Our Grand Adventure

3rd December 2025 | Odometer: 365nm | Dominica

Ryan and I are both extremely lucky that neither of us suffers badly from seasickness. We have a very shallow draft on the boat meaning we can get tossed around a bit if an anchorage has a lot of wakes from passing boats or if there is a swell coming in. We are both fine if this happens during the day or evening, even overnight it’’s not really an issue. When we do feel it bad is if we wake up to really, rolly start – a poor sleep then waking up getting tossed about, having coffee and breakfast while the world is swaying back and forth… bleurgh.

Days like this it’s best to get off the boat as fast as possible and just go do something. We are getting better at recognising this and making a move sooner. But usually we are bit out of whack and pretty hopeless at any decision making about what on earth we are doing for the first few hours when this happens haha.

Our first morning in Dominica was exactly this. We were both completely out of it, feeling a bit off and not able to think at all after an extremely rolly night and morning. Eventually, we took the most random bag of things and headed to shore to go for a walk. We walked along the waters edge for about twenty minutes and found ourselves at the cruise ship dock, amongst hordes of cruise ship passengers spewing forth, with tour guides, taxis, hawkers, food sellers and cars and motorbikes everywhere. The intersection was absolutely packed and chaotic, and in our blurry state of confusion we fled into the nearest open restaurant and hid out having a juice while we regained our wits.

After we had recovered somewhat, we decided to go and check out the Botanical Gardens and walk up to a viewpoint.  After sweating our way up a bunch of steep switchbacks in thick, airless forest, we emerged onto a broad viewing point where signal flags were used to mark the arrival of the enemy (French or British) navies – depending on who had control of the island at the time. A great view over the bay and city, with the cruise ship at the dock really dominating the city.

I sat on a bench at the top to make a call, and Ryan sat next to me, only for the most extremely slow motion collapse of the concrete and wooden bench to occur! To our surprise, the bench just literally fell to pieces as the wet, rotted wood gave way. One concrete slab of which landed directly on my backpack and thankfully just dented a waterbottle. 🫣

An Unexpected Tour

Wandering further up along the hillside, we came across a flock of tourists squawking over another viewing point. I had wanted to go to a town called Wotten Waven and decided to ask around if there was a free taxi driver – there wasn’t, but between a few of them, one offered to just let us jump on his tour for 20 bucks. Sure, why not?

So we joined a tour group from the cruise ship; some ladies from Trinidad, Grandma, Mum, Auntie and Teenage Daughter (who reinforced every stereotype by spending the entire tour on Tik Tok haha). We decided afterwards that we had unintentionally joined the absolutely ultra-low effort tour; which was kind of a nice change as it was so different to anything we would normally pick!

Dominica is a steep, volcanic island with gorgeous peaks and valleys. The lush vegetation sprawls over the hillsides and it feels like humanity is barely holding it back with the road and the houses peeking through. Steep roads, with sharp corners, give fantastic views out over the valleys; and the frequent showers of rain make everything feel sodden all the time. There are half inch pipes sticking out the side of the mountain above the gutters which are flowing with crystal clear water, ready to drink – you simply put your bottle under and fill it up! 

We did a short walk up to Trafalgar Falls, and along the way, there was a water flow with a bright orange mineral deposit all over the rocks and ground. The water was startlingly warm to the touch, contrasting strongly against the cold rain and dripping rainforest canopy all around us. 

These falls are a very picturesque pair, framed by green mountains and spraying a fine mist out over the viewing platform.

We then started noticing these orange patches occurring more and more frequently on the roadside and in the creeks and in these places the water is hot from the volcanic rock underground. Often a strong smell of sulphur wafts through the air near these spots, and occasionally, steam is venting forth also from the ground creating some very eerie scenes.

There are loads of little spas around that you can go and sit in the naturally hot waters to soak and I regret we didn’t just bail on the tour and do this especially as I was freezing after getting rained on a few times! The one I put my hand into was extremely hot and many have cold water incoming streams also to manage the temperature. If we ever go back to Dominica I am spending an entire afternoon in one of those tubs!   

The tour wound back into the city and we jumped off and found ourselves a balcony restaurant for lunch where we could watch the people and the chaos of the intersection we had arrived in earlier. Definitely entertaining!

An Expected Tour

Scott’s Head marine park was just south of where we were staying and we teed up one of the mooring guys to take us snorkelling through there (you have to go with a local guide). This was easily, the best snorkelling I’ve done on this trip. 

There were so many beautiful spots – but one of the absolute highlights was the Champagne Snorkelling area. Our guide dropped us in at the top of a snorkelling area and we made our way along a beautiful series of corals with lots of interesting fish around. We were snorkelling early morning and still in the shade of the mountains and it was a bit chilly! 

As you come up through one of the valleys in the sea bed you start to hear this low, intense roaring sound. Like white noise slowly getting louder, and abruptly you realise there are bubbles…. everywhere. All around you streams of bubbles are rising to the surface and the noise is the air escaping through the cracks in the rock from a volcano vent far below the surface. 

This was such an unique and strange experience. Swimming through the bubbles and feeling them popping all over your body; whilst simultaneously feeling the warmth suffusing the water in the area. The noise ebbs and flows, sometimes seeming like its overwhelming and then fading back to barely noticeable. We both lingered here for a long time as it felt surreal and magical, then randomly all I could think about was that yellow tang fish from Finding Nemo then I would want to dash about like crazy trying to catch all the Bubbles Bubbles Bubbles!!! 

After we dragged ourselves away from the bubbles and did a little more snorkelling in the area, I was starting to get really cold. We hopped back in the boat and our guide is like, Hmm! We need to get you warmed up! So he zooms around to the next bay, pulls up on the beach and there, right on the beach, someone had built a small rock wall around a small pool area on the edge. There was another vent right beneath there heating the water, and they had walled in the warmth for a natural beach spa! Amazing!

The water on the edge is so hot you are warned not to step in it; then a few feet in its mixing with the seawater and is a delightfully warm temperature. We soaked in here til I stopped shivering and felt a deep warmth all through our limbs. Absolutely, amazing.

We were ready for round two of snorkelling – so we went out to the point of Scott’s Head. Plunging off the boat into the water here was absolutely breathtaking. From the surface, it looks like a lovely flat coral shelf, relatively shallow and light. But on entering the water, there is a sudden shock of realisation that he has dropped us right on the edge of an enormous drop off… There is no ground beneath you… just a steep, steep cliff side descending into unfathomable darkness below. The guide clearly gets an awesome kick out of the reactions when people jump in here.

The snorkelling here was amazing with shallow ledges teeming with teeny tiny brightly coloured fish, ledges and valleys dropping down a few more meters exposing bigger fish of many varieties. And lastly, the deep depths looming ominously just a few short meters away with hints of strange and unusual corals and creatures just visible as the last of the surface light peters out.

We wrapped up the tour with a short walk up to the top of Scott’s Head for some panoramic views all around, then took a leisurely cruise back along the coast line to our boat. I love the Caribbean trend of colourful housing, with no two neighbours picking the same colour! I want to paint our house bright blue with white trim when we get home now (Ryan is not so keen).

I would highly recommend seeing this place if you ever get the chance!