Dominica: 5/04 Trip With the Guys
by Tab Hauser www.tabhauser.com
(This report is dedicated to our friend Ken who had to cancel last minute and was dearly missed)
Dominica (pronounced Domineeca) is an incredibly beautiful island only matched by the sweetest people I have met in the Caribbean. The landscape has steep mountains covered with the rain forest. As a result of this place being a volcanic island there are few beaches on the leeward side with sharp drop offs just off shore. I have been to St Lucia before and this is somewhat close in formation. In fact St. Lucia is the next island down on the chain in this area of the world.
The reason my group picked this island was because it is off the main route. Another words it is less discovered and less visited by tourists when compared to other islands. There are no large Hyatt’s or all inclusive hotels as seen in many of the more popular islands. We suspect this is the case because there are few beaches and the infrastructure to get around is very basic. The roads are narrow and very curvy. The island is only about 22 miles long and about as third as wide yet it takes an hour and 20 minutes to go from the north tip to south tip and an hour and quarter to get from the airport on the east to the capital on the west. There are 70,000 people and 10,000 cars. People are literate, they do not beg on the street and as mentioned, are very, very friendly. For info go to www.dominica.dm
It is very easy to understand why this is called the “Nature Island”. The
diving is first rate and the hiking goes from mild to wild. This can include
hiking and scrambling through river gorges and peaks, to strolling to some of
the most beautiful waterfalls and swimming holes in the world.
Below is a report on Dominica I am happy to share. This is the 9th year in a row I have put together a trip like this “for the boys”. In the past our outings were strictly fishing trips and usually in Northern Canada. Over the last few years they have morphed into warm weather fishing trips in Costa Rica as well as a fishing / diving trip to Belize. This year we took fishing equipment but could not get the fishing boats we needed so we stayed with diving, hiking and 4 wheeling.
Thursday April 29th
Arrived to Dominica from NY via San Juan. Customs was quick and the van was there waiting to take us to the Castle Comfort Lodge. Our ride took one hour and twenty minutes via a curvy road through the hills and valleys of the center of Dominica passing through the rain forest.
We arrived at the hotel around 3PM where dive master Barbara was waiting for Brian and Gary in our group to complete there open water dive certification. While they were getting set up Kevin, Mike and myself grabbed our dive equipment and it was a plunge off the dock for a 45 minute shore dive. I liked this idea. Leave NY at 7AM. Dive with the fish and coral at 3:30PM. Cocktails and beautiful sunset at 6:15PM! Dinner was at 7PM at the hotel. We made the mistake of taking the meal plan here as the food was only fair to “OK”. Fortunately it was not expensive. Breakfast every morning was good. Tonight the choice was curried goat or overcooked salmon. Not a great welcome for our first night.
Friday April 30th:
Breakfast at 7:30 and every morning was fresh fruit, omelets and their “famous” banana pancakes all cooked to order. From here it was off to the boats for the morning 2 tank dive. We dove in the Soufriere Marine Park. This is a large 2 mile wide half submerged volcano that put Dominica on the map millenniums ago when it erupted. The dives were spectacular. We saw great hard and soft coral formations on walls and many different species of small fish and eels. One of our unexpected highlights of the week happened to during our break between dives. As we were going to our second site a pod of about 20 dolphins swam all around our boat. The boat driver made circles while the dolphins rode and jumped through the bow and stern waves.
After lunch we picked up our Mitsubishi Turbo Diesel Pajero from Courtesy Rentals in Roseau. This is a heavy 7 passenger 4WD vehicle. Dominica is an English driving system. Both steer wheel and driving are on the “other side”. Do not drive here unless you are comfortable thinking left and like the windy narrow roads. My secret to keeping left is to take a Post-It note or tape and write “Think Left” on it. I then place one just under my line of sight on the windshield and the other in the middle of the windshield. My friends thought at first this was a silly looking idea but I believe liked the fact it kept me from straying on the wrong side of the road. Once we were checked out and were filled with diesel we drove to a place called Spanny Falls. This was a nice hike near the center of the island 40 minutes out of the capital. The entrance fee was US$2. The first half was an easy 15 minute stroll and took us to a pretty falls that fell into a pool for swimming. Getting to the second falls was more difficult but attainable if you have no handicaps and are in average shape. To get to the second falls you had to hike up a very steep but short hill. Then you had to go down and around a skinny path that went up and down the terrain. What made this easy was the assistance of a rope staked or tied down so you can pull yourself up and keep your balance. The second falls and pool was just as pretty as the first one. It was here that Mike took a cool dip and Kevin ran behind the falls for a photo opp. Back at the entrance, (The entrance to Spanny’s Falls is at Spanny’s Disco) Mike played some dominos with Spanny’s grandchild while we all enjoyed a Kabuli which is the local beer.
