Dominica

Visited: November 2017

Duration of visit: 4 days

Capital city: Roseau

Population: 72,000 (2017)

Estimated reading time: 6 minutes

• The country was completely destroyed during Hurricane Maria and I was visiting it two months later.
• It was almost impossible to find a place to stay, eat and transport around the island, even in the capital Roseau.
• Navigating Indian River – the scene of Pirates of the Caribbean.
• A drive on the back of a pick-up on the West Coast.

Dominica is different than most of the Caribbean islands, because there are very few sandy beaches. The massive tourism has not arrived there yet.

Furthermore, Dominica was the first country hit by Hurricane Maria in 2017. The deadly Category 5 hurricane devastated Dominica, St Croix, and Puerto Rico in September 2017.

It is regarded as the worst natural disaster in recorded history to affect those islands and was also the deadliest Atlantic hurricane since Mitch in 1998. The tenth most intense Atlantic hurricane on record and the most intense tropical cyclone worldwide.

Maria brought catastrophic devastation to the entirety of Dominica, which suffered an island-wide communication blackout. Most of the housing stock and infrastructure were left beyond repair, while the island’s lush vegetation was practically eradicated. Nearly every tree was touched – thousands snapped and strewn across the landscape – and the island was stripped of vegetation. The rainforests appear to have vanished.

Two months following Hurricane Maria’s impact, I traveled to Dominica, and the country appeared as if the hurricane had only recently occurred. I arrived to the capital Roseau on a passenger ferry from Guadeloupe, and from the very first moment I stepped on the land, I realized how big the disaster was.

There were no other tourists on the ferry, nor on the island. Just locals and family members that were coming home or immigrating somewhere else. All hotels were either destroyed or closed for reparation. I met with Ezra, who helped to find accommodation, one of very few already available. Helpful staff also offered me food and provided the information about the current situation.

As soon as we walked through the capital city Roseau, passing botanic garden and riding along the river, I could observe that every single tree was either down, broke or leafless. Most of the simple wooden houses were totally destroyed or simply teared down. The river stream was twice as wide as usual and the road was washed away. The temporary road was improvised on the southern bank of the river.

People were still in shock and couldn’t believe what happened to them.

First the hurricane, then hardly any international help and, on top of it all, cruises for the following year were cancelled.

Of course, it was not the most appealing destination after being destroyed by Maria, but it would be the best way to help poor people of Dominica to stand up and recover from the misery, if tourists supported the local economy in these difficult moments.

I decided to explore the island as much as possible, though most of the roads were damaged and closed, especially on the eastern side of the island. There were irregular minibuses to the second biggest town of Portsmouth. The trip took almost two hours and there were hardly any other passengers.

The ex-capital of Dominica, Portsmouth, is rather a big village with a population of roughly 3,000 people, that depend mostly on fishing and tourism. I walked the last part to the embouchure of Indian River to Caribbean Sea. It didn’t look as a place where scenes of Pirates of the Caribbean were filmed and no signs of luxury that Johnny Depp might have been asked for, while in town.

It was still before noon, when I was shaking hands with a group of bored fishermen in a local bar. After listening to the story, how their boats were destroyed and their houses damaged during the hurricane, I asked them about a possible navigation on Indian river.

“It’s very expensive my friend. No boats, no captains, no tourists. 50.00 US$ for you only.”

The river was cleaned only partially, so solely the lower stream was navigable.

They didn’t convince me and I knew that there should be another – cheaper option. I had a kind of pre-agreement with a local fisherman that was done through the owner of my hotel the night before, but the guy was already 2 hours late and I didn’t know what to do. I was definitely not going to pay 50 bucks for this ride.

Somehow, I managed to persuade the bored waiter in a bar to prepare me fish with rice and beans, since it was already 1:00pm and I was getting hungry. Shouting from the bar grew louder after every beer poured down the throats of unemployed fishermen. When cannabis smell became stronger, I realized that a solution needs to be found soon, before fishermen become too violent.

I was already considering to start walking back when I tall guy with a torn hat came to me and asked:

“Are you taking a boat up the Indian River?”

I was surprised and at first denied my interest, but he immediately explained that he was a friend of a friend of my hotel owner in Roseau. Great! We quickly agreed an all details and pushed a small boat off the dock, up the Indian River.

The navigation was difficult, since the river was still covered with branches and small trunks of fallen trees. What was supposed to be an ideal way to experience the quiet beauty of the river and the surrounding forest, where parts of the movie Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead man’s chest were filmed, was now like a war zone.

Birds, iguanas, fishes and other animals were extremely rare, but the ride was serene and peaceful.

After half an hour we arrived to the end of the navigable part of the river. I gave a couple of Caribbean dollars to workers that were cleaning the path and we returned back downstream. I am convinced that the nature will quickly recover and hopefully the next season there will be more visitors to revive the local community that depends on tourism.

When back in Portsmouth, I realized there were no more mini vans back to Roseau, so I tried to hitchhike. It didn’t take long before a pick-up truck stopped and offered me a ride halfway to St. Joseph area. From the back of the truck I had a great view and opportunity to observe how strong and harmful nature can be.

Dominican mountains covered with trees, as long as the eye can see, were now like fields of dry corn. Many electric poles were on the ground or banding over the streets. I had to lower my had in order to avoid hitting them. There were only a few cars we were meeting, but encounters were so close that I got a feeling we would bump into them.

I arrived to Roseau late. It was dark and unpleasant to walk around at night, since street lighting didn’t work and the city was without electricity. Only luxurious houses and businesses could afford a power plant. I stopped in front of the only place with open wi-fi in town.

The best stocked grocery store was also the place where I checked messaged and emails with my phone. The connection was better at night, but half an hour walk back to the hotel was not very pleasant. The full moon was illuminating my path on the last evening, before continuing on a ferry to Saint Lucia next morning.

I left Dominica with mixed emotions. I found it in extreme conditions just after the worst natural disaster in its history, when people were fighting to survive and restarting their lives, rebuilding their houses, infrastructure and basic necessities.

The country was hit so hard, it will take years for its population to recover, but the nature will be faster and the countryside will turn green and beautiful to attract visitors again.