Victoria Falls and la Riviére Blanche

The first time we tried to reach the Victoria Falls, we didn’t even make it to the first river crossing. And driving up from Grand Bay, towards the village of Delices it is far from obvious where the entrance to the falls is.

We drove back and forth a couple of times and finally decided to ask a couple of young boys hanging out by the bus stop on the main road. “Just here”, they immediately shouted, and pointed towards a small gravel road, leading inland. It all made sense, but as we are experienced and not too easily fooled we knew better. Wouldn’t rely on just one opinion. A couple of hundred meters inland, we met another group of boys. They all confirmed: We were on the right track. “But it is quite far”, they added, with big Dominican smiles on their faces, and made a detailed description on how to get there. The road got narrower, steeper, but no sight of the big tree or bay rum factory they mentioned. After a while what is left of the road made a sharp turn, started going downhill and all of a sudden we found ourselves back on the main road again. Going back down again, towards Grand Bay, we drove pass what now had turned into a large group of kids, all laughing and giggling.

Instead, we stopped and asked a couple of young women, on their way to Mass, no risk of them lying, Sunday and everything, but by the time we found the Riviére Blanche, or White River, where the trail starts, we were hungry, decided to have picnic already, then threw some pebbles in the river and decided to return soon, now that we knew where it is.

Several months passed, but this Sunday we easily make it back to the entrance, turn where the signs to the Pichelin-Delices trail stands, just south of Delices, long before the unfortunate bus stop, and leave the car on the “security parking”, are excused from the five US fee and set off, determined to make it this time.

To get from the parking to the actual waterfall, you have to make five river crossings, and although the hike is not extremely difficult, it is best to avoid it when it is raining, as dangerous flashfloods can appear surprisingly fast and unexpected. With a 25 pound almost two years old on your back, it is definitely not recommended.

But today the sun is shining and the water never gets more than knee-high, sometimes up to the thighs, in any of the crossings.

And there is nothing wrong with the trail. Once you find it after each crossing it is easy. The trouble is finding it. And also knowing exactly when and where to cross the river. There are absolutely no signs and I am absolutely convinced the local, most likely self-appointed, so called guides are eager to keep it that way.

Half way through the first river crossing a man conveniently appears, offers us his guide services. And the truth is, we probably wouldn’t have made it all the way to the waterfall without him. At least, it would have taken several hours longer, and plenty of discussions on how dangerous or not dangerous this or that crossing or rock-climbing is, especially with a baby on the back.

With our guide we move along fast, cross the river five times, walk the trails on each side and finally, after the last and deepest crossing, do some basic climbing over a few rocks.

Here we can already get glimpses of the waterfall and it is impressing. It is not the tallest in Dominica, with its 100 feet it makes the forth or fifth, after the Middleham Falls 200 ft, River Jack Falls 150 ft, also found on the Pichelin-Delices trail, and the Trafalgar Falls with its approximately 120 ft. But it is definitely one of the most impressing.

Below the falls there is a huge pool, and as the water cascades into it, you get quite a shower, blowing strongly in your face when you stand on the shore, wetting you almost completely. It is like a super-version of the Emerald Pool. We stay for a while to absorb the beauty and strength, but decide to have our lunch by one of the many turquoise-white pools we passed on our way up. The water in the Victoria Falls and the White River, all come from the Boiling Lake in the mountains high above, the reason for its milky mineral rich water.

The way back is easier, we know our way and it is easier to slide down the rocks to get back to the last crossing, at least for me who don’t carry a baby on my back. Beware of little feet that shouldn’t get stuck between rocks!

After three crossings, about halfway back, we find a perfect enough pool, with a small sandy beach full of pebbles, say good bye and thank you to our guide and sit down on the soft and warm rocks, contemplating the river, listening to the birds, having lunch.

Later in the afternoon, on our way back to the car and just before the last crossing, we swim in the bigger pool, the one just where the trail starts. It is definitely refreshing, almost cool, but extremely relaxing. To let the stream bring you down-river looking up at the scattered clouds and trees hanging over, makes you forget about everything but the moment.




