Portsmouth - Waterfalls and Sulfur Springs

We didn't do much on Tuesday. We had planned a tour of the north part of the island, but the other couple canceled and we didn't want to pay the full price of hiring a cab for the day. We were a bit disappointed but we went to drown our sorrows at Big Poppa's bar, hoping to meet up with some other cruisers and try to arrange a tour for Wednesday. Big Poppa himself was there, a large black guy who missed his calling as a standup comedian. He had a whole spiel of jokes and we didn't mind laughing since he gave us a round of rum punches on the house. For our entertainment he also rapped a few bars of Notorious B.I.G. "Big Poppa...I love it when you call me big poppa..." to my delight.

We found a big group going on a tour the next day and were invited to tag along. So Wednesday we left around 8am and headed to the southern part of the island with our cab driver Caesar (a nickname, his given name is Julius). Dominica has nine potentially active volcanoes and there is evidence of activity all over the island. We first stopped at some hot springs with two small pools steadily burping out the sulfur. The water was too hot to touch. It was stinky but cool to see. Our next stop was Trafalgar Falls, a double waterfall where two rivers meet and merge. The upper falls plunge 200 feet down the rock face and the lower fall is slightly smaller but more accessible. We had to scramble over boulders for a good 20 minutes to get to the base of the second fall but it was well worth it. We swam in the frigid water and some of our group were even able to climb a little ways up the waterfall itself. When we returned down the trail we found a small hot pool about the size of a hot tub so we all piled in and relaxed for a little while before heading out.

We stopped for a local lunch and along with rice and beans we had plantain, dasheen (taro root), and a choice of pork or curried goat. The meal was excellent and so was the price: 15 Eastern Caribbean dollars, or about $5.50 a person including your choice of Kubuli beer or fresh local passionfruit juice. After lunch we explored some more hot springs and then went for a snorkel at Soufriere Bay, a curvy bay that is the rim of a sunken volcanic crater. As we were snorkeling we could see more signs of volcanic activity as thousands of tiny bubble streams burbled up from the sand below us (which is how the site earned the name Champagne). We finally arrived back to Portsmouth around 5:30 and all ten of us got together for drinks and to share digital photos.

It was a late night, and we had originally intended to head back to Big Poppa's for reggae night since we thought there would be life music. But we were too tired so we headed back to the boat. As it turns out we didn't need to go to the bar, since the music was so loud you could hear it throughout the anchorage. And I was reassured that we weren't missing out on any live performances once they started playing Bob Marley tracks.