Heading to Wally World – Portsmouth, Dominica, March 9, 2024

Our last tour had gone so well we decided the next day to take a guided day tour of several of the waterfalls.  Maybe we are organized tour kind of people?  The tour included our tour guide (Omar), an older French couple (Davey and Marie), and a solo Sailor (Jay).  The tour started by us being picked up at our boat at 9:00am, and we all loaded into a little van to head to the north end of the island to visit our first highlight, Titou Gorge.  It was another site used in the “Pirates of the Caribbean 2.0” movie, so we were anxious to see it. 

However as usual, nothing goes as planned when Ron and I go anywhere together.  This little trip was no exception and our first issues started after about 30 minutes into the car ride. Steam/smoke starts to come out of the engine and the van starts to smell very hot.  So, we pulled over…. Keep in mind, Dominica is the most mountainous of the Caribbean Island and the elevation here go to about 4,000+ feet.  Good thing is, Omar didn’t realize he had brought the engine whisperer with him. That name was given to Ron by a fellow cruiser a few years back. Ron did a quick diagnosis, and the suspicion was a radiator leak.  Between all of us we were able to gather enough water to refill the radiator and continue.  At this point we were about halfway there.

We were fortunate to only stop a couple more times to get water and let the engine cool off a bit.  We made it to the first attraction, Titou Gorge.  Ronnie was the name of our next guide who took us to see the Gorge.  You must swim through this large gorge to get to the waterfall itself.  It was a gorge/waterfall that was fed from a 6-acre freshwater lake at the top of the volcano.  Ron and I agreed it reminded us very much of “The Narrows” in Zion National Park, which we had gotten to hike through on our motorcycle trip out west 2 years ago.  It was smaller but simply stunning!

Our next stop was the highest waterfall in Dominics, Trafalgar Falls, which meant more uphill driving in our wounded jalopy.  With our water reserves refilled, we headed on and without incident, managed to make it to the next stop which was a short 15-minute drive.  While we were heading to the waterfall, Omar confirmed our radiator leak and had the van switched.  Now we had one issue off the list. 

Omar had sold all of us on the idea of hiking to the top of the waterfall.  He said it was challenging but only took about 20 minutes, so we signed on.  I feel like Ron and I have hiked a lot, seen a lot, and let me tell you, this was not a “moderate” hike.  It took us about an hour to hike us and then back down, was past noon and no one had eaten, and about 80+ degrees.  Our new French friends only made it about halfway up and he was very tired so they waited for the rest of us to make us up and back down.  We did make it to the top but wow, it was more what I consider “bouldering” than hiking and on top of that, we did it in bare feet.  It definitely goes on the top 5 stupid things we have done this year including the Barbuda, St. John 5-mile dinghy ride.  While beautiful, I was happy it did seem easier to get down than up.

That was when calamity #2 struck.  The older French gentleman had a hypoglycemic incident, was overheated, and started passing out.  While Omar was sympathetic, Ron was the only one with any kind of first aid training.  All his years of being a dive instructor and having a type one diabetic daughter gave him enough background to know what Davey needed right away.  All our bags were in the car, and we were about a 10-minute walk from the van or the office, so Ron took off running back to the car to get him a Coke and some cookies.  The poor man continued to get worse.  So, I took off running back to the office to see if anyone there had any kind of medical background to assist but sadly, no one did.  I passed Ron on the way back with the goods and by the time I had turned around and gotten back time to him, the Coke had kicked in and Davey was MUCH better and able to walk back.  It was all a bit scary.  Omar took us all the lunch after this before stop #3 and by then of was about 2:30. 

Our last stop was about halfway back to Portsmouth.  It was a natural spa called “Screw,” and run by a local Rastafarian, who strongly reminded me of Prince.  He welcomed us by offering us a toke of his joint(which Ron did), and then proceeded to describe how he had built this place with his bare hands.  It was a beautiful waterfall with hot springs and a mud bath.  Ron and I were the only ones who had enough energy after the last hike to get in the water again.  The hot water spring felt wonderful and the mud bath with sulfur water rise really did make my skin feel very smooth and lovely.  The whole spa was a trip, but the vibe there was cool and had it not been the last stop, I would have stayed longer.  For the sake of the rest of the group, we made our dip short and by the time we made it back to the dock…it was dark.   The whole day felt a bit like the movie “Vacation” with its calamity of errors, but we did make it home and as always, it was an adventure, and nothing ever goes to plan.  The beer tasted very good at the end of this day.