Dominica, what's there to do?

[Nanookz]

Now that many of us are going to Dominica I was hoping to get an idea of things to do there. Especially things outside of the ship tours.

[melissa_bel]

For that, I would recommend to go to the port-of-calls forums, Dominica has its own forum. My itinerary takes me there and let me tell you, I am looking forward to it, it's going to be different from all the others. It's the Nature island, lots of hiking to do (Emerald Pool, Trafalgar falls, Titou Gorge...), there's going down the Layou River, snorkeling is also pretty big there... Someone from Dominica recommended the arial rainforest train. It's a 70 minutes trip on a suspended train that takes people through the canopy of the rainforest and a guide explains everything. It's a little expensive though ($55 I think).

[cruisingfreak]

First time there, we did the hiking thing & saw many waterfalls. Second time, we did the river tubing excursion, which was loads of fun. The scenery is beautiful as you go down the river.

 

 

Minette

[Nanookz]

First time there, we did the hiking thing & saw many waterfalls. Second time, we did the river tubing excursion, which was loads of fun. The scenery is beautiful as you go down the river.

 

 

Minette

 

 

For the tubing did you go with the cruise tour or did you go independent? We went in Belieze and loved it.

[melissa_bel]

Cruising,

Did you do the hiking on your own? Did you take a shore exursion, booked a tour with an independent guide before sailing or did you hire a cab driver at the pier? Very curious to know.

[Northender]

We have friends that go there every year and absolutely love it.

 

Enjoy :)

[JanetMarie]

We chose to take a cab ride and explore the island with one of the local drivers. It was nice to hear about the culture of the island from one of the true islanders.

[Blue Eyes]

We have been twice and both times we did a mountain bike trip. They take you up into the rainforrest and you bike downhill :D . Wear your swim suits under shorts because you stop at a mountain stream which you can swim across in very cold water to a natural volcanic hot tub on the other side. The swim is not difficult at all. We also stopped at a fruit stand for fresh bananas, pineapples, coconuts, mango, etc. The bananas were so good ;) just off the tree. We also stopped at a cocoa plantation. You might want to carry a light weight rain poncho as it is in the rainforrest. You bike to the coast and they carry you back to port along a winding coastal road. We were on HAL and booked it through the ship. I am sure you could find it on your own. It is not a very big island...

[BullinOhio]

The dive excursion there is REALLY good too! Phenomenal wall.

[woodofpine]

Although there are many scenic falls on Dominica, for the adventurous, an excursion that includes Titou Gorge is unique and very memorable.

 

The gorge is an extremely narrow (about 8-12 foot wide) box cleft cut by a stream into a rain forest mountain near the trailhead to the long hike up to boiling lake. You wade or swim maybe 100 yards into the mountain - a narrow fern and tree shaded slot peeks out above you - where you reach a wider deep pool with a waterfall that plunges about 20 feet into it. The locals like to climb part way up the ledges to jump into the pool. Its sort of like swimming into a mountain cave to a water fall. I consider it a unique highlight excursion. The water is cold; a little streamlet from the volcanic lake sector though comes off rocks at the entrance and makes for a nice warm up shower at the end.

 

Although not an absolute necessity, water shoes might be recommended because the shallow entry area into the gorge make for slippery footing.

 

Near the parking area for the gorge, locals offer up some extraordinarily good citrus on the cheap.

[woodofpine]

Quote:

Originally Posted by stanjj111

How does one get to the Titou Gorge? How long is the trip and is it safe?

 

 

 

You get there by motor vehicle (I went with Wacky Rollers - a 4wheel? passenger modified flat bed excursion) For a non-local, it might be tough to find. It is "up in" the hills at the base of the mountains adjacent a small government fresh water piping installation. Dominica exports its oceanic rainforest run-off to arid island neighbors (Aruba ect.) Wacky roolers did Titou as part of a half day excursion around Roseau to the national botanical-bird park, Trafalger Falls, Lalou Valley up to Titou. I did a Champagne Reef excursion in the morning. Both were ship based - so a bit premium priced - but 'tween the two one of my VERY best days in the islands.

 

I thought Dominica was terrific; its somewhat poor, so the local peddlers can be "assertive" but less so than St. Lucia. It is one of the least densely populated islands so - despite organic poverty - I felt no sense of urban slum and social ills. The wonderfully cute Wacky Roller guide Kendra acknowledged that a couple of road side "hay! ho!"s by locals in route to Titou were Ganja peddlers... Ah! College Daze! We didn't stop, but I never felt situation threatened anywhere...

[Troy4444]

We went Dominica on our first cruise. It was a 10 Day princess cruise / Southern Medely.

 

Dominica was our favorise island. We went scuba diving and found the wall here to be the best anywhere. The water was so clear and virgin. It was like we were the first ones to explore the water. Scaled a huge wall and came back up through a hole / cavern area throught the current.

 

After diving we rented a taxi with others on another boat and explored the island a bit and the Mama and Papa falls (one is hot and one is cold).

 

We had a great time and glad we survived the pot smoking taxi driver up the skinny hills and shart turns.

 

We have been to the Carribean 7 times on many islands and the diving here is just great.

 

Troy

[lacruisecat]

I went to Dominica as a pre-cruise vacation and enjoyed myself tremendously! There are actually lots of activities, so much that I could not do them all and was there for almost 3 days.

 

There is a new rainforest tram that goes over the treetops that you may want to check out. I love the waterfalls and the snorkeling and diving is excellent. Don't go for the beaches - most of the beaches are volcanic or rocky. But the island is beautiful and I found the people very friendly and I definitely plan on returning.

[RvrCrzr]

Dominica is an awesome place. We hired a cab to be our tour guide, and he was GREAT! Took us where we wanted to go. (Emerald pool, T-falls, black sand beach...) People are GREAT on this island. I love it because it's not touristy like St. Thomas. Beautiful.

 

Ask to go to the "fruit stand."

[lac]

Another vote for the tubing excursion on Dominica. We did it 2 years ago and had a blast.

[Nanookz]

Another vote for the tubing excursion on Dominica. We did it 2 years ago and had a blast.

 

 

Did you go with the ship tour or independent?

[enymarsh]

This thread has been so wonderful! I sent a link for it to my SIL because her son just went to Dominica for medical school. She had been sort of worried for him, but she LOVED reading all the stuff you guys have found out about that tiny island! It sound like such a beautiful place, so unspoiled, (also very 3rd world).

[melissa_bel]

And some links for Dominica: http://www.delphis.dm/ - http://www.ndcdominica.dm/index.php