Some general photos of Dominica. Banana trees everywhere!
A point worth noting, for those of us who remember the movie "Body Heat" with William Hurt and Kathleen Turner, the final scene of the movie (girl on a beach) was filmed in Dominica.
We bought tomatoes from the market - the sweetest, juiciest tomatoes we've ever had! Delicious with mozarella cheese, pepper, balsamic vinegar and olive oil :-)
Did a fabulous tour of the island yesterday along with 3 other couples - left at 8 am and got back to the boat at 6.30 pm, just in time to go over to the Beez Neez (Pepe and Steven) for drinks and snacks. The tour took us all over the north of the island, from Portsmouth (where we stopped at a pig farm
to see several HUGE pregnant sows, through Dos D'ane, Bense, Calibishie,
We were told many times that Pirates of the Caribbean (1 and 2) were filmed here and shown the sites where they actually filmed the scenes - beach and jungle. Below is the road they built in the jungle for the dolly to run along.
I never saw any of those movies so it was lost on me, I'm afraid but obviously the people of Dominica are very proud of it!
These are jelly coconuts - you don't eat the meat on these, only drink the milk.
(where we had lunch)
to the Carib Indian Village and then to Red Rock. Red Rock is a beautiful area - the shape indicates the previous lava flow from the volcano and the little stones are pumice.
View from Red Rock
back through Bense to Chaudiere Pool (waterfalls).
Before the waterfall, we stopped to see the ruins of an old mill with a water wheel.
Chaudiere Pool is located at the top of the Hampstead River (miles and miles down a really rough dirt track with huge potholes - you really need to be in a 4-wheel drive instead of a minivan although the minivan coped just fine in 1st gear) and then down the very steep valley sides (over 2500 feet almost straight down) through the jungle to the valley floor.
It was a STEEP climb, both down and up.
There you clamber over plenty of rocks and boulders until you get to the waterfall. Going up was pretty brutal, very steep, but everyone managed it just fine although we were all breathless when we got to the top. Dillan (our guide) refreshed us after the hike with banana, raw cacao pods, grapefruits and guavas,
to see several HUGE pregnant sows, through Dos D'ane, Bense, Calibishie,
We were told many times that Pirates of the Caribbean (1 and 2) were filmed here and shown the sites where they actually filmed the scenes - beach and jungle. Below is the road they built in the jungle for the dolly to run along.
I never saw any of those movies so it was lost on me, I'm afraid but obviously the people of Dominica are very proud of it!
These are jelly coconuts - you don't eat the meat on these, only drink the milk.
(where we had lunch)
to the Carib Indian Village and then to Red Rock. Red Rock is a beautiful area - the shape indicates the previous lava flow from the volcano and the little stones are pumice.
View from Red Rock
back through Bense to Chaudiere Pool (waterfalls).
Before the waterfall, we stopped to see the ruins of an old mill with a water wheel.
Chaudiere Pool is located at the top of the Hampstead River (miles and miles down a really rough dirt track with huge potholes - you really need to be in a 4-wheel drive instead of a minivan although the minivan coped just fine in 1st gear) and then down the very steep valley sides (over 2500 feet almost straight down) through the jungle to the valley floor.
It was a STEEP climb, both down and up.
There you clamber over plenty of rocks and boulders until you get to the waterfall. Going up was pretty brutal, very steep, but everyone managed it just fine although we were all breathless when we got to the top. Dillan (our guide) refreshed us after the hike with banana, raw cacao pods, grapefruits and guavas,
plucked fresh from the trees around us. During the tour throughout the day, every now and then Dillan would pull the bus over and pluck something from the trees or bushes - cinnamon, lemons, limes, guavas, grapefruits, lemongrass, nutmeg, lantana, passionfruit, soursop, papaya, cashew nuts, bayleaves, breadfruit, breadnuts, noni (apparently a miracle fruit that cures all types of ailments, but smells really awful), bananas (the blue bags protect the bananas from birds and bugs)
we even stopped for cassava bread and coconuts (drank coconut water and ate fresh coconut).
At one point, we saw HUGE orange coloured fruits in a tree, the size of cantaloupes - turns out they were apricots (not yet in season). We saw mangoes and avocados on the trees although they weren't in season, and saw plenty of dasheen and tannia for sale along the roadside. Pineapples weren't in season, although we did see some plantations. Bananas everywhere! What a lush island, a real "Garden of Eden" and definitely our favorite island so far. We'll be back!
Phillip (and Dic) opening up an almond
This is the tiny port/customs in Anse de Me (the main ports are Roseau, pronounced Rose-oh, and Portsmouth).
More photos of Dominica
a Cashew nut (still attached to its fruit)
Beautiful bright flowers, unfortunately the photo doesn't do them justics
we even stopped for cassava bread and coconuts (drank coconut water and ate fresh coconut).
At one point, we saw HUGE orange coloured fruits in a tree, the size of cantaloupes - turns out they were apricots (not yet in season). We saw mangoes and avocados on the trees although they weren't in season, and saw plenty of dasheen and tannia for sale along the roadside. Pineapples weren't in season, although we did see some plantations. Bananas everywhere! What a lush island, a real "Garden of Eden" and definitely our favorite island so far. We'll be back!
Phillip (and Dic) opening up an almond
This is the tiny port/customs in Anse de Me (the main ports are Roseau, pronounced Rose-oh, and Portsmouth).
More photos of Dominica
a Cashew nut (still attached to its fruit)
Beautiful bright flowers, unfortunately the photo doesn't do them justics
