Dominica, Hiking to the Falls

Friday 9th July
Location: Portsmouth Bay, Dominica.

As we were getting ready to go shore, Stevenson, one of the local tour guides came over to enquire whether we would be interested in taking a tour with him. Bob explained that we already had a car booked, and planned to just do some driving around the island by ourselves today, but maybe tomorrow he could act as our guide. He took us ashore, and we arranged to call him to collect us and bring us back to Daisy later today. Bob was happier leaving the dinghy chained to the boat in the bay, there is quite a bit of theft here and you need to be very careful.
Allan from the car rental company Silver Lining, collected us and drove us to the police station to get our driving permits, which took way longer than it should. Eventually Allan drove us to the rental office where we collected our “off road” vehicle, or boneshaker, as I would prefer to call it. We drove to the customs and immigration to check in, where they said they could have also issued our driving permits. The officers were extremely helpful and friendly, and the check in took no time at all. We made a mental note to ourselves, next visit here avoid the police station, and go straight to customs.
We drove the short distance out to Cabrits National Park, and Fort Shirley. The fort is currently being reconstructed, and they appear to be doing an excellent job, rebuilding using the original methods and stone. We walked around taking photographs and signed the visitor’s book. The fort is well worth a visit, and I look forward to returning in a year or so and seeing how much more has been done.
From the fort we drove to Chaudiere Pool, which is a 2684-foot climb down to a group of pools in the rainforest. The drive up was pretty uncomfortable; the roads here in Dominica are about as bad as the roads in Guadeloupe are good. There are so many huge craters in the road it’s impossible to avoid them, and sitting in the back of the car I felt as though I was in a blender.
We eventually reached the top, and I breathed a sigh of relief when we had to get out and walk. The climb down wasn’t difficult, but it was very slippery and I was grateful for Edi’s help.
When we arrived at the pool, there was a small group of young people swimming and jumping off the high rocks into the deep pool beneath. We all got in to cool off after our long rather sweaty walk. The water was clear and cold, but felt great once you were in. Both Edi and Bob jumped from the rock shelf into the pool, but I was not tempted. We stayed and swam for about an hour before heading back. The climb back up was much easier, but by the time we arrived back at the car we could all have done with another dip in the pool.
We drove on to the Morne Diablotins National Park, but unfortunately they were closed, however it was a lovely drive, with some magnificent views.
Driving back we stopped to pick starfruit, limes, and mangos that were growing at the side of the road. We had dinner over at the bar on the beach tonight.