WHAT TO EXPECT
WHERE TO STAY WHERE TO DINE PHOTO TOURPosted on Fri, Sept. 24, 2004
Storms spare many Caribbean islands
'A beautiful place -- wild, untouched, above all untouched...Dominica'
CALIBISHIE, Dominica - "Standing on the veranda I breathed the sweetness
of the air. Cloves I could smell and cinnamon, roses and orange blossoms. And an
intoxicating sweetness as if all this had never been breathed before." The descriptions
in "Wide Sargasso Sea" by Jean Rhys, Dominica's most famous literary native,
are as fitting today as when she wrote the novel, in 1966, and even possibly when
it was set, in the 1830s. "It was a beautiful place -- wild, untouched, above
all untouched, with an alien, disturbing, secret loveliness." Of course, Rhys
wrote a dark, Gothic romance, full of madness, fevers and voodoo. She was 17 when
she left the Caribbean island in 1907, but her images are exact: Dominica, even today,
is mostly untouched. And when the sun is hot, and the palm trees flail crazily in
the wind, and the heady, overripe scent of mango and orange and frangipani combine
on the air, you can see how delirium might set in.
Geologically, Dominica ("dah-muh-NEE-cuh") is the youngest island in the
Caribbean (26 million years). Its terrain has not yet been mellowed by time. It has
high, sharp cliffs, boiling sulfur springs, dense rain forests, and a river for every
day of the year. Miles of Dominica have never been paved or electrified. Its perimeter
road is narrow and steep, a series of terrifying switch backs. Its beaches are volcanic
black sand, windswept and full of coconut shells and driftwood. They are beautiful
in their own desolate way, but nothing like the turquoise waters and white sand stretches
of Guadeloupe to the north or Martinique to the south.
The island is young politically as well, gaining independence only in 1978 from the
British. With just 67,000 natives on its 240 square miles, Dominica is decidedly
not set up for tourists, a charming challenge or bitter inconvenience, depending
on your point of view. There are no traffic lights, but the one paved road is often
washed out. The beaches are uncrowded to the point of desertion, but it's an arduous
slog down steep, untamed mountain paths to get to them, a sorrow if you left the
sunscreen back in the cottage.
We stayed in Calibishie on the north end of the island, 26 miles (but a three-hour
car ride, natives say) from the capital, Roseau. Like most of the towns we saw, Calibishie
is little more than a dusty few blocks of stores with mostly vacant shelves, a church,
an elementary school, and tin-roof shacks, with a few slab-cement homes mixed in.
Happily for us, our hosts were adventurous musician friends who have been living
outside town with their two small children for just over a year. Originally from
Bulgaria, they are possessed with a spirit that perfectly complements the untamed
island. Biliana made us iced tea from the lemon grass that grows on the side of the
road; she could locate the tender hearts of palm with an expert pull on the plant's
center stalk. George constructed a hideaway beach shack entirely out of found natural
objects, with woven palm frond walls, a wind chime made from pieces of coral, conch
shells on which to blow songs, the bleached-out skull of a young whale. Sitting there
in the dappled shade, the view of black beaches and a small offshore island with
one lonely palm tree, we were dizzy with sensual pleasure.
When we stirred ourselves to explore the island, we found more of this sense of "less."
A place called L'Escalier Tete Chien is a perfect example of a Dominican "attraction."
It is a long, natural stairway made of slick, black lava slabs leading down to the
crashing Atlantic. There is nothing else around, no postcards, no rest rooms, no
snack bars, just a crude wooden sign and a path through lantana and guava and passion
fruit vines.
Food on Dominica is plentiful and exotic. Although the island is poor -- just over
$5,400 per capita annual income -- no one goes hungry. Some restaurants hold onto
the unfortunate idea that white people crave British cuisine, but it is easy enough
to find fried plantain, veggie patties and calaloo, a kind of bitter green prepared
like spinach. The excellent local beer is called Waitu Kubuli, after the name given
Dominica by the Carib Indians. It means "tall is her body."
Our last day was warm and cloudy. We visited Pointe Baptiste Beach outside Calibishie,
yet another collection of wild, craggy coves fed both by the sea and one of those
365 rivers. We foraged for coral and shells to make necklaces, and swam in the clear,
warm waters. We tried to breathe more slowly to make the minutes last, but the funky,
one-room, one-runway, one-plane airport beckoned. As we walked back up the muddy
path in our bare feet, past hillsides of banana palms and lowing cattle, we felt
a soft rain. We trod on, quietly, until a harsh, unfamiliar sound, like gravel crashing
onto a tin roof, made us look up. We saw the cascading sheets pounding the banana
leaves just seconds before the rain slammed into us, sharp and exhilarating. We laughed
like children, drenched in happiness. By the time we reached the road, the sun was
shining and a lovely Dominican girl was there wanting to hold the baby, and we picked
mangoes off the ground, their bright orange flesh a surprise against their cool green
skins.
BASICS
ON THE MAP: Dominica is in the far eastern Caribbean, south of St. Kitts and
Nevis, north of St. Lucia. GETTING THERE: Dominica has two airports serviced
by North American carriers: Melville Hall and Canefield. There are no direct flights
from North America; there is connecting service from such gateway islands as Antigua,
Barbados, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Puerto Rico, St. Martin and St. Lucia.
WAYS & MEANS
WHERE TO STAY
• Sea Cliff Cottages, Calibishie; seacliff@dominica-cottages.com
Four delightful cottages include a one-room studio as well as two-bedroom units,
all with complete kitchens and verandas or porches with ocean views. Off-season rates
top out at $80 a night.
• Calibishie Lodges, Main Road, Calibishie; www.calibishie-lodges.com
A little closer to town and perched high up on a mountainside, with a restaurant
and nightclub. Rooms $70-$120.
• Beau Rive resort, near Castle Bruce in Carib territory.
Wonderful new dream lodge with stunning views of the ocean, sweeping patio dining,
a grand piano, and pool. Only six rooms, with hardwood floors and French doors. The
food tends toward gourmet French at night and high-quality sandwiches and salads
for lunch. Double room in season with breakfast, $120.
WHERE TO EAT:
• DomCams, Calibishie. The most popular casual sit-down restaurant in
town, with nice views of the water, but the food is bland and American-style (burgers
and fries). Better for a drink. ( This place has closed since this article was
written, but there are many good places in Calibishie to get food and drink.)
• Beau Rive resort near Castle Bruce in Carib territory.
The food tends toward gourmet French at night and high-quality sandwiches and salads
for lunch.
• Ross University Medical School, Portsmouth.
One of the best places to eat on a budget on the whole island. Food stalls cater
to international students with good native cuisine plus some surprising Indonesian
food. Whole bottles of mango juice and strong local coffee.
RESOURCES
Dominica Tourist Office, 110-64 Queens Blvd., Box 427, Forest Hills, NY 11375, (212)
949-1711; www.dominica.dm