We will soon be back, if only to have a swim, make a couple of crossings and sit by the river. And now that we know the way, it wouldn’t be that hard to make it all the way to the falls on our own either.

How to get there: From Roseau, head for Grand Bay (that is south to Loubiere where you turn left to cross the southern tip of the island) and then continue up north along the Atlantic coast, on a wonderful and beautiful, breathtaking and sufficiently winding road, up and down the hills abruptly descending into the roaring ocean. Then, just before (!) the small village of Delices, turn left when you see the sign for the Pichelin-Delices trail. It is about an hour’s drive from Roseau. Finally, it is a short drive downhill until the road ends, where there is a “security parking”, obviously on private land. This time, a small reception center was under construction, the men working there promised us we would be able to get cool Kubuli next time.

If it is your first time, I would really recommend a guide. The trail itself isn’t hard, but it is hard to find it after each crossing and it is also hard to know exactly when and where to cross. Two or three times the trail also splits in two, and it is not always obvious which to take.

Four or five small signs along the trail would do it, but that would, of course, mean no more need for guides. I can understand the low priority given to this…

DiveFest!

We are late, very late and as we wind up and down the road heading almost as far south as you can get I am getting a little concerned we already have missed the DiveFest grand finale event, the annual canoe race in dugout Carib canoes, held in Soufriere, in the middle of the Scotts Head Soufriere Marine Reserve.

But, as my husband keeps reminding me, this is Dominica, we are on the island, island time rules, not clock time, relax, no problem. When we reach Soufriere and park the car, finally finds a spot close to the old catholic stone church where there are also some natural ocean hot springs, the first thing we see are three soaked racers, water dripping from everywhere, coming from the complete opposite direction from where the actual race is held. “I think our captain was a little drunk”, one of the girls says, “the boat capsized before we even got started”. It is probably true, but how they managed to get that far from the race track remains a question.

On the beach in the middle of the village the party is already going on, has been going on for a while, Kubulis are sold in a continuous flow. Chicken is on the grill, fish too. The racing, it has just started.

Almost immediately someone grabs my husbands arm, starts to convince him to form a team with a couple of other guys. He finally agrees and our friend is off to register. We continue down to the shore, try to make our way out on one of the overcrowded old piers, but are forced to turn after a short while. Our son is not interested in anything but to jump straight into the water, with clothes and shoes and everything. No hard grip around his fist is going to work much longer.

Every now and then three or four canoes are off, racing, back and forth to a certain point out in the ocean, several other boats surrounding them, trying to make sure rules are followed, trying to give support, or just make fun of and annoy the serious and not to serious participants.





Every July, Dominica's diver community gathers forces and presents the annual Dive Fest. And it is one intensive week of activities and fun for divers and others interested in Dominica's marine life. Dive Fest saw its first lights fourteen years ago, and was created by the Dominica Watersports Association to give local Dominicans a chance to learn more about scuba diving. Education about the marine environment has always been an important part of Dive Fest, and there are plenty of opportunities for all to try scuba diving or snorkeling. More recently other more advanced activities have been added, like treasure hunt and photo contests for the more experienced divers. Today it is a great festival where tourists and Dominicans together enjoy the island’s great under water and marine life.

Back on the beach again, our son is doing his best to get rid of his clothes, to get into the water, actively hindered by his parents, knowing that it would just be a matter of time before a runaway canoe with a drunk captain aboard would hit him hard. Then our friend is back, annoyed. There will be no racing he says, “and you know why. Well, four fishermen have gathered to race one canoe. Four fishermen!”. As I don’t really understand the problem he vividly describes how they of course would win, “I mean, come on, four fishermen”, thereby making it meaningless to race, no chance of winning the price, the cage of Kubuli beer. And the honor.

So, we head for food, get dried fish and plantain, some fig pudding and of course chicken. Eventually, our son forgets about the missed opportunity for a swim with canoes, and Dive Fest is going towards its end for this year. For us at least. For many others, there are still a couple of hours left, to discuss race techniques and drink more beer.

