Friday 18 April 2014

 

Happy Birthday Andrea (although she almost certainly isn’t reading this!).

 

We were collected at 7 am by Martin (Providence) along with Michael and Karen on Nauti Dog to take us to the local tourist attraction, The Indian River.  It was a fast ride with his powerful outboard engine to the entrance of the river.  The engine was turned off as they are not allowed up the river because the noise disturbs the wildlife and the wash from fast boats damages the river banks. 

 

The gentle motion as Martin rowed slowly was peaceful and we were treated to a talk about crabs and the many birds that we saw.

 

 

If we remember correctly we think this is a ‘baby’ Heron who wasn’t the slightest bit perturbed by our presence:-

 

 

 

 

The peaceful Indian River:-

 

 

 

 

 

The second and third Pirates of the Caribbean films were made in Dominica and one of the houses built for the set lies up a short tributary.  Note the wide, buttress roots of the tree to the right.  These help stabilise the trees during storms and hurricanes:-

 

 

 

The agreement was that everything had to be put back in place after filming (except things like this which were agreed) and all the runway boards on the ground, ‘mist makers’ and much else was carefully removed.  The regrowth is very quick of course and there are no signs at all of any filming activity.

 

And then it started to rain.  And more, then still more.  Martin explained that we were in the rain forest so what we see is what we get.

 

Michael and Karen sorting themselves out at the head of the river:-

 

 

 

 

A recreated ‘typical Carib house’ with all round ventilation.  One hut like this would sleep up to 8 people on the bare floor and serve also as the living area.  The kitchen and toilets were each in separate buildings.  Martin explained that this type of housing changed only relatively recently and his grandmother still lived in one during his childhood:-

 

 

 

 

 

The head of the river:-

 

 

 

 

 

Martin started cutting away with his knife at some leaves and flowers:-

 

 

 

 

And a few minutes later gave this to Lin, complete with Humming Bird:-

 

 

 

 

He stopped the boat on the way back and made something similar for Karen.  The sun then came out and everything looked completely different with the light shining in the woods.  I don’t think the difference is captured well in this photograph but here goes:-

 

 

 

 

Soon after we were taken back to our boats the heavens opened again producing several rainbows:-

 

 

 

The river is shorter than we expected but the trip was really enjoyable and best done in the early morning before the river gets busy.