,
Zandoli and some creeping fern (there are a total of one hundred and
eighty different species of fern on Dominica ) and back to the boat for the
faster return trip. The current meant Albert had very little rowing to
do.
   The
only sound to break the peace and tranquility was Albert's
mobile phone.
 ALL IN
ALL a perfect way to spend a morning, that evening a marvellous
sundowner on board Bees Knees with Jim and Ann, joined by Phillip and Joanna
from Delphinus.
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