And, maybe I am stupid, but I think it would have been fun to race the fishermen. Next year, definitely.

More info: The 2007 Dive Fest was held from July 6th to 15th, more info and a complete schedule of the events is available from avirtualDominica's special Dive Fest site. This year the festival are also proud to present its own blog: http://divefest.wordpress.com/
Finally, the official name of the race is of course the Kubuli Carib Canoe Race, what else could it be…

Trafalgar Falls and Hot Springs

I don’t know anymore, how many times we have visited the Trafalgar Falls. I still remember the first time we came there, though. We were new on the island, hadn’t even got our own transport yet (yes, in Dominica you say transport, but it means car, or bus, or any kind of means of transport). We used to rent one and drive around like crazy, not being able to stop the demand of beautiful views and experiences. Then we came to Trafalgar, one Sunday afternoon, late enough for the crowd of the day to be on their way back home, greeting them along the trail. We got the hot springs and the waterfall views all for ourselves. We stayed until it got dark.

It is just a ten minutes drive from Roseau, you basically just take the Valley Road out of Roseau and drive until the road ends. But first it splits in two, where the right turn would take you to Wotten Waven, you take the left. Then it splits in two again, where the left would take you to Laudat, to the Freshwater Lake, the Boeri Lake, the Titou Gorge, the Rainforest Arial Tram and all that, even to the Boiling Lake if you continue long enough. You turn right and just goes straight, although through a lot of curves, until the road ends.

The walk up to the view platform is short and easy, not more than ten minutes, but just as you take your first steps on the path towards it you get the feeling of being in the middle of the rainforest. The green is lush, intense, the air is moist, full of oxygen, birds and insects fill the air with their peeps and chirps, humming and buzzing. The ground is soft and the giant ferns the path is made up of lets you walk on almost dry surface, its not slippery and you don’t get wet, the little streams crossing the path are easy to jump across. Almost anyone can make it to the platform.

We still come here a couple of times a month, and we still stay on the platform for a while, to catch our breath and to watch the two waterfalls cascade down the mountains, the left one, the Father and the larger (about 120 ft or 30 m.), the right one, the Mother. And to admire the immense, green mountain or enormous rock between them, where high up our son is convinced Totoro, the Lord of the Forest, lives.

The father fall has hot springs at its base, and to get down to them there is another ten, or maybe five, minutes of climbing down the rocks, the sign says “on your own risk”, but we have never really felt any risk, not even with a small boy jumping down the rocks. We just keep a steady grip around his waist.

Down there, the view of the mother waterfall from the big bold rocks is stunning, you can climb really close to it and jump around the rocks. I don’t know why, but I always feel like a strange figure in a cartoon, it is all to unreal maybe. In the beginning we always went down to jump around, nowadays we normally just get changed and soak our bodies in the hot water of any of the natural pools. Our favorite is the highest one, where the water is warmest, and where there also is a great little back massage waterfall coming down. The pools are as great for grown-ups as for little kids.

Last Friday we took another visiting friend up, and as always, we try to stay as late as possible, just a little later than you should.

I have difficulties finding all my clothes in the dusk, but finally get it and set off back, climbing the rocky path uphill with an almost-two clung to my waist. When we reach the platform again it is almost, almost dark. We sit down for a while, have a banana snack and wait just a little longer.

The trail back to the entrance and office building is dark, and there they are! We see a couple of them, then more, then more and all of a sudden – what we have been waiting for. The forest is filled up with thousands and thousands, if not millions, of fireflies. They are everywhere and the bush looks like a twinkling starry sky, it’s like rainforest’s New Years Eve, and we stop, just look, try to absorb it all.

Nowhere I have seen anything like this, it is fairy tail beauty, almost unreal. I have seen it several times now, but I don’t stop being totally amazed, feeling swept away into a dream.

If you ever get to the Trafalgar Falls, go late in the afternoon. That way you don’t have to share the place with the cruise ship crowd (no offence cruise shippers), and maybe, if you stay late enough, you get to see the fireflies parade.

