A very fast sail north from Martinique brought us to the paradise of Dominica. This British commonwealth nation is extremely tropical and has a very small population thanks to its non-stop volcanic peaks that leave little room for towns or any significant agriculture. It has the highest concentration of live volcanoes anywhere in the worlds, 9 in just 300 square miles. The island is a wonderland of hiking trails and waterfalls. Geothermal and hydro energy are becoming a major resource and being sold to neighboring islands. Interestingly, we both saw and were told that all the laborers are imported from India and the bosses are all Chinese as China has a major presence. China has built several hospitals and rebuilt a number of schools that will supposedly withstand hurricanes. Unlike many countries that are deep in debt for such things to China, Dominica is not. They simply agree to support China on all votes at the United Nations. And everybody knows this is the deal! Very interesting, we thought.
The anchorage for the town of Roseau is an open roadstead (not a protected bay) but was great while we were there. Dominica has one of the highest percentages of centenarians in the world and had the record for a while with a 128 year old woman. Such longevity is supposedly linked to their exceptionally clean water and food. As there has never been any big industry or big towns, there is little pollution and water is drinkable from any of the mountain streams. (It rains almost every day.) We saw people filling water jugs on the side of the road in many places. We hooked up with a local guide for a couple tours and he also owns and maintains the moorings. He goes by the name SeaCat and is a real character. He’d be driving the van and suddenly stop mid-sentence and dart off into the jungle, returning with various unusual fruits, spices or leaves to treat illnesses. On the hike to Middleham Falls, he disappeared ahead of us and then popped out of a massive buttress root as we approached, explaining that the various conquerers of Dominica repeatedly wrote that the natives would just disappear into the woods or suddenly attack from behind out of nowhere. In one long day we toured Roseau, hiked to Middleham Falls, had lunch with a spectacular canyon view in the rain, hiked to the Trafalgar Falls aka Mother/Father falls (and spent an hour in the hot falls there), swam the Ti-Tou Gorge (freezing cold) and drove the botanical gardens before taking in sunset from an old fortification. The Ti-Tou Gorge was particularly interesting as the swim was only a few hundred yards but against a strong current so waist floats were required. This is the gorge where they filmed the scene of Jack being chased by cannibals in one of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. The waterfall at the end was intense but we could climb onto a rock underneath it. The crushed school bus in the botanical gardens happened in Hurricane David, Aug 29, 1979. That’s a baobab tree that fell on it.
The next day we did a unique snorkel on the Champagne Reef. Lava, not too far down, is heating water that seeps to the surface in this area along with little champagne bubbles. The seeps were generally along fissures in the seafloor and so were in long lines. Nothing special about the reef, just the bubbles and areas of quite warm ocean. We walked around Roseau and checked out the Fort Young hotel, literally built into the ruins of an old British fort.
We only did a few dives in Dominica as you cannot dive on your own and guides add up. But the upside of having a guide is they know where all the good stuff is, like seahorses and frogfish! Both of those are pretty rare to see as they are masters in camouflage so we were stoked about that. Beautiful reefs too. One dive had a long swim-through tunnel. A few minutes later we circled back and our air bubbles were percolating through the top. John also got his best ever pics of a banded shrimp. They’re hard to capture well as they are so small.
After sailing up to Portsmouth, at the top of Dominica, we took a panga tour up the Indian River. You are not allowed to use a motor so they actually row you a couple miles up this pretty estuary. It is most famous as the filming location of Calypso’s cottage from the Pirates movies. The set is still there.
Fort Shirley, est 1771, once housed 600 soldiers and occupied a huge area at the north end of the bay, repelled a large French invasion and was the site of a slave soldier rebellion that led England to free slaves who were serving in the army in 1807. Parts of it have been well restored. Interestingly, the Jamestown colonists stopped here for two days on their way to Virginia in 1607. We enjoyed a beach barbecue, did a night dive and drove around the north end of the island seeing the sights.
