Dog Attack and Other Fun in Dominica

Antigua is the land of 365 beaches and Dominica is the land of 365 streams! Mentally, I have a hard time comprehending where all this water comes from on this small lush island. The windward side where all the rain clouds collect receives far more rain than the leeward or west side. The 1.5 lane wide paved roads lack any guardrails and are virtually untraveled. They are without question the steepest, curviest, white knuckle passages in the interior we have ever seen. In addition to the thrill factor, the limited road system brought us some of the most breath taking vistas and sights.

Over two days we hiked back into several waterfalls. Trafalger falls with the mama and the papa falls was absolutely breath taking. What made it even more interesting was the natural geothermal spring’s stream meandering down a staircase of natural pools to relax in. Our favorites were the ones under enormous boulders. Where the warm water met the river, you could wade across from cool to warm to very warm as they commingled. Dusk was settling about the land and so we started to make our way north to the boat.

Another we were trying to find the heated river pools and accidentally ended up on a squatter’s property. It’s getting dark, we are in the middle of no where, and Sabrina and I are walking up the path while Angie and Parker wait in the car. All of a sudden, dogs start barking and racing toward us in the shadows. She screams, grabs me, and unknowingly knocks the keys to the car out of my hands. I pick her up and start retreating to the car when we here a voice coming from a large tree overhead calling the dogs and asking, “are you OK?” Sydney, a Dominican and his Canadian wife, Lynn from Toronto had chucked the big city life after 20 years and were now back in his homeland living off the land in a tree house! Kewl! The keys were found right before dark.

Driving back late Friday night, all, and I mean all, the locals were “liming” in the streets, on steps, and on curbs as we passed. Conversations were lively, music was thumping, rum was flowing, and we just didn’t quite blend in in our rent-a-car trying to squeeze through. The medical college was our favorite eating, meeting a girl from Amsterdam NY during our last visit.
And so after about 8 days in Dominica we set sail for Martinique.