Carnival at Portsmouth, Dominica

Carnival in Portsmouth is a loud, exuberant, colorful celebration with a friendly, small town feel to it. Sunday at 4pm the whole town started lining the main street, visiting, laughing, and drinking while they waited for the parade to start. After two hours of waiting, even these laid-back folks were looking at their watches wondering when the parade would start. Finally around 6pm we could hear the music and see the trucks carrying the Queen and the Princesses coming our way. By then the sun was starting to set and the twilight made photos difficult, but in some ways these blurry photos perfect illustrate the excitement, movement and rhythm of the parade.

After the Queen came the costumed, stilt-walking characters and their protectors. The protectors were the only people at the parade who didn't always have happy faces. They take their job seriously and will do whatever it takes to keep people away from the stilt-walkers. Imagine the chaos if a spectator bumped into a stilt-walker; long fall, serious injuries, taking out another stilt-walker; not a pretty sight...

We were befriended by a local woman named Florence who literally took us by the hand and guided us to a good photo spot, explaining carnival as she went. She said this parade celebrates the freeing of the slaves here on Dominica and the costumes have roots in African traditions and dances.

As we squeezed between the writhing throng of humanity everyone was jumping (it isn't called a jump-up for nothing) and I was reminded of the chicken buses back in Panama. There's a certain nonchalant intimacy shared by strangers in these countries where the buses are crowded, the streets are narrow, and the people are more laid-back.

After the stilt-walkers came a truck with dozens of gigantic speakers blasting out music at a volume so high we felt it as much as we heard it. Behind the truck was a mass of people jumping and dancing along. Some of them were drinking, some of them were smoking, and everyone was having a great time.

Florence eventually led us back to the corner where she'd found us, wished us a pleasant evening, and went on her way. We wandered back to our boat as the locals were just starting to really party. At midnight I happened to wake up and the music was still going strong onshore. These people really know how to party.

Indian River Tour

We took the Indian River Tour with Albert this morning. He picked us up before 7am in his panga-like boat and we motored into the river just after sunrise. Once into the river he turned off the motor and rowed to protect the peacefulness of the swamp.

Albert has lived here his entire life and is very knowledgeable not only from his P.A.Y.S. training, but from personal experience. He has played on this river since he was a young boy and told us some of his boyhood adventures.

Dominica has 365 spring fed rivers, but Indian River is the largest. Its banks are lined with swamp blood trees, swamp ferns, ginger lilies, palms, and mangroves. 

Although the roots of the blood trees grow in fantastical shapes, the wood is too soft for any commercial pupose. In the past the local Carib Indians used the red dye from the trees for "war paint", but now they use it in their crafts.

This hut is a leftover from the "Pirates of the Caribbean" movies. It looks like the hut where CAPTAIN Jack Sparrow met Tia Dalma.

Dominica has also been used for an episode of Survivor. With its virgin rainforest and swamp jungles, it's the perfect locale for primitive settings and our imaginations ran wild; we kept expecting a velociraptor to appear around the next bend, but thank goodness, none did.

Trafalgar Falls

Every excursion we do starts with a dinghy ride, then a walk, then a bus ride. After the dinghy ride, today's trip took us past the President's Office, then a neat old church,

then the Ruins Rock Cafe,

and finally to a bus/taxi called Shaper. The buses are Toyota 15 passenger vans like we've seen in so many Caribbean islands, but they seem to be more decorated here.

Dominica is known as the Nature Island and our drive up to Trafalgar Falls illustrated why. Not only is the island steep, rugged, and covered in tropical jungle, but it is sparsely populated. The views out across the craggy peaks were spectacular.

Upon reaching Trafalgar Falls we joined the throng of cruise ship passengers and headed down the trail, enveloped in a thousand different shades of green and the cool quiet of the jungle.

When we arrived at the falls we were amused to see a sign that said "Do Not Proceed Beyond This Point" and then see that that's where everyone was! I'm sure they have to at least suggest that you shouldn't climb across the rocks to the water, but of course, everyone did it anyway.

Above is Mother (75' tall) and below is Father (125' tall). They were very nice falls, but being from California and seeing the falls in Yosemite makes other falls pale in comparison.

When we got back to town we ate lunch at Le Cafe Desiderata. It's in a nicely renovated old building and they have a serene decor and a creative international menu. The food and service were both great and it wasn't very expensive.

Pollyanna (in her rose colored glasses) and Saint Malcolm had another wonderful day.

Champagne Reef and Bubble Beach

 

Dominica is still active geothermally speaking. There are several places where hot gases come to the surface creating hot springs, sulpher pools, and a Boiling Lake. We ran the dinghys down to Champagne Reef yesterday and had a wonderful day snorkeling, swimming, and lolling in the hot water.

 

Champagne Reef is a very busy tourist attraction, but we went later in the afternoon when the cruise ship folks were already back aboard, so it wasn't too crowded. We were all delighted to play in the bubbles and appreciated the warmth they created because we had already been snorkeling for quite a while by the time we got there.

The gases seep up from little holes in the ocean floor and stream towards the surface just like champagne bubbles in a glass.

 

 

The fish appreciate the bubbles and shallow water too and many different kinds hang around the vents.

The file fish were particularly interested in the humans.

 

 

After the reef, we went over to Bubble Beach where the vents are coming to the surface just at the edge of the beach. We could feel the heat of the geothermal activity even as we were landing the dinghy, and several times we had to quickly hot to a cool spot as we walked to the actual bathing area.

 

The hot water seeps out of the sand and rocks about 6' from where the seawater laps at the beach. You have to run across that super hot area quickly and get into the mixed water area. Then you lie down in it and get the most interesting combination of hot and cool water mixing and surging gently around your body. If it starts getting too hot, you can scoot towards the ocean, or simply wait a while and the surge will cool it down. If it gets too cold, you can scoot up, or dig down into the super heated sand. It reminded us of the Calistoga Mud Baths in that you could adjust the heat by moving up or down.

The Captain found the hot water particularly soothing after his gallbladder attack of yesterday. He felt fine all day and swam, snorkeled, and participated fully in the day's events. We think maybe a little adjustment to our diet will help. We found this wonderful pâté in Martinique and maybe we got a little carried away with that.....