Dominica - Part 2

After our time in Roseau, we drove to the eastern side of the island for a change of scenery. We chose to stay at Beau Rive Hotel which had received stellar reviews on tripadvisor. Beau Rive is like a home away from home...in paradise. Mark, the owner, is from England and built his dream on Dominica about four years ago. The hotel has only 6 rooms, each with high ceilings, simple but modern decor and breathtaking views all around. Mark and his small staff do all of the cooking, we were presented with delicious breakfasts and dinners made from the freshest local produce. Home-made yogurt with guava jam, fish pie, vegetable curry, wonderful desserts and plenty of tropical fruit (mangoes literally fall from the trees onto the road!) Mark's pets: 3 dogs (Millie, Winston, Florence) and cat (Puss) also lived on the grounds, it was nice getting to know the whole clan during our stay. I would love a dog like Florence someday soon (hint, hint, honey..). Unfortunately the weather took a bit of a turn and we experienced some major storms which meant a lot of time reading, playing Scrabble and just lounging around - definitely not a bad thing! We managed to drive up and down the coastline to explore Turtle Beach, Red Rocks, Emerald Pool, Jungle Bay Resort (mediocre massage, but fabulous view and ocean sounds in the room). One of the more interesting places we visited was Indigo Art Gallery. The artist, Marie, built her natural studio and home into the mountainside - it's like a big tree house. Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom made a visit to Marie when they were filming Pirates of the Caribbean and she had no idea who they were. They even wrote in her guest book! Our initial impression of Dominica was that it's a 'poor' island - most people live in shacks and don't have cars. When we asked Mark how people are able to survive, he said they are by no means living in poverty. In fact, Dominica has the highest number of centurions per capita. Life on Dominica is stress free...people grow their own crops and eat fish caught from their backyards. It's no wonder they live such long (and rich) lives.

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Florence the dog/Turtle Beach:









Eastern coastline from Red Rocks/Emerald Pool waterfall: