WTFR WE? : Dominica - Part 2 of 3 - Island Tour or "More Heaven"

A couple of days after the Indian River trip Alexis booked us an island tour with Charles, who took us by van, along with five other cruisers, up along the northwest coast and clockwise around the island. Again I was blown away...

First stop was the overgrown ruins of an old sugarcane factory in the town of Tarreau. The building with bars on the windows was to hold the slaves inside. We have found that throughout the islands the locals do not shirk from admitting to the atrocity of slavery in their history.

Coconut trees abounded and our guide, Charles, made the art of splitting open the hard coconut husk look easy by accurately heaving a large rock. We ate the delectable coconut meat while surveying the ruins.

We continued to head north up the west coast into Caribe Indian territory and stopped at several points along the way to enjoy the spectacular ocean views:

At one point, Charles drove the van onto a narrow, rutted side road and suddenly stopped the van. He did not tell us where we were going but we trustingly followed him along a trail until we came to this... An outcropping of rich orange/yellow lava rock juxtaposed against the vibrant green of lush foliage and the bright electric aquamarine of the sea. Needless to say I was stunned into awed silence...

I found this combination of elements so intrinsically satisfying that if I had been here alone there's no telling how long I would have stayed... I could have easily lost all sense of time and place...

Being with both a tour group and Jeff to nudge me along, I was pulled back into time and on upward into Caribe country. We headed into Calibishie on the North coast which marks the beginning of 2700 acres of Caribe Indian territory that were awarded to the Caribes in 1903. Dominica is the only Caribbean island that holds the only remaining population of pre-Colombian Caribe Indians which today amounts to approximately 2200.

"Sister May's Mangrove Night Club"

Here we have wares and spices handmade or hand-produced by the Caribes...

Caribe Homes...

We stopped for lunch at this gorgeously rustic Caribe restaurant

which overlooked this view...

From here we headed inland into the North Central region ...

and trekked into the rain forest

to a waterfall with all it's luscious wonders along the way...

Cashews a plenty

We drove through the mountains down the southeast coast and back up the west coast passing through Roseau, the capital of and largest city in Dominica.