How to get there: Head inland on the Valley Road towards Laudat, passing the Botanical Gardens. Don’t turn right towards Wotten Waven, just continue straight. Next time the road splits, turn right (to not end up in Laudat). You have to pass the little village of Trafalgar, do some turns and finally pass the Papillotte Wilderness Retreat (a great place for a Kubuli beer and sandwich after the falls) and the hydro-electric plants, and there you are!

Jungle Weekend in la Plaine

“The bridge is broken, we have to cross the river by foot” my friend tells me, for I don’t know what time in order. We are going to her place in la Plaine for the weekend and are checking the last little things. We’ve got sheets packed? Yes. And quiche ready-made for dinner, something for breakfast, wine, beer, rum, mosquito repellant, swimsuits, cameras, sunglasses… Yes, everything is there and we are off.

We leave Roseau, turn toward Pont Casse in Canefield. Half an hour later we pass the entrance to the Emerald Pool and head south east, toward the Atlantic coast. The one and a half hour drive – I really dont think it is possible to get any farther, the island may be mountainous, but it is still small – is pleasant, as always. Up on the cool plain after Pont Casse it is raining, as always, the Morne Trois Piton looks down at us, somewhat gloomy. We stop at the usual spring water tap, fill up a couple of bottles with some of the best water on the island, straight from the spring, and continue. Music is on and it is a perfect day for a jungle adventure.

When we reach the coast we pass the Rosalie Bay Beach and I wonder if some little turtle hatchlings may be on their way down to the sea right now. La Plaine then, is a nice and slow village on Dominica’s southeast coast. It sits on a wide slope of hardened lava once emitted from the volcanoes in the Grand Soufrière Hills behind the plain, and has ha population of a little less than 1500. Today we are going to turn before we reach the village.




We stop at the Bout Sable Bay and its little beach and do some redistribution. Girls and kids and all stuff get squeezed into one car, the one with four wheel drive, and the boys get the other. Two different dirt roads will take us to the house, one somewhat less bumpy but ending farther away, with a short hike through the bush following the car ride. Machete stays in boys car, we get the bumpy road.

I turn on the four wheel drive and we head inland, uphill, and the scenery is completely wonderful. Straight ahead we have Trois Piton and all around us hills and valleys, all green, green, green. Here and there a cow, some banana plantations, and when the curves are sharp we see the Atlantic ocean, far down the valley now, but still there. We drive up one hill, then serpentine back down into the valley, cross a river – this one has a bridge – and make our way back up next hill, we are almost there. Just one more steep downhill drive, breaks work fine, and we reach the next river, park the car under a small lime tree.

Out of the car comes bags and boxes, food and drinks, a huge mattress and several kids. We take everything down to the river and soon after the boys appear from the other side.

The bridge is broken. We have to cross the river by foot.

I still have no idea where the house is, but it is just there my friend assures, on the other side of the river, just behind those huge mango trees, making it impossible to get even the tiniest glimpse of it. But there it is, just there. Carrying all kind of stuff, kids, the mattress we reach the house. It is a small gingerbread house, built from wood from the land, with a huge veranda. As so often, no glass in windows, just hurricane shields, in case of. The sound of the river, a lot of birds, the breeze are the only sounds. We are deep into the forest.

So, then, what to do in a small one-room gingerbread house without electricity, running water, close by bars, internet connection?

We relax. My friend is working on the garden, that is, what is supposed to be a garden, keeping up with fast growing jungle plants is not the easiest thing in the world, but it is beautiful in all of its wildness, flowers are everywhere, wild banana – or heliconia, red ginger, different types of hibiscus, oleander, jasmine, pink frangipani and lots of others I don’t know the name of or don’t even recognize. The boys are off crayfish hunting in the river, funny walking in the shallow water with special equipment, the little ones jumping up and down on the river rocks, throwing pebbles into the water, they are all in flow. Later we all have a swim, meanwhile I lay down in the hammock on the veranda. And so we eat, and eat again, drink wine and at seven it gets dark. About an hour later everyone is asleep. One family downstairs, the other in the small loft. Someone in the hammock.

