Roseau, Dominica
Seaduced
John & Jane Craven
Fri 18 Mar 2011 22:50
The island of Dominica is small and very volcanic, there are 9 volcanos in total, about 5 of which are still active. These are closely monitored,and as there are earthquakes fairly regularly, about every 4/5 years, there is the likelihood of an eruption. The scenery on the island, is very dramatic, and also very green, they get about 350 inches of rain each year, which is a huge amount. We did a land tour here, for the day and saw many of the sights, which seemed to be mostly waterfalls - they seem to be a bit of a common theme over here.
For something different, however, the first 'sight' the driver took us to was a bus with a tree on top that had fallen in Hurricane David in 1979!
Then back to the more usual sites - we visited Ti-Tou Gorge which is a pool in the rocks, with a swim through the gorge to - yes you guessed it, a waterfall!!! It was lovely though, the water was fresh and cool, makes a great change from salt water! This was also used in The Pirates of the Caribbean film where they escaped in some wicker baskets, down into the gorge. Lots of places in Dominica were used in these films although, as on previous islands, any remains of sets etc have long since gone.
The theme of the day having been set, we trekked through the rainforest to Middleham Falls. These are billed as the most beautiful falls in the whole of Dominica, and to be fair they were quite spectacular, and well worth the walk. The sign said 45 minutes which we thought would be an over-estimation, but it turned out to be exact - it was beautiful walking among the trees in the rain forest, listening to the birds etc - we were lucky walking, we passed hardly anyone else, but when we arrived at the falls we had been beaten there by a large bunch of Americans straight of the cruise dock, who were making a lot of noise jumping into and swimming in the pool at the bottoms of the falls.
Having walked we were starving and ready for lunch which was 'local food' in a bar overlooking a river, this is not quite the novelty it may sound as there are 365 rivers in Dominica!
The afternoon involved more waterfalls, this time the two falls known as Mother and Father falls in Trafalgar, the names relate to the size of the falls, Father being tall and slim and Mother being shorter and fatter!!! After that we went to the sulphur springs, these were much more pungent than the ones in St Lucia, and there were quite a few guesthouses round about although I am sure the smell would put you off staying too long!