Dominica: Nature Island of the Caribbean

- April 16, 2015

Anyone who blogs knows how time consuming it is. Believe it or not, it can take upwards of four hours for me to get a post online and even then I still have typos or bad grammar yet to be discovered. Those four hours aren't always spent at once but it all adds up. I enjoy the process of blogging and it's a way to share my life and photos with family and friends. I'm getting the impression that my demographic has changed and I'm curious about it. If you fall into the family/friend category, I'm hoping you could send me a quick email - readshooze@gmail.com . Thanks!

In the meantime, here's a few photos taken in Dominica, the lush island we visited for the last week of our vacation. As I said on Facebook, it's like they took Wells Grey Park without the mosquitos and dropped it into the Caribbean, giving it warmer temperatures and more beaches. It's a beautiful green island full of waterfalls, forests and jungles. It's not very developed and the roads are pretty bad. It's not overrun with tourists. We did four hikes and only ran into one group at the end of one trail. The local people are very friendly and helpful.

I'd like to share more details about The Mermaid Secret, a great location we enjoyed on the east side of the island. I hope to make a separate post on that in the next week or two.

The Ruins Rock Cafe in Roseau

Our cottage at the Mermaid Secret

A view down the river from the Mermaid Pool

Our hosts at the Mermaid Secret

On the hike to Sari Sari Falls

Had to traverse the river a couple of times, over slippery rocks. Fell in more than once and ended up just tromping through the rocky water in bare feet... a bit painful.

The waterfall was stunning and we were told you can get into the pool, but the rocks were quite slimy and it seemed rather treacherous so we took a pass.

This little piggy was seen on the way back from another hike to another waterfall which ended abruptly when we came across a giant tree across the trail and I couldn't make my way over it.

A quick snapshot of the luscious rainforest, from Mike's iPhone.

On the west side of the island the beaches are beautiful.

Fort Shirley

We took a hike up to an old cannon at Cabrits National Park and saw some interesting plants and animals along the way.

Old termite nest

"The Shacks" - a bunch of little restaurants located beside Ross Medical School in Portsmouth

For you Lulu!

The Rastafarian lifestyle is quite evident on Dominica and I just had to post a photo of this woman's amazing dreads. You can't tell her age from this photo, but I would have put her in her 60's.

The next group of photos were taken on the north part of the island near Calibishe

We met Lennox (pictured below with Mike) working as beach security on the beach above. We mentioned we were trying to find the Red Rocks and he offered to take us there. I doubt we would have found them without his help and he took us to a few other spots we would have missed.