Trying to find a waterfall and Indian River boat tour

February 23-25, 2021

After we had gotten the results of our final PCR test (negative!) we were allowed to walk ashore in Dominica. The first thing we did was to take a walk around close to the Indian River (in the outskirts of Portsmouth) entrance to find a lunch place with Lady Ann. Finally we found a cheap burger place (not the best burgers but really good with some food).

After the lunch we walked back into Portsmouth and met up with Emma and Roger from Sanuti and Bram from Calypso and had a drink. And we also started planning what hike would be the first. We decided to try to find a waterfall called Brandy falls. It is not a very famous waterfall in Dominica and according to some hikesites it might be hard to find the path by the end. But we brought a machete and went of on the hike.

We started walking next to the Indian River, which offered some really cool scenaries. The Indian river was one of the filming locations for Pirates of the Caribbean 2.

After the river we continued along the path, saw an incredibly green field, some cows and got lost and had to find the path several times.

We finally got close to the falls, and while we walked on the road close to the fall we asked a local farmer about directions. She said that the path to the falls had been blocked by rocks during the latest hurricane and that it might be hard to find the fall. But we wanted to give it a try anyway, but after about one hour fighting through the jungle with the machete we gave up and turned back. We could at least hear the fall.

We got back to the main road and managed to catch a minibus (busses on Dominica are quite cheap, an example rate is Portsmouth-Roseau for 10 XCD (East Caribbean Dollars). Tired as we were after a long hike we sat down at the bar Purple Turtle by the beach, drank some beers and watch the sunset.

The following day we decided to go do some snorkeling, we walked to a bay north of Portsmouth. The snorkeling was not supergood, but the highlight of the snorkeling was that we heard whale song under the water! Very cool experience! The rest of the day we were just chilling, drinking some beers at Purple Turtle.

Our next trip in Dominica was the Indian River boat tour. On the Indian river you are not allowed to drive a boat with an engine, so easiest way to see it is with a guide. We went with the guide Titus.

We started the tour at the river entrance and we got to see different animals, mostly birds, crabs and fish, that lived by the river. We also saw the Tia Dalma’s hut from the Pirates-movies. The Indian River guides has rebuilt the hut by the river for tourists.

After a while we stopped and went on a farm trip. We got to see how a lot fruits and vegetables we normally eat were grown, and also got a lot of herbs with us. This was very interesting!

After the farm tour we went back to the river and followed the river back, the sun was almost about to set and it was cool to see the river by golden hour!