"
Would you do it? Hm? What would you...hm? What would any of you be willing to do, hm? Would you sail to the ends of the Eart' and beyond...??"
Spoken by the fictional character (and Sea Goddess) Tia Dalma, from the famed Pirates of the Caribbean movies (the second one, in fact). I remember seeing the movies and being just mesmerized by the river scene ... and I know..
"it's just a movie", and I know..
"it's just make believe", and I know, it probably all happened on a set somewhere inside a building somewhere in Hollywood (or a shack in someone's backyard), and I know it's all makeup and action and 3D graphics against a blue screen.. but still. I guess I'm just a wee bit impressionable sometimes, but I like to think that such a bewitching place existed :)
However, I didn't quite think that it existed here, in Dominica, up the Indian River! So here's un avant-goût as I'm getting a bit ahead of our wonderful day yesterday, but I just wanted to hmm, set the mood ?
Dave and I had an early wakey wakey call as we prepped ourselves with the rising sun and waited for Laurence of Arabia to come pick us up. Laurence himself didn't, but he sent Sam who arrived perhaps ten minutes late (darn, could we have had that second cup of coffee??")
Sam was enjoying his cuppa java too and how he managed to zoom us along without upsetting his full cup we shall never know. We arrived to the quite hidden entrance of the Indian River within moments and as soon as we hit the grafitti under the bridge,
the engine was shut off, the oars came out, and Sam's double-other emerged.
"Welcam... to Dominica" his deep voice rang out in the very quiet stillness of the very early morning mist and breaking sun through the foggy clouds,
"I am Sam, your guide..."
Sam deftly managed the rather large brightly coloured rowboat into the river
and we watched as it narrowed and as we were enveloped on all sides we felt as if we had been magically transported into another land, another place...
As with all spectacular areas and events, the camera lens cannot produce a photo that can effectively do this place justice (or perhaps, I just need a better camera?), and there aren't enough descriptive words that can even begin to describe how stunning this place is. To say that it's an overwhelming visual feast for the eyes, not to be outdone by the smells of wetness and mudness as we inhaled the Earth, and we somehow never knew which side of the rowboat to look,
The wetlands with the muddy brown shore (here live monsters, I am sure!),
and also home to such amazing trees, expansive roots that elongate into unusual shapes in the brackish water.
The river lies just below sea level and is a mixture of Freshwater and salt water, hence the murky, brackishness of it.
The sounds of nature surrounded us in the morning stillness, when lo and behold...
Was this part of the Pirates movie or intended for some engine running intruders? We shall never know, ha !
Part of a railroad that only existed for a few years... now laying in ruins,
The critters scurried around their deep holes dug in the mud.
They were huge, their claws sinking into the ooze, their beady little eyes staring back at us as we encroached on their territory.
Sam rowed us about a mile,
telling us tidbits of the history and animals
and before you knew it, we had the "end" as far as we could go,
and site of the Ticking Croc Tavern. Too early in the morning for any food or drinks, however, we found some evidence that perhaps there might have been some monkey-ing around here ??
Only monkeys we saw, was Dave,
and I,
Monkeying Around Nature's Playground,
HA !
The majestic canopy of trees somehow allowed enough light through for these,
unusually vividly spectacular species of flowers to flourish,
What a great morning !!
****
Sam was a good guide, but once we sat back in the rowboat, he was rushed and he speeded us back down the river in a very rushed manner. We concluded afterwards that he must have taken on another engagement when he was on the phone at the tavern stop.
Would we recommend this visit to the Indian River? Yes, without a doubt. However, we found ourselves a tad disappointed as Sam paddled us back faster than any engine could to take us.
Note: As if there aren't enough photos here, we published some more on Sailing Banyan Facebook page, c'mon over and LIKE us, if you haven't already !