Visiting the local sites

Instead of doing our gruelling walk Wee Fee had some sites for us to visit. Neither of us had any side effects from our second jab but better to be safe than stuck on a remote challenging trail. There has been so much rain that I think it would have been hard work. Apparently a couple went on the trail a few weeks ago without a guide and got lost on a diversion where the trail had been washed away. What was worse is the rescue team that was sent out to look for them also got lost, I suppose because the vegetation is just so thick. They were all found in the end.

Our first stop was a visit to Morne Bruce Garrison high above Roseau, when the island was handed over to Britain from France in 1763, the Brits set about fortifying it with over 200 canons. The steep cliffs on three sides gave it natural security for defending Roseau. From there we headed inland past the turn off to the walk yesterday and higher up to a fresh water crater lake. A lot of hydro electrics going on to supply Roseau.

Flying high above the Garrison.

Fresh water crater lake.

Wooden hydro electric pipes!

We then headed to Titou gorge which was a real surprise, luckily we had taken our swimming gear as it is a deep river canyon that you have to swim up. The sheer walls with sunlight streaming in from above make interesting chambers. Again this can be heaving with over 50 people attempting to swim the narrow canyon on cruise ship days and we have had it all to ourselves. It was a lovely refreshing stop.

Next was Trafalgar Falls, twin falls from separate rivers coming together, it was very picturesque. On the narrow winding route home Wee Fee looked for a place for us to have our picnic fruit. He chose a little bar selling fried chicken and their baked bread. It smelt so good, guess what we had, it was delicious and fun to watch the locals passing by.

Our last stop was to Scotts Head, the spit of land we look onto from the hotel. Scotts Head was named after Colonel George Scott, who had served in the British invasion force that captured Dominica from the French in 1761 and then became lieutenant governor of Dominica from 1764 to 1767. Scott oversaw the construction of a fort on the headland of the Scotts Head peninsula, we walked to the top and saw the last remaining canon.

Soufriere in the crater with Jungle Bay up above.

Gorgeous clear water.

Colourful houses and boats.

That was it, a return to the hotel. Tonight was our extended stay and we opted for room only as we were going to eat at Wee Fee’s bar in Soufriere. We had a 5pm talk from the owner of the resort, a local guy. He was fascinating, his family left Dominica after the collapse of the ‘Green Gold’! Poor old Dominica seems to be on an economic roller coaster. After limes failed they finally became a huge banana exporter, it all worked on small holding farmers, whose banana prices were subsidised by the UK. When the UK joined the EU the UK was no longer allowed to buy the subsidised bananas from Dominica and once again their market collapsed as they could not compete with the industrial scale farmers of South and Central America. His family saw no future in Dominica after that economic downturn so they emigrated to the USVI which was accepting Caribbean people after the Cuban crisis. He obviously did very well there and had a very successful American education, but his roots tugged as Dominica was struggling. He came and started his first Jungle Bay as a way to get the community economy going. The government supported the scheme by starting a program called CBI – Citizenship by Investment. So he gets people to invest in his hotel, they get a certain amount of free time there and they get citizenship. It all seemed very plausible and judging by the huge support from the most incredibly happy staff it is a great working project. He is a very polished and a charismatic operator. My intuition is that the Swiss lady is his mistress, there were many cheeky little comments about the Swiss police etc etc He still has a family in USVI and commutes between the two countries. He is passionate about about using local craftsmen and building materials, and planting for self sufficiency, an inspiring talk, he could easily be a politician!

We excused our selves as the talk ran over and they were off to machete a banana tree to give to Turkish Delight. Out taxi was waiting to take us to Wee Fee’s Bar down in Soufriere. What a buzz even with threatening clouds and pouring rain for a while. Judy (who organised our vaccines) was down there, what a lovely lady. She too had been lured to the USVI from the village of Soufriere where she was born. She had climbed the HR ranks at Marriott a huge American hotel chain and was now back at her roots after losing most of her family. We never discovered what happened to them, but life is so tough here, with hurricanes and tropical storms devastating communities. Wee Fee’s bar is in a converted container as he lost the original bar to hurricane Maria. The dock and lots of buildings are slowly being rebuilt but the exodus of locals who have just had enough of the devastation, is very sad. That is why the Jungle Bay owner is doing a very admirable thing as he is supporting a huge percentage of the local community.

Leaving the hotel at twilight.

Wee Fee’s bar.

Wendy who got our second vaccination sorted.

Wee Fee cooking on the BBQ before the rain arrived.

The dock under reconstruction.

Wee Fee had the BBQ going and we had some delicious jerk chicken and veg, a very jolly evening even if very wet. We said our goodbyes to Wee Fee as he has a well deserved couple of days off work now. We have been so lucky to have all these excursions on our own and tailor made to suit us. It has been a wonderful action packed stay.