CFT Featured Article / March 2007

Off the Beaten Path... Exploring Dominica!

Here at CFT we are always trying to think ‘out of the box’ and deliver you something a bit more unusual from everyone else...

So you will not be surprised to read that this month’s featured article is on a holiday in the sun but somewhere completely different.  Yes, we are off, or rather we have just been to Dominica.  Not to be confused with the island you have all heard about, the Dominican Republic, but instead, Dominica, the Nature Isle.

For us, coming from Europe, this involved 8 flights in 14 days with three children – now, I will leave that to the article ‘Flying with your children is a piece of cake when you know how! 
All I can say is that it was well worth it.

We rented a villa with a pool and a car to get around the island.  What is so fantastic about Dominica is that it remains untouched compared to the rest of the Caribbean.  In addition, the contrast between the coast and inland is amazing.  For example, you can be on the beach in the morning and in the rainforest at lunchtime, enjoying the hot sulphur pools.

The children loved these pools, grandly named Screws Spa Hot Baths, as they were warm enough and shallow enough for them to just splash around and enjoy themselves without worrying about armbands.

This is not the only place where you can swim in hot water, we also visited Soufriere at the very tip of the island, where there is a hot pool in the sea – sounds strange but it is true and in fact in parts is too hot to paddle through.  We loved going in the sea and then lying in the hot waters at the edge of the beach.  We visited here on a Sunday morning and as the village church is situated in front of the beach, it was an amazing spectacle watching people leaving and then discarding their Sunday best for a quick swim before lunch!

Talking of food, being an island, fresh fish is in abundance as well as lovely fresh organic fruit and vegetables.  Most places cook in traditional Creole style with rice, local vegetables and salads which are delicious.  The children were also very impressed with their dasheen and plantain styled ‘chips/French fries’ that they had.  Another favourite is fried chicken – with the batter actually tasting great, and served with chips liberally doused with a variety of local hot sauces.  We were fortunate enough to have a very special lady called Kettor cook for us a few times as my fish recipes are not in the Delia/Martha category!  She also made us the most delicious banana bread and I can still recall its wonderful aroma wafting through the house now. 

All the restaurants have amazing views whether in town or inland.  How come food tastes even better when the surroundings are so beautiful?  Here are a few examples of the views we had from our plates!

At Islet View Cook run brilliantly by Rudy

Above is the view from where we ate fresh fish at ‘Rodgers’ and could see the Atlantic and Caribbean Sea meet – the Atlantic is on the left.

Below is the view from the restaurant at the Tamarind Tree Restaurant & Hotel. 

Below is a place in the capital, Roseau, the Cornerhouse Café, which served great Smoothies and my all time favourite food, Crab-back – spicy crab basically!

The children took a couple of these photos – see if you can spot the cruise liner!

We loved walking around the capital Roseau, it was busy and noisy but vibrant and exciting and unusually easy with the children – not sure you’d navigate a pushchair smoothly though as the roads and pavements are all a bit uneven. 

We rented a villa which had a pool which was great for us and the children loved being able to swim day and night.  For any accommodation requirements, I would recommend contacting a lady called Tina, who knows everything but nothing is too much trouble – she is Superwoman actually!   Her contact details are: http://www.islandguests.com. 

If you fancy staying inland and going for the eco experience then we visited and would highly recommend the 3-Rivers Eco site which is run by a great guy.  The website is: http:// www.3riversdominica.com.  You can stay in a wooden lodge, a tent or a tree house depending on the Indiana Jones in you really………Not sure we could CFT recommend the tree houses though unless you have your little ones tied to a long rope permanently bungee jumping!

Our children are all below six but for slightly older children there are plenty of exciting activities that you should consider – amongst these is the aerial tram ride and an adventure company, Wacky Rollers, specializing in jeep tours, river tubing etc.  The website is:  http://www.wackyrollers.com.  This island is also a hiker’s dream and a waterfall paradise.  The latter you can enjoy with a guide and without younger children.  Have a look at the best overview of Dominica on this website:- http://www.avirtualdominica.com.  It is also rated the 5^th best diving site in the world, however, even snorkeling offshore is fantastic and whale watching is a must!

This is a real chill, get away from it all, living in ‘island time’ and sitting on your veranda admiring the view at night, relaxed kind of holiday.  It is not about having to entertain the children, it’s about the place enveloping and entertaining them naturally, if that makes sense? They adored the little things, like eating a grapefruit that was nearly as big as them, drinking fresh juice from a coconut sliced open in front of their eyes at the bustling morning market, seeing huge fish being caught and prepared on the roadside etc!  It will not be everyone’s cup of tea granted but the unforgettable people, breathtaking surroundings and, I can’t leave without mentioning the Kubuli, (look it up!) was certainly our idea of tea in heaven………Happy Holidays!