Dominica in 8 days: the Boiling Lake, sperm whales and the Waitukubuli trail

Day 2 — Trafalgar and the valley

• 08:00 — Trafalgar Falls, twenty minutes above Roseau: two falls side by side, locally the Father and the Mother, with a hot stream running into the cold pool at the base.
• 10:30 — Titou Gorge — you swim up a narrow volcanic slot to a waterfall at the end, in cold water, between walls a few metres apart. The Pirates of the Caribbean crew filmed here.
• 13:00 — Wotten Waven for the sulphur hot springs, which is the right order: gorge first, then sit in hot water.
• 16:00 — Morne Bruce above Roseau for the view down over the harbour.

Day 3 — The Boiling Lake

• 05:30 — Start from Titou Gorge with a guide. This is a six to eight hour round trip and the hardest day walk in the Caribbean.
• The route climbs Morne Nicholls, drops into the Valley of Desolation — a field of steaming vents, sulphur crusts and hot streams where the forest simply stops — and then climbs to the rim.
• The lake is around sixty metres across, grey, wreathed in steam, and the centre is at a rolling boil. It is a flooded fumarole, and its level rises and falls unpredictably.
• Take three litres of water each, lunch, and shoes you do not mind destroying. Follow the guide exactly in the valley — the crust is thin in places.
• Evening — The hot springs again. You will want them.

Day 4 — Whales

• Morning — Out from Roseau into the Soufrière–Scotts Head Marine Reserve and the deep water beyond.
• Sperm whales are resident here year-round, which is true nowhere else — families of females and calves stay in the lee of the island because the drop-off is close inshore. Hydrophones are used, so you hear them clicking before you see anything.
• Best from November to March. Sightings are good but not guaranteed.
• Afternoon — Champagne Reef, where volcanic gas bubbles up through the sand and you snorkel through it. Easy, shallow and unlike anywhere else.
• Or dive — Dominica’s west coast walls are superb and uncrowded.

Day 5 — The east coast and the Kalinago

• 09:00 — Across to the windward side.
• 10:30 — The Kalinago Territory, 3,700 acres on the east coast — the last organised Carib community in the Caribbean, with their own chief and council. Kalinago Barana Autê is the cultural village they run; go with a Kalinago guide and the visit is substantial rather than a display.
• 13:00 — Emerald Pool, a waterfall into a green basin in deep forest, fifteen minutes’ walk from the road.
• 15:00 — North to Portsmouth via the Atlantic coast, where the surf comes in with nothing between here and Africa.

Where to stay in the north (three nights)

• Simple: Portsmouth and Calibishie, which have the guesthouses and the island’s few decent beaches.

Day 6 — Indian River and Cabrits

• 07:00 — The Indian River, rowed — engines are banned — up under bloodwood trees whose roots arch over the water. Go early for the birds.
• 10:00 — Cabrits National Park and Fort Shirley, a British garrison restored out of the forest above Prince Rupert Bay, with a good story: the 1802 mutiny of the 8th West India Regiment here led directly to Black soldiers in the British army being freed.
• 14:00 — Batibou or Pointe Baptiste on the north coast — about as close to a classic Caribbean beach as Dominica gets, and reached down a rough track.

Day 7 — Waitukubuli, a segment

• A day on the trail. The Waitukubuli National Trail runs 115 miles in fourteen segments, and you can walk one without committing to the whole thing.
• Segment 12 from Penville toward Capuchin, or Segment 4 through the Central Forest Reserve, are the usual picks — half a day to a full day each, with transport arranged at both ends.
• Or climb Morne Diablotin, the island’s highest point at 1,447 metres, for the imperial parrot — the national bird, found nowhere else, and down to a few hundred individuals.

Day 8 — Fly out

• Morning — The drive back across the island to Douglas–Charles, an hour from the north.
• Leave margin. Regional connections are tight and the road is slow.