Hiking in Dominica, enjoying nature, and DOM-ANU (Angitua) on LIAT

 6 Countries in 6 Days Caribbean Trip, Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Flights, hotels  No Responses »
Jul 172012
 

Landed in Dominica, and that’s where the drama started. Immigration was a snap, and soon found the small shack/hut that housed the rental car companies. Went over to the Avis “desk” (which, seriously, is an overstatement. It’s a small wooden podium, with a rather nice, but disinterested man who may or may not be behind it.) Nope, no reservation. Showed it to him. “Oh, how interesting. Can’t help you.” He had no car, and while he could get me one from another agency, no matching the rate, etc etc. Chatted with the (much more) helpful lady from the other agency, and she told me for what I was doing in Dominica, I would be much better with her “friend’s” taxi. He would take me round-trip to my resort, and make sure things were happy….all for the same price as my rental car. Since I only planned to hike and chill here, I went with it.

I’d chosen to stay at the Hotel Beau Rive – and in summary – it was an awesome choice.  I normally prefer locations much more in the middle of it all.  Places to go out to eat, walking distance to cool things to see, etc etc.  You get the idea.  Beau Rive?  Well, it was absolutely none of this.  What it was, however, was set in the middle of Dominica’s awesome natural beauty with the most amazing hosts and staff you could ask for.  This is all made very clear on their website, online reviews, etc.  If you’re not ready for an “at home” atmosphere, pets on premesis who are quite friendly, and a home away from home…this isn’t the place for you.  Yet, despite being from from my normal “style” I absolutely loved it here.  I’ll go into more details, but the pics will do much more talking here.

My taxi driver was awesome….on the approximately one hour drive to Beau Rive he told me all about his island, the people, the locations…it was like a mini guided tour.  Plus, the roads were seriously harpin and pretty tricky.  Much less stressful not to drive on them!  Got to the hotel, checked in (I was one of two rooms occupied!) and immediately took this awesome shot from my room’s balcony:

Another shot from the hotel’s veranda:

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Barbados, the Hilton Barbados, beach time and BBQ, and BGI-DOM (Dominica) on LIAT

 6 Countries in 6 Days Caribbean Trip, Barbados, Dominica, Flights, hotels, Restaurants  No Responses »
Jul 142012
 

The Barbados airport was several times the size of any one I had encountered yet on this trip, which meant I actually had to wait for my baggage a good bit…but it was an air conditioned area with “modern” baggage belts….unlike some of the previous islands whose baggage reclaim areas cum customs cum immigration areas felt like you’d traveled back in time many decades.  The Barbados airport felt modern, efficient, and decidedly different…aka everything the average tourist loves.

While waiting for baggage, I chatted a bit more with the guy who’d been sitting near me.  He was from Barbados, home for a month to visit during the summer, and would return to Canada for university in the fall.  He’d been in Grenada for business, so was back home now to enjoy the rest of his vacation.  I was offered (and accepted) a ride to the hotel, “as long as you don’t mind a few stops along the way.”  Hmmm, I was going to save a $25 taxi and have a fun adventure…why not?  In retrospect, yeah, it’s everything you’re advised not to do…but once again, taking a chance paid off!  After a quick, very bumpy, and bat-out-of-hell style ride in a jacked-up old Hummer, we were at his house where he swapped clothes and dropped off luggage while I waited.  Was nice being in an actual neighbourhood far away from what any tourist ever see, and to see how the locals actually live.

The next part I hadn’t expected.  It was a series of at least four or five stops to pick up friend after friend who was joining him at the beach party.  It was especially cool to get a real view into the diversity of Barbados.  People had come from everywhere, and everyone was some mix of different cultures that blended into something truly local and unique.  Eventually, there were seven of us in the car, and we were off to the hotel.  Right before dropping me off, I was told if I could hurry I should join them for the beach party.  Um, sure, why not!  Luggage dropped off, checked in quickly, and a quick photo from the room:

Back downstairs, and we were off for a five minute drive to the party on the beach.  I’m honestly not sure I’ve ever been to a sunset Sunday night party on the beach before.  It was a completely local crowd, everyone seemed to know everyone, and it was lots of dancing, rum, and just enjoying a Sunday evening.  I checked out after a couple of hours, because I had dinner plans at the Brown Sugar Restaurant near the Hilton.

It was a date for one….me, a good book on my iPad, and a delicious dinner.  Brown Sugar gets very mixed reviews online, but due to location I decided to give it a go.  It was exactly what I expected – not superb, but fun, somewhat local, and good food…even if I did have to sit next to a family from Jersey who kept complaining about things instead of focusing on the things they were liking about their vacation.  Enough said!  After multiple drinks on the beach, I was starving, so went with the Caribbean Jerk Porn appetizer.  Nothing fantastic, but it was tasty, and went well with the rum punch.  (Sensing a theme here?  I mean, I really had to compare how each island did them!)

Then, it was time for the main course.  I decided to go all out and get the Martin’s Choice, described as “A bountiful seafood platter with fried flying fish, grilled Mahi-Mahi Dolphin, breaded shrimps & a crab cake.”  It was rather tasty, but also rather more fried than I would have expected.  I still don’t know what “Mahi-Mahi Dolphin” is, but I’m gonna hope it wasn’t really dolphin.  It tasted like Mahi Mahi so I’m going with that.

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