Dominica, the “Natural” Island was used in many scenes in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. So, of course we became Pirate tourists today and went to see one of the sites. But first, when we got off the ferry last evening, we walked to our hotel room in the main town, Roseau. Yes, walked. It was only 5 minutes, and we had been on the ferry for 2+ hours.

This little place, Narakiel’s Inn, is where we will spend the next five nights. The room is smaller than the BnB on Guadeloupe, it is up 3 flights of stairs and we are on our own for all meals. Different? It was something like this or a resort which is too far away from anything to easily get around. Fortunately, the host Karen is helpful, finding us a taxi driver/tour guide for the week to help us get to all the great spots.

Before the taxi picked us up, we went for a walk in the neighborhood. A bunch of dogs started barking when the school children were walking by, so Clare listened to the lecture about not running away, the dogs smell fear, they are just trying to let you know they are here. Then the teacher asked the kids to say “Good Morning” to Clare! She said “Good Morning” back, and everyone smiled.

View of Roseau from above our little room. There is one cruise ship at the main dock and a much larger one at a dock just to the right of the frame.

We are also close to a stadium, we assume for soccer or cricket? It seems huge for such a small population.

Also, it seems to be a law on this island to warn other drivers if you have a car with left hand drive, since driving is on the left side here.

After about an hour and a half taxi ride with Lincoln, we arrived at the Indian River, where the beautiful witch woman Calypso enchanted pirates in the second Pirates of the Caribbean movie. Our guide was Spesh (for Super Special – they take nick-names for themselves to describe their tours). The Indian River is a tidal river so that currents can run in either direction.

Spesh loves his river. He knows all the animals hideouts and can names all the fish, birds and plants. To motor was used only to get us going at the beginning; after that, he guided and propelled the boat with one oar/pole.

He first took us to Calypso’s cabin from the movie set. It is on a tributary to the Indian River. He was here when they were filming and helped them out.

The female of this crab species is red and black and small, while the male is much bigger and white. The white one is a specialty of the island now, since the former delicacy, a big frog called the mountain chicken (tastes like chicken) went extinct when the British were trying to eradicate marijuana from the island with some herbicide.

The swampy river had a maximum depth of 9 feet. Spesh used his pole pushing us along from the bottom of the river.

White crab’s claw in center. They were difficult to find (although Spesh knew where to look for them).

The roots of the trees are like something from a fantasy novel. Dragon shapes, weird spirits – we took tons of pictures of the roots!

The fibrous roots are great for fish, because algae gets caught on them, and also great for people to use to make ropes and weave cloth.

The bar at the end of the river. We just walked around a bit.

Prices are in three currencies! The preferred currency is Eastern Caribbean dollars, as on Antigua.

The plants near the Bush Bar were quite beautiful.

Other river travelers. I was glad we had Spesh’s boat to ourselves! Note that this guide is using two oars.

On the way back down the river, Spesh was quiet, letting us enjoy watching without a narrative. Quite peaceful.

After the river trip, Lincoln took us to a cozy lunch spot where Brian tried the local beer. All the local beers in the islands taste the same.

Lincoln took us to the beach near his home where we walked while he chatted with his friends.

And back to our Inn and to find dinner somewhere!

• Lesser Antilles 2020