On the way back to the hotel we stopped at the Fort Young Hotel for popular Friday happy hour. From here we went back to Castle Comfort for the most lame of BBQ buffets. Basically Castle Comfort’s Food and Beverage Manager either does not get out often or simply there is no one who specializes in food services there. The BBQ buffet was one very small slab of 4 ribs, one chicken leg served at room temperature with a few basic salads. No second helpings. They would also not heat up the food on the grill when requested. When someone complained about wanting seconds on a buffet they said you ate enough. Castle Comfort needs to learn what it is like to be hospitable to Americans if they want to succeed. In fact, my comments would be for them to go to the Fort Young BBQ buffet as we did later in the week and see how they do things.
Saturday May 1st:
We started the day with a 2 Tank dive. Simply Beautiful! Nice walls and coral pinnacles. After over 150 dives I finally saw my first sea horses here. One was orange and the other was brown. Barbara calls them her special friends and knows where they hang out.
For those not familiar with diving, it is necessary to take a break between each dive. This allows you to outgas any nitrogen in your body. Briefly, the time between dives is calculated by how deep you went on the your first dive to how deep you plan your second dive to be. In most cases 50 minutes to an hour is what is needed for the average dive trip. For the break between dives we visited Champaign Beach. This is an area just north of Soufriere where you see a steady stream of bubbles come up in several places in a area about 75 feet around and just off the beach. It is actually very pretty to see in the clear water when you snorkel. One thing the dive master showed us was a very hot water hole coming up. You could only see it by the distortion in the water in the immediate area. The dive master took a snorkel and went down about 10 feet where she stuck the tube in the hole and blocked the other side with her hand. When she came to the surface she allowed us to feel the extremely hot fresh water. I would estimate the temperature was close to 150F.
After lunch we all went ATV-ing. These are the 4 wheeled drive all terrain open vehicles. We did this with a company called Highland Nature Adventures near the town of Bellevue Chopin. This was a fun and muddy 2 hours. After signing the obligatory waiver we had orientation and a practice session. From there we followed a guide for about 2 hours. For safety and ease there was another guide in the back of our group as well. We followed each other through the muddy jungle tracks for almost an hour and half. This was in a rain forest, so of course it rained part of the time making things even muddier. We were wet, muddy and having a blast playing with these fun machines. One highlight of the tour was stopping in a small village near Pichelin at a Rum Shop for a Kabuli beer and some grilled chicken legs. The beer was on the ATV company. The chicken legs were EC $2 each. (less than a US$1) and were delicious. Another bonus of the stop was meeting some local people. Had it not been for taking the two hour tour we would have never stopped in this little farming village or similar town and seen how they lived. The people here were friendly and their children were clean, well dressed and adorable. They seemed to not mind the intrusion of 7 ATV’s coming into their village for our little break. Price booked direct was $70 for 2 hours. You can take a one hour trip for $50. For those not into ATV’s, they also have horse back riding. Helmets are included and if you do not want to get your shoes and lower legs muddy they rent boots for $3.
Sunday May 2
This was a day off from diving and to do the “Boiling Lake Hike”. We were told
we should have no problem doing this 6 – 8 hour round trip hike after describing
the conditions of basically 4 average middle age guys along with one member in
our group who works out a lot. We picked up our guide Stephanoe in Roseau who
we hired from the The 3 Rivers Eco Lodge. Stephanoe came with his cousin who
helped out by carrying my large pack. We were told to take sandwiches but this
was a mistake two fold. First it took an hour to have sandwiches made at the
Garaway Hotel. Two, most of us did not eat them when we finally arrived at the
Boiling Lake. This hike was so strenuous that eating would have given us cramps
due to the physical exertion this required. If anyone attempts this hike take
a few energy bars and 4 bottles of water. (The guides said that you can drink
out of Breakfast Stream if you are more adventurous and do not want to carry
more than 2 waters)
From Roseau we took a windy road to the entrance of Boiling Lake and paid a $US2 fee to get in. The hike started with a gradual incline for an about an hour. We headed next down hill to Breakfast Stream (or creek) where some of us snacked on some sandwiches about 90 minutes into the hike and tasted the water. Then it was a long climb up to a small peak with views of the near by steep mountains and city of Roseau on the Caribbean. It was then down a very steep side. After what we called the “thousand steps” on a 60 degree angle we arrived with a view of the Valley of Desolation. When we saw the “valley” it was down many more home made steps and then through a nearly dry steep stream where we rested among the sulfur smell of steam shooting out of vents. Other places in this area had water boiling up. At this point we were pretty tired and had at least another hour to go. From here we were on the last leg before the lake. It was during this section that we had time to remember why they call it a rain forest as it poured on us cool rain. Now we were all wet, cool, damp and tired and we still had 45 minutes to go. As the path leveled off we passed a small pool being filled by a 5 foot hot water fall that one could soak in if they wanted. We continued through as we tired, cold and thirsty but anxious to see Boiling Lake. Do not get me wrong about this hike, conditions were uncomfortable but the views and scenery we all agreed on made it worth it.
