Indian River Tour, Judy & Daniel

Simon and Charles rented a van and we piled in along with Judy and Torben to explore the island further out. We headed north thinking we’d circumnavigate the island clockwise. Unfortunately just an hour in, we a) ran out of road (missed a turn because there are no road signs), and b) the van suddenly lost all acceleration and started spewing smoke. Luckily it was a downhill run back to town where we exchanged cars.

 

first rental car

It was great luck that we had Simon driving since Dominicans drive on the left and the steering wheel is on the right just like Australia where Simon is from. He did have a touch of Mario Adretti in him – the roads are full of potholes and there’s lots of sketchy switchbacks, but he’d attack them all with the same enthusiasm.

Portsmouth Market

We headed over to the windward side of the island that had some of the worst wind damage from the storm. Entire valleys had trees toppled everywhere and those that were still standing were completely denuded. Even so, 6 months after Maria, you can’t stop the greenery. You could already see the growth starting on the forest floor and working its way up and out.

 

Red Rocks

We stopped and asked some locals how to get to Red Rock, and wound up giving a lift to a young woman who was going that way. Turns out that was the start of a trend for the day, as we constantly needed to ask directions and people were always looking for (and appreciative of) rides.

Red Rock is an outcropping with a vivid red hue and dramatic shapes facing the sea. We hired a local guide off the side of the road (we’re learning that this is somewhat common in Dominica) to give us a tour of the area. Not only did we spend time exploring the rock formations but also learned quite a bit about Dominica’s plant life. The islanders are all quite knowledgeable of the medicinal properties of the plants on the island. We were even given a branch of fresh bay leaves to take back to the boats for cooking.

Emerald Pool

We headed back to the center of the island and after a few missed attempts found the Emerald Pool. It gets its name from the color of the water as the sun shines through the trees. Though the water was cool at first, it made for a refreshing swim and you could swim or climb all the way up to the waterfall. We were particularly lucky in that we had the entire place to ourselves. We didn’t run into any other visitors until we were leaving.

We were starving by now and asked someone if there was a local place to eat (none of the concessions at the pool were open post storm). We were given loose directions to a place up the road. Driving by you wouldn’t have even thought it was a restaurant, but we stopped and were rewarded with tasty pork sandwiches, fried chicken, and fish stew with some of the spiciest peppers I’ve ever tasted. And cold beer – lots of cold beer.

 

Sultan Falls

We decided to try for Sultan Falls on our way home. Once again, we drove right by as there was no sign. Turns out the entrance is at a random building being used to house trucks and construction equipment. A guy working there confirmed that we were heading back in the right direction, which is good because the driving got sketchy fast. The road turned into a track, turned into a washed out path and then simply ended because it had been washed away. Charles went ahead and reported that it was worth a slippery climb downhill to the falls. What a reward. The view was absolutely spectacular. You really had to be careful because everything was damaged or wet or algae coated, but you could get right in front of several falls. And once again, we had the entire place all to ourselves – no one else was there.

Torben & Judy’s friend John had just sailed into Dominica with friends so the whole group of us finished the night at a local restaurant Charles & Simon had discovered in their search for a new dinghy (theirs disappeared and we don’t know if it was stolen or untied and drifted out to sea). Coco Mango is owned by a Syrian gentleman and the food was delicious – fresh hummus and baba ganoush, shwarma sandwiches, and chicken. Somehow the conversation turned to sourdough starter and I offered to bring some out to the owner’s wife (head chef) along with some recipes. Always fun to share.

Giving a lift to locals