| Best of the Caribbean |
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Page 1 of 4 Everyone knows the Caribbean is paradise, but beach getaways are not all created equal. We asked some of our saltiest, most sunbaked writers to pick their ultimate island escapes. Welcome to the great Caribbean island-off! An island for the intrepid By Bob Friel 
Chris A Crumley/Alamy
Three hours into a trek to Boiling Lake—rubber-legged, lead-footed, and well past sweat-saturated, but not yet to the halfway point—my local guide and I descend into the Valley of Desolation, a stunning place that will never show up on any “fun in the sun” billboard. A hellscape of howling fumaroles and flatulent mud pots that emit a sulfurous mist, it could be Beelzebub’s backyard. I crumple to a rest at an overlook, and after a minute, the cloud below stretches away, exposing the underbelly of Morne Trois Pitons National Park: the roiling white water of the world’s second-largest boiling lake. Dominica has nine active volcanoes. Aside from supplying features like Champagne—an offshore dive amid streams of hot bubbles—the volcanic action created the island’s snaggletooth topography, including five peaks over 4,000 feet. This was the last Caribbean island to be colonized by Europeans and the last stand of the Kalinago tribe, who still live here today. The island’s sharp peaks and billowing rainforest were tough to attack and easy to defend; a troop of Cub Scouts with slingshots, let alone the Kalinago with their poison-tipped arrows, could hold out here indefinitely. That same violent landscape—heavy on drama, light on white-sand beaches—also protects Dominica from the onslaught of Sunday circular tourism. Within the next two years, a resort or two will be built on the beaches in the north, the dry side of this nearly 290-square-mile island, parts of which often see more than an inch of rain a day. For now, however, Dominica is still all about adventure. More than 300 miles of trails probe the montane and elfin forests that coat the island in every possible shade of green. A number of the 300-plus rivers run hot, creating natural Jacuzzis—though I find that mid-hike soaks can go ruinously beyond relaxing into jellifying. Dominica’s bounty extends underwater, and the dives I make inside the volcanic rim of Soufriere Bay are aswirl with the rich mixing of Caribbean and Atlantic waters, plus more marquee species—frogfish, seahorses, flying gurnards—than I’ve seen anywhere on this side of the world. There’s even a resident population of female sperm whales and their calves that hunt squid in the abyss offshore; big males roar in during winter to battle for breeding rights. But there’s another reason to love this island. Dominica—after the feel-good flagellation of maxing out on a hike, after the thrill-filled diving, after saluting the warriors who defied the world’s greatest powers—is the one Caribbean island where I really feel I’ve earned those rum and Cokes. ACCESS Fly to Puerto Rico for American Eagle’s (aa.com) daily to Dominica’s Melville Hall Airport, or head to St. Maarten for Winair’s (www.fly-winair.com) three-times-weekly flights to the smaller Canefield Airport. LODGING Jungle Bay Resort & Spa offers spa treatments, gourmet food, and a world-class yoga center. And the rooms aren’t bad either. From $185 per cottage per night; junglebaydominica.com SUSTENANCE Fortify yourself for adventure with bowls of callaloo soup, spicy accras (fritters), and fried “lobster balls” from La Robe Creole. larobecreole.com ATTRACTIONS Anchorage Hotel & Dive Center is the local whale-watching and scuba-diving authority. anchoragehotel.dm |
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