This mountainous Caribbean island nation has natural hot springs and tropical rainforests and an extraordinary number of rivers. To the west is Dominica’s capital, Roseau, and up the coast a-ways is a lovely valley, home to our close friends.
One needs to cross a couple of rivers to access the valley. We were excited to be getting off-island – this was our first break away together since Irma.
Just after Irma devastated St. Maarten/St. Martin, Hurricane Maria swept through Dominica leaving chaos and mayhem, we were a little apprehensive to be visiting because we knew we had to zip line across two rivers to be able to stay with our friends.
During our previous visits, we were able to drive across causeways and along reasonable tracks through thick rainforest.
We booked well in advance with Winair. The times to fly were reasonable, that is, we did not have to get up that early in the morning to get underway and we arrived during daylight hours on both the outgoing and return flights – always a good thing to consider when planning a trip.
Winair called to say the flight on our departure date was cancelled, but fortunately we were able to leave a couple days earlier and still slot in with our accommodation in Dominica.
We were interested to see how Princess Juliana International Airport (PJIA) had progressed since Irma (we had read so many reports of chaos and long lines, but we had an easy time of it).
The Winair desk was quick and efficient and within a short space of time, we were on the bus driving across the tarmac to our little plane! Gulp! I am not such a confident flyer on these small planes, the kind you need to board through the tail!
Take-off over our lovely lagoon and up to cruising height went just fine – why do I always sit there with white knuckles?
When it came time to land, the wheels plunked down and the approach seemed to go smoothly but, oooh, we had to abort the landing. Our taxi driver told us later that there was still a plane on the runway so we had to go around.
This gave us a great opportunity to see more of the coast which is rugged and very different to our wee island.
We planned to stay at the Fort Young Hotel in Roseau our first evening. What a lovely place this is built within the walls of the old fort right in the centre of town. The reception area and dinning/bar area upstairs was beautifully fitted out in wood – loads and loads of wood all from the island.
The craftsmanship was quite amazing! We were not surprised to hear that the entire front of the hotel and the town had suffered badly during Maria.
We popped into the main supermarket the next morning for some provisioning to take with us to our friends; simple things like packets of crisps, almond milk and a bottle of rum. Our friends grow most of their fresh produce so we knew we did not need to stock up on that.
Let me tell you how appreciative we felt to have the many delightful supermarkets on this island to choose “anything we want” from around the world. We took a walk around the “real” Caribbean outdoor fresh food market and we also stopped off at a wine shop to get, yes, bottles of wine.
What a shock it was to see how expensive the wine was in comparison to here. The people we met were all delightful and helpful and very welcoming. The taxi ride took about an hour. The lushness of the island was mind-blowing. The tall mountains and deep valleys took our breath away and most remarkable was that there was little to no traffic except near the main town.
Our taxi driver told us about his and others’ “after Maria” experiences. They really did have extraordinarily hard times as most, if not all, bridges and causeways were washed away. Folk simply could not get around. Hearing him brought our memories back and I have to say, in a way, we on St. Maarten were lucky in that we could move easily from A to B on roads that were still in place.
One very noticeable feature of the landscape was the fact that garbage along the roadsides was pretty well non-existent! The rainforest growth was out of this world. Higher and higher we drove and then we turned off down a track to meet with our friends. This was where our visit became exciting. We off-loaded our gear and carried it down a steep bank to find a wooden platform built against a tree. From the tree and across the river was a zip line.
On the other side of the river was another platform built against a tree. Below the “people” zip line was another pulley system with a large tray into which we put our gear and this was eased across the river where it was then piled into a wheelbarrow. The wheelbarrow was then pushed along a path through fields of banana trees and dasheen gardens.
The ginger flowers gave wonderful colour to the otherwise very green, verdant landscape. Beautiful flowers peeped through the tall ferns and a herd of goats playfully jumped up on rocks and gambolled around as we walked by. The silence was punctuated only by the noise of rushing water.
The next zip line was shorter and not as fast. It passed alongside a washed away causeway. We repeated the luggage and our zip line crossing and piled everything into the truck and drove along a rugged track to the house.
Our friends had to buy a second vehicle as there is no way to drive their truck across the rivers so they can go to town or even visit friends. Everything they need in the valley like diesel, gas, food, you name it, must be zip lined in.
No excavator can get across to fix the roads in the valley. The farmer helpers and house cleaners and in fact all visitors to the valley need to either zip line or walk through the flowing river. If it is flooded, those who don’t like to zip line have to get wet; if it is dangerously flooded, they have to stay on whichever side they are until the water recedes!
It rains every day there, sometimes more than once; no wonder it is so green and lush.
Most folk go into the valley to follow the amazing hiking trails. The house we stayed in was situated above a river. Before the hurricane, they had excavated a swimming hole. This hole is still there and offers a very refreshing swim to all who stay. The weather is hot and humid and the chill of the mountain water makes one gasp upon entering.
Preparation for cooking all meals is fun. We went into the garden and picked beautiful lettuce, cilantro, kale, dasheen and pumpkins and made smoothies from freshly picked bananas, citrus and papaya all from the garden. They have planted huge beds with pineapples that are at picking stage.
The birds kept up a cacophony of chirps and tweets that mingled with the forest sounds. It is dark there at night – truly dark as there is no loom from city lights. Lightening bugs kept us amused as they flittered by in the dark.
The water from the spring is soft for bathing and hair washing. Meat, fish and shellfish are locally sourced (brought in using the zip lines, of course). We spent our time absorbing the lushness of the place, painting, playing music, cooking, baking bread and eating.
One day, a masseuse came over, fording the rivers and walking the whole way to give massages to the visitors for we were celebrating not just Mother’s Day but birthdays too.
We spent one day just playing to and fro on the zip lines. It is a fun thing to do in the rainforest; the sun came out, it drizzled, the clouds scudded by and the sun came out again – an experience not to be missed, for sure.
Another day, visitors from another village came in to party and celebrate with us. It was raining and too dark for them to cross back that night so they slept over. Early the next morning, they went back to their daily life of doing much the same as we were doing. We were fortunate that the rivers were not flooding while we were there, and yes, we could have walked across them, but besides the fun of zip lining, we had to practice a bit for it was anyone’s guess how high in flood the rivers would be when it came time to leave to catch our plane.
The day of departure dawned. We had to be up early to zip line out of the valley and meet the taxi that came to pick us up. By this time, we were proficient with the whole rigmarole. Harnesses on, luggage in the truck, down to the first river, zip across, wheel barrow our gear to the next river, zip line across and into the taxi.
The island suffered damage during the storm, one can still see where they need to do a rebuild but the airport functions well and the Winair folk were on the ball. In short order, we were in the waiting room waiting for our plane to land. All too soon, we were looking down at the French islands off the Dominican coast, then seeing St. Eustatius and Saba from above and landing back here on our sweet St. Maarten land.
If you can, go and visit Dominica. Flights are straight-forward; there are many places to stay and so many great hikes, and rivers to swim in – beaches, rock pools, fresh food, wonderful people and lushness like you won’t believe.
