Nature Island

The last time you heard me I was trying to get to Dominica. We arrived Saturday morning after missing our other two flights and having to purchase another ticket on Liat as we had a special fare and they couldn’t change it. We arrived at our hotel – Portsmouth Beach Hotel around 9.30am and had breakfast while we waited for ur rooms to be finished. We then took a nap and got ready for the wedding.

In short, the wedding was lovely! The ceremony was held in the town of Colihaut and the reception was held at Fort Shirley in Cabrits National Park. It really was a beautiful location, especially seeing it lit up at night as we drove towards it.

Sunday

Spent recovering from a massive hangover as I mixed wine and champagne and hardly ate during the day as I had a terrible upset stomach. There was a lot of rain, and it was a chill day as many were preparing to leave after being there for the whole week. That night, we headed to Massacre, very close to the capital Roseau. We stayed at a house with some friends and canceled our reservation at Fort Young Hotel.

Monday

I was woken up and told a taxi is picking us up and we’re going to the river. OK. We spent the afternoon at a river in Rosalie (I don’t know the name of the river) and I have to say, it was the best day of the trip. I overcame my fear of deep water to be baptized in this portion of a river. We were given a shot of rum then we had to hold on to a rope and pull ourselves across the river that had a strong current from the rains the night before. So much FUN!! Food was cooked there and there was a bar set up. Everything was a ready for a day at the river.

Tuesday

Was another chill day. We woke up late, and then headed down the hill to the shop to see what we could get for breakfast. I knew it was a bad idea to walk (there was a vehicle sitting in the garage that we could use) when after I lost the ability to control my speed going downhill 10 seconds out of the gate. It was a very steep hill. Coming back up was worse! It was like putting the treadmill on incline 15! I should say that Dominica is very mountainous. After that walk that left us panting and drenched in sweat, we decided to go downtown to put money on our phones and look for lunch. We had no maps, no GPS and no clue of where to go or how to get back home. Luckily we’d been to town once or twice with the groom so we had an idea but nothing significant to go by. While in town, we also grabbed a few souvenirs – mine was a shot glass as these are much easier to collect than mugs, as my cupboard has informed me.

They don’t call Dominica the Nature Island for fun. They have 365 rivers – one for every day of the year. There is a reserved area for the Kalinago — or as most people know them to be, the Caribs. Whale watching can be done here, we didn’t go because we did that on our honeymoon in Maui. With the sulphur springs, many rivers and hiking trails, mountains and lush green lands, they’ve created a niche market in eco and nature tourism.

I will warn you of the potential of motion sickness while traveling around the country. The roads are built along the edges of the mountains, therefore there are a lot of sharp twists an turns and steep edges off of the roads. I couldn’t handle the sharp drops sometimes and I had to keep my eyes away from the window sometimes.

All in all it was a good trip.

I’m currently in Barbados enjoying family time until the festivities for the next wedding begin. I have so many pictures that I’m leaving it for another post. Hope you enjoyed this one.

xx