The best thing, I think, with escaping to the jungle for the weekend is waking up. Waking up by dawn, just when it starts to get bright, when every bird in the entire forest is up and singing, when everything is still fresh, cool from the nights rainfall. And while everyone else is still asleep. The river keeps flowing down from the mountain, the garden as beautiful as yesterday, and I am far, far, far away from any visual contamination and information overload of every day life. I want to stay.

But we can’t, after breakfast we have to leave, we have commitments, have to have lunch in Bagatelle, attend a meeting in Grand Bay. We have to leave, we cross the river, walking. We will be back soon.

How to get there & how to do this: Well, to get to la Plaine is not really that complicated. It is the second largest village in the Saint Patrick Parish (that is the southeastern part of Dominica), after Grand Bay, and can be found on every descent map. Then, to do this you need someone who agrees to rent or lend you a little house deep in the forest, ask around the village, or maybe my friend could rent you hers…

Toucarie Bay

Toucarie is a really small village, more or less one road along the beautiful Toucarie Bay, about fifteen minutes north of Portsmouth and Cabrits. If it wasn’t because we have friends living in the village, I am not sure we would have discovered it. That would would definitely have been a pity.

The small bay is normally really calm, calmer than most other beaches on the island. It is excellent for swimming, the water some of the warmest I have experienced on the island, and a lot of fun for both adults and children. Once our one and a half year old has got his arm floaters on and he is in, it is hardly impossible to get him out of the water. So we take turns. One of us keeps an eye of the little one, while the goes off with the snorkel. Because snorkeling and diving, is even better. All along the left side there is plenty of fish and coral, as well as straight out, although that might be harder to find on one’s own. But, any of the locals hanging out on or around the beach, most probably in any of the little snackettes, will be able to help pointing out the best places. However, don’t ever try to put your foot down while snorkeling, as there are plenty of beautiful but ay so stingy sea urchins, with ten to twenty centimeter long and extremely sharp black spines. If you accidentally touch them, once they are in they are hardly impossible to take out. You will just have to stand the pain for some time. A local advice given to us was to put the foot over a candle, the heat will melt the spines, we were explained. We never understood what would happen to the flesh around the wound, maybe to the entire foot, though, and never tried. Needles and tweezers wont do it either, though, so, just keep swimming.

For some great underwater photos and videos from Toucarie Bay, and other dive sites around Dominica, take some time to look at LiquidGuru’s really nice pictures.

Toucarie is a great place for an afternoon of hanging out in a small village, and the beach is definitely still worth a visit. But, as so often, everything is not perfect. Beach erosion is a serious problem, and the habit of taking sand from the island’s few beaches for construction and other work does not make it better. There is rarely a day we visit when we don’t see people coming down to the beach with shovels and empty sandbags, filling up as many as possible. Hurricanes and tropical storms are other factors that continuously threatens Dominica’s beaches. From 1990 to 1999 the number of hurricane days and the number of category 3, 4 and 5 hurricanes quadrupled. Little can be done, at least locally, to prevent the rising number of hurricanes. But this, in combination with local practices, have resulted in the Toucarie Bay beach loosing 30% of its extension during the last twenty years. Unesco has more information on beach erosion.

How to dive there: The Cabrits diveshop in Portsmouth, located just after the huge Ross University building, can arrange dive tours to Toucarie, as probably most other dive shops in the area or around the island. See http://www.cabritsdive.com/

How to get there: From Portsmouth it is not more than ten or fifteen minutes. You pass the town, the Prince Ruperts Bay and head towards Cabrits. In the first real junction you make a right and continue on that road until you reach the forest and another junction. Turning right will take you to the small village of Guillet, turning right will take you to the Toucarie Bay. First you have to go up and then down again, passing through some beautiful but sharp curves on the way down. But as it is completely impossible to go anything other than very slow, and the habit of beeping loudly when approaching a curve is almost obligatory, there is really no danger.

