A day out to Middleham Waterfalls Dominica (Part 2)

Hurricane damage in Roseau

By the time we were reunited with Paul and the minibus it was time for lunch. He drove us back into Roseau, past the docks and storage areas where whole warehouses had been flattened by Hurricane Maria. We had lunch in a local café, a variety of excellent stews served with salad and a rice and lentil mix. The latter was very tasty and something we will try to recreate on BV.

The stream (L) grew to be 100 metres wide during the hurricane swelling the main river lower down in the valley

After lunch we headed back into the high ground. We had hoped to visit Titou’s Gorge but we discovered later that it was further the wrong side of the blocked road and so we couldn’t reach it. Instead, Paul took us to an area known for its hot springs As we moved higher up the river, we could see the marks showing how high it had risen during the hurricane – probably around 20ft above its usual surface level in places.

Half-finished Bailey bridge (top right). Hot water bubbling up from the stream bed (bottom right)

We crossed a half-finished Bailey bridge on foot and looked down on the river below. The volcanic activity is very evident here; in places the streams feeding the river boil – heated by the immense underground furnace.

And we saw (and smelt!) fumeroles too. It was very reminiscent of our time on Volcano in the Aeolian Islands off Sicily, just greener.

Up at the village, almost every house had a natural hot water spring in the garden…..

……and many had been tapped to feed warm and hot water plunge pools. We thought that we should try out a hot tub. In something like Goldilocks’ style, the first was too hot, far, far too hot but the second was just right.

Views over Roseau

And so, after a relaxing soak we headed back to Portsmouth via the high ground overlooking Roseau’s anchorages and town. With evening falling, the drive along the coast road was more fraught than on the way out in the morning and Paul was clearly keen to do as much of the journey as possible in daylight. But night falls swiftly in the tropics and it was fully dark by the time we returned to the PAYS dock. It had been a long day out but, for so many different reasons, one we would remember for a long time.

Prince Rupert Bay, Dominica