Island Tour

As one of the orientation events, my school sponsored a 10-hour island tour. It sounds like a lot, but at least half of it was spend in the car. Maybe this island isn't as small as I thought. We all met at 8am in front of the library to load the buses (which are really more like big vans), but we didn't actually leave until maybe 8:45. After a lot of winding roads going up the mountain, we reached Freshwater Lakes around 10am.


I didn't get a great picture of the lakes. This is near the top of a mountain where it's cloudy probably 99% of the time. This island is basically a rainforest, so it was really cold and rainy at the lakes. It would usually just rain for 5 minutes, stop, then you can see the rain coming again moving across the lakes. It's actually pretty cool. I should've shot a video of it. It was too wet on the hiking trail here, so we didn't really get to hike. But there were a few brave souls who jumped in the freezing water.


We then drove down the mountain a little bit to get to Trafalgar Falls which is a set of two waterfalls. From the parking lot, we hiked up and down a few hills to get to the point where we can see both of the waterfalls. Unfortunately, we weren't allowed to go down to the actual water because the trail was so wet and slippery from all the rain. They don't call these things rainforests for nothing. It was damp and rainy the whole time, and eventually, there was a massive downpour. You really can't survive on this island without an umbrella. Anyways, hopefully one day I can come back when it's safe enough to actually get in the water and possibly the hot springs.

Next, we had a buffet lunch, which wasn't anything spectacular. One thing to note about buffets in Dominica is that you're only allowed one plate and one round around the buffet. Also, people serve the meat and fish to you, but not the other stuff. So basically, load up on the starches and veggies.


My favorite part of the tour was Scott's Head, which is at the southern tip of Dominica. It's the point where the Caribbean Sea meets the Atlantic Ocean. It was really beautiful there. We walked on the landstrip that separates the two bodies of water, then hiked up a big hill to get to the viewpoint. You can definitely tell the difference between the two because the Caribbean is more tranquil and turquoise while the Atlantic has more waves. After getting a bunch of pictures, I walked down the hill and around to the part where people were swimming. It was so humid outside that I didn't feel like swimming and getting back onto the bus all wet. Next time, I'll go snorkeling there though.

Even though I wasn't a fan of the rain, the humidity, and all the driving, I'm really glad I went on this long island tour. It really gave me a chance to see the southern part of the island and all of the different environments. There was everything ranging from the cold lakes up in the mountains to the wet rainforest, the dingy and very undeveloped city of Roseau to the the beautiful and sunny oceanside. Even though Dominica isn't really the greatest place to live, I'm starting to appreciate it more and more. I'm actually glad to know that I still have many more Dominican sites to see because it gives me something to look forward to in regards to living here.