Finally, we arrived at the worlds largest and highest boiling lake. We could see the steam coming up from where the lake was. Also as the wind changed could see the edges of the lake as well as small waterfall on the left side. When the clouds cleared briefly we able to view the center where the water was actually boiling up. It was amazing. Picture a very large soup pot half filled water on your stove with the center boiling. Now picture this seen about 200 times larger and deeper. Because the clouds were coming in strong we stayed only 10 or 15 minutes passed on having our lunch and regretting not having more water. As we were about to leave the mist cleared for a few seconds due to the wind change and we were able to take a few photos of the center and the waterfalls.
We all looked at each other and thought what a long hike back it was going to be. The idea of a helicopter concession for pick up was thought about for a future business but landing in the near perpetual clouds would have been a problem. Kevin, our most fit man in the group took my truck keys and headed back at his own pace. Mike was 30 minutes behind. Brian started back at his own pace but Gary, myself and the guides caught up with him when we was scrambling up the wrong side of the a rock slide stream that was just 100 yards up the hill from the Valley or Desolation spot we rested at. At this time Brian was starting to feel some real pain in his knees and we were getting very winded. We had to scramble up the rocks and were not allowed to rest because it started to pour on us again. The guides said that a rockslide could happen and kept us moving. (One thing I have learned from being in rainforests ranging from Juneau Alaska to Costa Rica and a Panama is that it can and does rain a lot. When you have the rain forest in the mountains, you now add cool to cold air with that rain.)
We drudged up the hill scrambling on the steep steps getting pelted by the rain and wind. (are we having fun yet?) At this time my right knee was starting to hurt in places it never did before. I had good hiking shoes, Brian was in Teva like sandals and had it worse. Going back up the “thousand steps”, (all at uneven heights) we were forced to rest every 4 or 5 minutes while getting pelted.
For the next 20 minutes we were able to avoid the wind and fortunately the rain had eventually stopped. We continued our climb to the second rest peak with the view, had a swig of the best Scotch I ever had care of Brian and then headed down hill to Breakfast Stream and back up the hill on the other side. Each down step hurt the knees, yet each sharp climb up made you winded. The good news is that we made it back at 4:35 to the swimming area where the hike started. We left 1:45 from Boiling Lake and got the bottom of the trail in just under 3 hours. Brian was hurting a lot and some of us were starved enough to eat the bad sandwiches our guides carried. After some water, kabuli’s and ginger type soda we headed back to the hotel for Advil, pina-colodas and a jump off the dock in our clothes.
Note on the Boiling Lake Hike: While the description shows this hike as intense, it is equally incredible. No one in my group of 5 regretted going on it even though 2 days later on the way home some of us were still feeling it. While “damp, tired and soar” were words described here, “amazing, breathtaking, and incredibly unique” were also used. We learned later on that Boiling Lake is one of the toughest day hikes you can go in the Caribbean because of the type of terrain. I recommend doing this in decent hiking boots or good sneakers. Bring some basic rain gear if you do not like getting wet. (the good news is you dry quickly). Bring lots of water and energy bars but no food. Make sure you are in decent shape and travel with someone you can talk with for the day to keep your mind off some of the trail.
Monday, May 3rd:
We started with another 2 tank dive in Soufriere Bay. Dive Dominca was overwhelmed with a dive club from Steamboat Colorado today. Fortunately this did not effect our group as they gave us back Barbara to be our dive master and we had our own boat with the addition of an avid British underwater photographer who stayed to himself. We had a nice set of dives again. The second dive was my least favorite of the week. We hugged the shore line on the northern tip of the ancient crater. This took us to a short cave with a turtle and a swim through an arch.
After lunch 4 of us drove 40 minutes to Emerald Pool. This is a pretty place but not what I expected. I thought the actual falls was smaller than described and the area did not have that “Emerald” quality to it. There were also almost 20 people in and around the area. (Perhaps I was spoiled by having seen Spanny to ourselves earlier in the trip) The reason we picked this place to visit was because it was an easy stroll from the parking area. The 4 of us went into the cool pool at the base and then allowed the falls to massage our backs.
