Island Tour of Dominica - November 15, 2002
During out first semester in Dominica, we joined a group of 10 for an all day island tour, led by Winston. The trip included Chrissy and Jason, Theresa and Mike, Darlene and Jason, and two girls visiting the island. We had a ton of fun, got a lot of exercise, got very dirty, and took over 100 pictures. Here are the highlights:
We headed north of Portsmouth in the morning, and our first stop brought us to something Winston called the Sling. It was a zipcord tied from a platform on top of a small cliff, leading over the water down to a tree. We climbed up the platform, held on for dear life, and went flying down the zip cord to the other side. All the guys did it, and Kelly and two of the girls did it. Below are pictures of the set up, Jason and Mike taking a turn, and Kelly's during and after shots.
After the Sling experience, we headed around the very rocky (and slippery) beach to a bat cave. If you look closely at the dark picture, you can see a bat in flight. We took a few pictures on the rocks under a light rain, got pretty wet, and then headed up the road to a very picturesque sandy beach. It was a slippery hike through thick trees leading down to the Atlantic Ocean. Ian got some more great shots of the waves and caves, and we both got very wet, again.
After the beach, it was off to Calibishie on the northeast coast of Dominica, where we got some amazing shots from Domcam's, a local restaurant where the group stopped for lunch. We actually had cheeseburgers and fries! After lunch, we headed to the red rock cliffs for a very dirty climb and amazing view. The red rocks are made of clay, and combined with the light rain we had all day, we got very muddy. We climbed down into the cliffs and around the rocks before finally heading into Carib Territory. Below are pictures of Calibishie and the red rocks cliffs just north of Calibishie. The second picture on the second row is of Winston, our tour guide.
The Carib Territory is a 3,700 acre area on the east coast that is home to the native Carib tribes of Dominica. The Caribs sell homemade baskets and artwork throughout the territory, and there are beautiful views of the mountains and rainforests. We went to horseback ridge, which is a small road stretched between two valleys. It had breathtaking views, but because of the rain we weren't able to capture any on film. After Carib Territory, we headed into the middle of the island to Emerald Pool. Emerald Pool is a beautiful green pond and cascading waterfall located in the middle of the rainforest. It stems off of Pond Casse, which marks the central point and circle of the island. It was a small hike down to the Pool. Ian had fun doing back flips into the water off the rocks, while Kelly waded in the pool and took in the scenery. The back flip picture below is one that Ian got of Jason - they both took turns doing flips and jumps into the cold water. After a short break, we returned to the van for a trip into Roseau. We drove through the Botanical Gardens and up to a lookout point over the capital city. We finished the long day with a relaxing dinner at our favorite restaurant, Cocorico's, and then returned home. I highly recommend Winston if anyone else is looking for an all day island tour (just call Original Max to arrange it). We had a blast seeing some of the little-known spots on Dominica.
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