Day 3: Dominica
Virtually every caribbean island I've been to has been similar to the next. They have their unique things here and there, but for the most part, they have nice beaches, beautiful water, touristy parts, poor parts, well-off parts, etc. They all blend together. Not Dominca! This place was unlike any other caribbean island I'd ever been to. It reminded me of Kauai. It was lush, green, mountainous, full of trails and waterfalls. It was absolutely breathtakingly gorgeous. It's no wonder it has earned the nickname of the "Nature Island."
So, we decided to get off the boat as soon as we could and B-line it to the cabs where we hired a driver for the day in order to maximize seeing as much as we could.
We started out by heading to Morne Trois Pitons National Park.
And hiking to Trafalgar Falls.
There are two falls. The one on the left is knows as the "father" and the one on the right as the "mother."
From there, we headed to Wotten Waven Sulpher Springs.
Next, we headed out on our next hike to Middleham Falls.
It was supposed to be a 45 minute hike.
We had read that it was an intense hike and that many people who said they were in shape were still taking an hour or more to get there because there was so much incline. So, after 45 minutes, when we still weren't there, we kept walking, and walking and walking.
It was clear we were on a trail of some sort, but after hiking an hour and a half of keeping a good pace and never stopping for a break, we had to accept the fact that we were on the WRONG trail.
There had been a place a LONG ways back where we could choose one of three paths. None of them were marked as Middleham Falls. But one showed a map of something called Middleham Estate, so we figured that must be it and we headed on our way. We guessed wrong. We finally accepted defeat, retraced our steps and ended up back at the crossroads and went down the other path.
Almost immediately after starting down the other path, we could hear the waterfall. Talk about taking the scenic route!
So, anyway, we turned a 45 minute hike into a 2+ hour hike, but....
When we finally arrived, we all agreed it was worth EVERY step!!
All we had were our cell phones, so these pictures don't do these falls justice. It was absolutely amazing.
Seth was of course the first to get in!
Dave and I followed. It was SO cold. When I first got in, it absolutely knocked the wind out of me and I thought for sure I was going to die of hypothermia before I reached the other side. But I made it, climbed as far as I could go and jumped off! I was pretty proud of myself for that!
As we retraced our steps back to the parking lot, we came across the sign of the trail that we accidentally took - the Waitukubuli National Trail (WNT). Whoops!
45 minutes only for those who don't accidentally follow the WNT! Ha!
Next, we headed to Titou Gorge, the same area where Pirates of the Caribbean II was filmed.
None of us had a waterproof camera, so our pictures are limited, but from here, we headed through this cave/tunnel where it ended in a whirlpool/waterfall area, where you could climb up on rocks and then jump in and it would shoot you back against the current. It was pretty cool.
And then we found another area where you could climb to the top and jump in and both Seth and I did it. But that's all on video, so I don't have pics of that.
Our ship in the background.
A beautiful ending to an absolutely perfectly beautiful day.
