After only four days in Port of Spain, we headed off to Dominica. We flew LIAT, which is a local Caribbean carrier with a fleet of Dash-8 turbo props (Samuel's favourite aircraft). The flight to Dominica from Trinidad stops in St Lucia and Antigua and on the way we had clear views of Grenada, St Vincent and the Grenadines and Guadeloupe. We arrived in Dominica at its main airport which is on the opposite side of the island to the capital, Roseau. To get to Roseau you have to drive through the mountains and a number of villages for 90 minutes. So, by the time we arrived in our hotel, we had stopped in two Caribbean countries, seen three from the air and been blown away by the rugged rainforest of another. Yep, we're definitely in the Caribbean now!
We had four days in Dominica to explore Roseau and beyond. The island is dramatically beautiful. It doesn’t have the bright white beaches that you may expect of a Caribbean island. Rather, for the most part, the island is covered in dense rainforest from where the land meets the sea to the very top of its three Pitons. It seems to rise seamlessly out of the ocean and continue up and up to clouds that hang around its peaks. Fittingly, the indigenous Carib name for the island was Waitukubuli, meaning “tall is her body”.
We were very lucky to see a lot of the island. We explored Roseau by foot (and pram) and spent a day driving around the island with the driver that had picked us up from the airport. That day of touring involved many walks through the rainforest to waterfalls and even swimming in the “Emerald Pool” at the foot of a gentle 40 ft waterfall. It was blissful and, despite being very cool, Samuel didn’t want to get out.
Roseau, the capital (pop. 15,000) is a quaint place with beautiful stone and wooden buildings from the colonial era. However, very few of those buildings have been maintained and you have to look past their dilapidated state to see their beauty. Imagine a small Caribbean port 150 – 200 years ago with beautiful colonial buildings and sailors and pirates stumbling from pub to pub. Now, imagine that scene 200 years later - the buildings haven’t been renovated, the sailors have been replaced by American tourists from a docked cruise ship and the pirates have been replaced by Rastafarians. Now, that’s Roseau. It certainly has character and we thoroughly enjoyed exploring it.
Once a week this American cruise ship docks in Roseau and dominates the town's 'skyline' (just as its tourists dominate the streets).
This young girl started talking Samuel and Jesse in the market you can see in the picture above. She thought Jesse was adorable and cuddled and chatted with him for about ten minutes before moving on.
This is the school that the girl in the photo above attends. Even the more modern buildings are struggling to stand up against the elements in Dominica. Everything man-made on the island seems to be in a constant struggle with nature and nature is winning. See, for example, the Police Headquarters and the school bus below.
In 1979 Hurricane David uprooted this African boab tree in the Botanic Gardens and dropped it on the top of this school bus, which was fortunately empty at the time. It has been left in place as a monument of sorts.
The boys exploring the botanic gardens in the pram. The Phil & Teds pram was quite a conversation starter. Most people were quite friendly and would start talking to Samuel in the front before starting to giggle to themselves when the saw Jesse pointing up at them from below.
This image sums up the roads throughout Dominica (although this is probably the only straight stretch on the island) - narrow, dotted with potholes and struggling to keep nature at bay. These are the sorts of roads you travel on for 90 minutes just to get from Roseau from the airport. They are also the roads we explored with our driver, Donald, for a day.
One of the first places Donald took us to was Trafalgar Falls, which was a 15 minute walk through beautiful rainforest.
Donald and Samuel.
Jesse boy spent most of the day strapped in the Baby Bjorn. When we were walking through the rainforest he flapped his arms and sang songs. He loved it. However, when we got back in the van to continue the tour, he complained bitterly (as baby seats aren't generally used and there are very few on the island, the Baby Bjorn acted as his seat belt).
Trafalgar Falls.
Donald also took us to a number of sulphur springs along the way.
After a 15 minute walk through the steaming rainforest the Emerald Pool was so inviting. Samuel insisted that we have a swim!
There's something strangely Gollum like about Samuel in this photo.
Jungle boy Sam.
Donald used his day showing us around to do his shopping. We pulled up at every stall we passed and he stocked up on his fruit and veg. Here he bought a bunch of plantains, which I still mistake for bananas.
As Donald pulled up at this point he explained that he was stopping because it was a good lookout. It is a good lookout indeed; however, the real purpose of the stop became clear when he disappeared up a guava tree with a plastic bag and came back with it full.
Samuel devouring a guava straight from the tree.
Interestingly, Dominica is the only Caribbean country to have an existing indigenous population. Roughly 3000 Caribs live in their own territory on the eastern side of the island. They continue to make canoes such as this one in their traditional way.
The Carib mango (and coconut) man.
The view from our hotel