Our next stop was to drop two members of our party off at the hotel and pick one up. Now there were three of us heading to the Soufriere Sulfur Springs 20 minutes south of the hotel. This is a pleasant spot where the sulfur rich waters are piped into a small pool on one end and drained on the other. This keeps the water fresh. We were the only tourists in the pool and it was a great way to chat with some locals. We spent about 30 minutes here and decided to head to the natural hot springs that enter the beach by the church in Soufriere. At the beach the water comes in very hot. (Too hot to touch with your feet if you do not step carefully) It enters where the sand and pebbles meet the ocean. The closer you are to the sand the hotter the water. The locals here build a rock w in area for bathing no more than 12 to 15 feet across and out. The wall helps hold in the hold water while allowing it mix with the ocean. Brian and Mike mingled in the bathing are with about a dozen people in the small area. I had to pass as I had a small burn on my leg caused from the ATV earlier in the week and the hot water made it sting. The bathing area in this village one of the more unique water front places I have ever seen. It is also directly in front of the Caribbean’s second oldest church. With the sun just setting we had one more goal to attain before calling our site seeing afternoon over.
Just south of this Soufriere is the small village of Scott’s Head. At the end of Scotts head there is an isthmus about 150 feet long by about 15 feet wide separating the Atlantic and the waters of Soufriere Bay which come from the Caribbean Ocean. I read if you have you have a decent 4WD vehicle you can drive up to the top of Scott’s Head so we did. The views were amazing. We saw the moon rise over the village with the water on both sides. We then walked to the right of the large antennae to where there is old cannon. From here we saw the coast line to Rouseau with the cliffs dropping 200 feet off to our left on Scott’s Head. Coming down in the quick darkening sky we passed through the village’s May Day street party. This meant, very large speakers, lots of kabuli’s, rum punches as well as BBQ chicken and lots of swaying and dancing. Driving back to the hotel we passed through the dimly lit villages and saw the rum shops were the men would chat and slam dominoes. What we saw was truly a sea of happy life. With Castle Comfort food being Curried Goat again we made reservations at the Fort Young BBQ buffet. We found the service excellent. In fact they moved a table for us by the water after we told them we did not like the pillars between a couple of seats. They could not have been more hospitable. The food was also very good and we would recommend this place. It had everything Castle Comfort did not. It had more variety, better food and unlimited helpings.
Tuesday, May 4th:
After breakfast 4 of us headed to town to do some last minute shopping and return the truck. Some of us helped the local economy by getting things at the Fort Yong Duty Free Shops. Others picked up trinkets at the outdoor markets from the nicest vendors you would ever meet. From here it was back the hotel for some last minute packing and the van to airport. The hotel originally had us getting there with a little over 2 hours at the airport. I recommend you change this as the airport is not very big and the plane to take us to San Juan only holds about 50 so there is not big rush. We got there about 1 hour and 15 minutes before flight time and had almost and hour to spend our last bit of EC currency on a few more Kabulis.
Other Info:
Castle Comfort is a pleasant but basic place. The reason to come here is the ease of diving. The rooms were clean, the shower good and the beds fine. Some rooms had 50 channels on a small TV, others rooms had a dozen channels. Try to avoid the rooms on the road as traffic can wake up the light sleepers in the morning. While we were there we only saw one other hotel and that was Fort Young we liked its looks. This is more of a small resort and conference type of hotel. If you want ease of diving and want to save money the Castle Comfort will work. If you want to upgrade your stay go to the Fort Young Hotel. Just make sure you organize a pick up for which ever dive center you use. One benefit for staying at Fort Young is that it is at the end of town so you can walk to the few other restaurants in the area if you do care to not take taxis or the bus.
Food: We only got food from three places. One was the hotel. Breakfasts were good. lunch was basic. Many of us had basically the same thing everyday and that was the grilled tuna sandwich. (We did not care for the day the fried the tuna rather than grilled it). Pass on dinner here. We enjoyed a dinner at La Robe Creole across from the Fort Young. Had we been here a few more days we would have ate here again. The last place was the sandwiches her had the Hotel Garaway make. These were pretty poor. Find another place for a picnic. The Destination Dominica guide lists other restaurants and hotels and this can be gotten through the web site or your hotel.
Have fun and send me an email if you used this guide to Dominica
email comments to tabh@hascorelays.com
www.tabhauser.com for more stories