Ann's Blog
Delices, Dominica:
March 24, 2010
Return to Victoria Falls
Friends Pam and Ron from Toronto are onboard. They joined us in St. Lucia about a week ago and sailed with us from there to Martinique and now to Dominica. The plan is to leave Receta at anchor in Prince Rupert Bay under the watchful eye of local boatman and guide Martin Carrierre and head into Dominica’s interior. We’ve booked two nights at a mountain lodge close to the trailhead for the island’s signature hike: the challenging seven-mile (round-trip) trek to the Boiling Lake.
We’ve mapped out a drive that will take us through the village of Delices on the way to the lodge, so that we can warm up for the Boiling Lake with a hike to Victoria Falls. Steve and I first did this hike a couple of years ago, and found it spectacular; we’re hoping memory hasn’t deceived us.
The trail starts on the property of Moses James, a superb Ital cook (the style of cooking practiced by Rastafarians). I’ve spent a day watching and learning in his kitchen – I tell the story in “Lunch with Moses,” in The Spice Necklace – but today Moses has an appointment in Roseau, so we won’t be able to have lunch with him, or even a chance to say hello. However, his younger son Israel is available to guide us to the falls. Though it’s not impossible to find your own way, the trail is basically unmarked, it crosses the boulder-strewn White River five or six times, and the easiest places to ford the river and scale the rocks are not exactly obvious. (Just getting to Moses’s property is challenge enough; we have to call Israel twice after we’ve reached the closest village, Delices, and stop people along the road for additional directions.)
Memory has served us well: The hike is just as spectacular a second time. The trail cuts through dense rain forest .where heliconia glow red and yellow as if lit from within, and the river is a soft, opaque blue, like skim milk in a turquoise bowl. (The color comes from dissolved minerals.) After about 40 minutes of walking and wading, we clamber to the top of some water-smoothed boulders and the falls appear before us, cascading down almost 200 feet into a foaming pool, creating their own wind and sending up swirling clouds of mist. Surrounded by rock walls draped with oversized ferns and Tarzanesque vines, the pool begs for swimmers, and we all happily oblige, soaking in the roaring solitude, the view, and the cold frothing water. (Was I really dripping sweat a few minutes ago?) We try to swim right up to the falls, but we’re no match for their power: As we get closer, the thundering water literally takes our breath away.
Back at the starting point, there is a lovely surprise. While we’re saying goodbye to Israel, Moses returns from town and joins us for a chat – and I can give him a copy of The Spice Necklace firsthand.
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