Boiling Lake

Having my sister come and visit us on Dominica was a wonderful experience. One of the memorable activities we did with her was the hike to Boiling Lake (possibly the largest boiling lake in the world) followed by a swim in TiTou Gorge. The hike was brutal... almost straight stairs the entire way, and some of them were as steep as climbing up onto your dining room chair! We made our way through the rainforest and down to 'breakfast river' for a brief break. We continued the hike for what seemed like ages, and finally came to an opening in the vegetation where there were various sulfuric spouts, streams, etc. Then, you hike around, over, and through the springs. Some are scalding, some are cool, some are in between. It is definitely a hike worthy of a good guide. We arrived at the lake two and a half hours after we began - this is considered to be good time. We lunched, took pictures, and started on the journey back. The stairs were particularly hard on my honey's knees as he has had both of his ACLs replaced. We took the trip back slightly slower, making it to the trail head after about three hours, more in the 'average' range for this hike.

We observed sulfuric deposits on rocks in streams, crystal formations around steam outlets, black, orange, and milky white water, and my sister even stepped in some kind of black muck that looked like oil! I love geology, and found this facet of the hike to be amazing.

TiTou Gorge is located at the trailhead, and we climbed in at a point where the water is being prepared to enter an aqueduct. Then we swam up the current through the gorge to the waterfall at the end. This is the same gorge that features in Pirates of the Caribbean 2. It is beautiful and reminds me of home. :)

While having company in town we visited a whole variety of other sites on the island. Champagne Bay remains a favorite for snorkeling. It is amazing every time I go, and features a large variety of fish, coral, and other sea life. It has become a 'must see' for any new friends or visitors we take around the island. There's even a portion of the water where there are deep vents under the sea to the sulfuric action underneath the earth's crust... which result in endless streams of little tiny bubbles that you can swim right through - like swimming in champagne!

Emerald Pool is another site we thoroughly enjoy. The rainforest path is easy to navigate, and the waterfall is super easy to access, including a beautiful view point of the pool from the trail above, and it is also available for taking a quick dip in the cool water... or if you are more adventurous you can jump off of the rock like I did!

Guadeloupe

I love travel. I haven't travelled nearly as much as I would like to, but I also know there is still plenty of time. Perhaps that is why when my husband came home one day after we had only been married about 9 months and said "I'm thinking of joining the Air Force" I said "Hmm... okay." Though we did not get to satisfy much of my wanderlust while serving the US military I have been able to travel enough to know that my fond dream of travelling is actually something that I actually enjoy in real life!

I also remember when we first arrived on the island someone making the comment "The first semester goes slow, and then by the second semester you know who is going to visit you and you look forward to that, and then they usually visit around your third semester, and then by your fourth semester it's too late and you don't want to leave but you've all ready run out of your time on the island!" I remember thinking "Yeah, but nobody is going to visit us..." And I was wonderfully mistaken!

In January my sister came to visit us. She flew in to Guadeloupe, the French island just to the North of us. The trip to Guadeloupe to pick her up was fraught with un-necessary tension, stress, and disasters that accompany such journeys, but I still don't regret the brief visit. I do reccommend that if you visit Guadeloupe you speak French or travel with someone who speaks French. We did just fine with our extremely basic understanding of French, but the trip would have gone much better with a little more knowledge.

Now I knew to a small degree what to expect as we travelled to Guadeloupe, but neither my husband or I put enough time into the actual planning of our trip. We mostly winged it - please don't try your vacation this way! We were able to pull together the details all right, though there were worms in the bathtub of the hotel and we were blocked in by a car that was double parked on the morning that we were due to catch the ferry home. This ruined my plans of returning with coveted French pastries, and since we stuffed 5 people into the hotel room they had removed the refrigerator which made it impossible for me to buy the meats and cheeses that my friends have all boasted about returning with when they had made a quick trip to a neighboring island. Still, the people, food, and culture of Guadeloupe were delightful and I know that we will have fond and distinct memories of the adventure!