#RumTheWorldTour – Episode 3: Visit Dominica!
This article is part of the “Rum the World Tour” by Laura (but call her LOLO!), who just embarked on a Rum trip around the world and is sharing her experience on her blog and LegendaryTrips!
Previous articles:
#1 Introducing the extraordinary adventures of Lolo in 15 countries!
#2 RumTheWorldTour – Episode 1: Exploring Trinidad
#3 RumTheWorldTour – Episode 2: Hello Saint Lucia!
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Hi LegendaryTrippers,
Hope you are doing as good as I’m doing! Following my time in Saint Lucia, I stopped two weeks in La Martinique to visit all the distilleries and it was AWESOME… Today, however, I am not going to tell you about my trip in La Martinique but about my 5th stop, Dominica, which is a little less known but really beautiful and without doubt the wildest Caribbean island I’ve seen!
Dominica is a small island between La Martinique and La Guadeloupe, surrounded by the Caribbean sea and the Atlantic ocean. No direct flight with Europe and the US explains the lower number of tourists on the island. To get there, I jumped in a ferry in Fort de France direct to Roseau, the capital city of Dominica. Arrived on the harbour, I stopped in a café to get a fresh juice and to decide where I wanted to go! My instinct brought me to the very south of the island, in Soufrière, where… you can apparently enjoy a champagne bath in the sea! No, no, no… do not dream, the Caribbean sea is not filled with Champagne around Dominica, but due to the strong volcanic activity there are some spots in the south of the island (Soufrière and Champagne reefs) where bubbles gently pop out of the sea and give you the feeling of swimming in a glass of champagne! Not bad, huh!
The road that goes from Roseau to Soufrière is absolutely gorgeous and you wish it never ends… But it does! I finally arrived in my cottage, La Bou Cottage, which is a piece of paradise at the end of the road, just before the beginning of WTN trail*. This cottage is run by Mabel and Arent, a very nice couple who helped me a lot and shared precious pieces of advice during my stay in Dominica. The cottage is really disconnected from the world, electricity comes from solar panels and water from the sky. It has a beautiful garden with an outdoor bbq, a fireplace, a bungalow looking like a bird nest and an outside shower! Last but not least, the house is truly charming!
It was such a good surprise when I got there, I just did not want to move anymore… but after 3 nights, a dinner at the Soufrière beach with all of the guests and our 2 hosts, a bath in the “champagne creek” and a trip to the boiling Lake**, I decided to go up north to visit the Macoucherie Rum Distillery between Layou and Salisbury. Note that the article on this stunning distillery will be online on my blog very soon!
The following day, I decided to go up north to visit the town of Portsmouth, and especially to go to the Indian River which is one of the filming locations of Pirates of the Caribbean! Ask for James 007, he will bring you to a great bar / guesthouse at the end of the Indian River, where you can enjoy their special rum punch! Also, you need to enjoy a relaxing aperitif at Felix’s place – a great bar on the beach – who will prepare his special rum punch for you – very personal and one of the best of the Caribbean!
After a day looking for a boat accepting to bring me to Guadeloupe (#fail, I took the ferry…), my new friend Alex and I went back in the Indian River for a bath – since there were no more water in town (…) – before attending the Reggae Night Party on the beach! Without any accommodation for the night, Alex offered me to stay overnight at his friend’s house. I have never seen people as nice as these guys: they do not own much but give a lot! Thanks guys…
Time for me to move to the Atlantic coast of the island, where I did not find the adventure I was expecting: the Kalinago Heritage Village was a little bit disappointing and I was not lucky with the hiking of the Morne 3 Pitons, since it was raining cats and dogs. I finally gave up in the middle of the mud, the rain and the clouds, minutes before reaching the top…
Little advice: do not stay at the Domcan hotel, the owners haven’t been helpful at all and they charged me twice because they didn’t know how their VISA device worked… (I finally got refund but you don’t want to experience this)
Dominica is definitely a nice Caribbean island and you should definitely go there if you like hiking and nature… but if you are more into white beaches, I recommend St Lucia, Martinique or other Caribbean islands.
Alrite, that’s all for this time folks! Looking forward to give you more news about my trip, probably from CUBA!
LOLO
PS. Learn more on rums and Lolo’s adventures by visiting her blog at rum-the-world.blogspot.fr
Notes:
- * The WTN (Waitukubuli national trail) opens up and showcases the best of Dominica – culture/heritage, local lifestyles, and our island’s rugged terrain and wild nature – rivers, waterfalls, mountains, exotic gorges and rainforests. It crosses the island from the south to the north in 14 segments.
- **The boiling lake was for me the best trek I did in Dominica, but also the most difficult. It is the second largest boiling lake in the world (!) after Frying Pan Lake in new Zealand. The trail to get there starts in Laudat (that we reached by Bus and hitchhiking from Roseau – get in Roseau before 9am if you do not want to miss the last bus). The hike will take you up and down during 6 hours, 3 to get to the lake and 3 to go back, The view is amazing and the trail itself is really worth it (white river – looking like a milk river, hot water source – so hot that you have difficulties to get in, desolation valley – rocky valley with fumarole, damn hot temperatures and sulphur all around) – No word to describe the lake itself, which needs to be seen once in a lifetime!
