Dominica is cool!

Dominica is a small, mountainous island with volcanic peaks rising steeply to over 2000ft above sea level. The whole island is covered in lush tropical rainforest, dotted with spectacular waterfalls and gorges- for this reason it’s known as “the nature island”. It has a population of 70,000 – including a reserve in the east for 2000 remaining Carib Indians.

Walking in to town from the ship (which is right there), it is easy to see that Dominica is a very poor place. Buildings are dilapidated and falling down – it appears that they have an ordinance to keep their colonial buildings and houses, but lack the finances to keep them in good condition. The people, however, are happy, friendly and the crime rate is low. Ships come here only a few times a month in the low season – but things are about to pick up.

I first went into town to find a place to eat lunch and sample the local cuisine. However, I really couldn’t find anywhere that seemed sanitary to eat (and I forgot my port & shopping guide). I went back to the ship for free lunch and then went back to the pier to wait for my tour to start.

My tour was “Ti Tou Gorge & Sulphur Springs”. We all piled into several busses – myself with a few passengers I already knew. We were the fun bus for sure, everyone was laughing and joking the whole way. Also, when a tour company know that they have a tour escort (aka me – we have to do tour write ups) they put the best guide on that bus. Our guide was a lovely 22 year old girl called J(insert crazy name here). She was great – very friendly and a lot of fun- and you could tell she really enjoyed her job.

Our first stop was Ti Tou Gorge – which was featured in Pirates of the Caribbean. We hiked up a mountainside past a hydroelectric power plant (smallest power plant ever.. very cute) and reached what looked like a man made pool. It didn’t look very impressive. We were all given little floating belts and went into the water. Being a mountain stream, it was beyond cold! I then noticed a gap in the sheer cliff to our right – this was the gorge. We swam up this gorge, which couldn’t have been more than 3m wide with sheer 20m rock cliffs on either side (and jungle reaching over the top). It was absolutely epic! When we got to the end there was a waterfall, which we swam into and jumped from rocks into its pool (which is over 10m deep and only 5m wide).


(not my photo but pretty cool)

Everyone was dazzled by the experience. Then it was on to the hot springs. These springs were mysteriously called “screw springs”- which leads to hilarious signs such as “SCREW PARKING”. We went down into the sulphur springs, which had had many lovely pools built around them. The water at the top was hottest, and grew cooler in each of the lower pools. Random 70’s music was playing and it was so relaxing and fun in the water. Apparently, swimming there makes you 10 years younger – so apparently I’m back in year 10 again!

It was a wonderful tour and a great way to experience the island and learn about its history and people. I love new ports!