Sea turtles at Rosalie Beach

Three of the world’s seven types of sea turtles come to nest at the beaches of Dominica every year. Last Saturday we went to Rosalie beach to see the largest of them, the Leatherback turtle, laying her eggs.

From Roseau, it is about an hours drive across the island, to the small Rosalie beach, soon to be surrounded by the Rosalie Bay Resort. But as the beach itself is public it is still ok to get in there, even to put up our small tent under the coconut palms. Between May and August, sea turtles come up to nest almost every night, so it is great to try to pick a full moon night, as we did.

In June it gets dark around seven, and as it takes a little for the moon to come out, we put up the tent and had our picnic dinner early. Luckily our one and a half year old son was really tired, and fell asleep soon after. So did we, and we all got a couple of hours of sleep. Later on, more and more people started to arrive, until a small party was going around the tent.

Some nights as many as ten or twenty turtles come to nest, but this night was quite windy and the waves somewhat rough. The turtle also need dry sand to be able to dig the whole for the eggs, and when the first turtle came ashore she could not find that, and decided to go back, without nesting.

A couple of hours later, a second turtle reached the shore and at the critical moment when she starts digging the hole and is easily distracted, guides from the local sea turtle initiative, RoSTI, make sure no curious people, like us and the rest of the crowd, come to close. The sea turtles have existed for over 600 million years, and nested on the beaches when the dinosaurs where still around. Today they are what scientists call critically endangered, basically meaning they are extremely close to permanent extinction. In Dominica, as in many other countries where the giant turtles nest, they have been hunted for their shell and their meet, and for the eggs. The belief that eating turtle eggs is good aphrodisiac is of course nothing but a belief, and completely incorrect. The work done by RoSTI have highly risen the awareness of the importance of protecting the sea turtles, and the killing has gradually diminished, though far from completely. In Laplaine, more than six turtles have been killed during this month. Although there is no law in Dominica preventing people from eating turlte meat, the law says that when a turtle is on the beach it is in its nesting activity and must not be touched.

Once the turtle start laying her eggs, she goes into a kind of "trance", and will not stop the process until the eggs have been laid and the nest is completely covered. Good, I think, as once the eggs are safe in the hole and the covering up process starts, the party also start again. The RoSTI guides move on along the beach, in search for more turtles who may need some protection while trying to make their way up, and "our" turtle is left alone, with us and about twenty more people. Even though the moon is out flashlights are used, to check the face and the eyes closely, camera flashes goes off constantly and every now and then the bravest of the young men jump up on the turtles back, do a few moves and jump off. Finally, nest covering is completed, and the very, very tired turtle crawls back, with a young man riding on her back until he falls of when she reaches the first waves and disappears into the ocean.

But – no eggs are taken, neither are there any suggestions on killing the turtle, just curiosity of who she is and what she looks like. The Coral Reef Alliance have guidelines for turtle watching, if you click here, and it is probably much calmer if you come during the week.

If they make it through the first critical years, a sea turtle lives for an average of 50 to 70 years, but it takes at least 30 years before they can lay any eggs. By clicking here, you can actually track two of the lady turtles who made it to Rosalie beach this year.

We are already planning on when to go back to see the hatchlings make it to the deep blue. And to philosophize on how many of them will make it back again, in 30 years time or so.

Some more facts: Except for the Leatherback turtle, also the Hawksbill and the Green Turtle come to nest at Dominica’s beaches. The Leatherback is by far the largest of all sea turtles, and may reach a length of about 8 feet (2.4 meters), and weigh nearly half a ton while nesting. They have a span of nearly 10 feet (3 meters) from the tip of one front flipper to the tip of the other, and can dive to nearly 4.000 feet in a single dive.

How to get there: From Roseau you cross the island, making a right when you reach the Pont Cassé junction. Before you get to the Rosalie village, just after crossing a small bridge, you turn left and actually pass the entrance to the construction site of the Rosalie Bay Resort. From there you see the beach.

Welcome

to a blog about Dominica. About nature, culture, arts and other things you may not find on other pages about the island.
Enjoy.