Gorge-ous Waterfalls

Today I did some hiking and exploring of the interior rainforest in the central mountains of Dominica. The first stop was Titou Gorge. This was really cool. At the entrance to the gorge warm water from a hot spring streams down from the wall. Past the entrance however, the water turns cold. You keep swimming upstream into the gorge and you find yourself in an enclosed box canyon and it becomes dark. Keep swimming and you see some light streaming in from the far end, and hear the splashing of water. A little further yet, and you can see a neat little interior waterfall at the end. This waterfall creates the current that you are swimming against. The current is light at first, but increases exponentially in strength as you approach the waterfall. The goal/challenge is to reach the waterfall. I paused for a breath, then swam full speed toward the waterfall. As I reached a point a couple feet from the waterfall I was swimming as fast as I could but my progress stopped dead. I gave an extra final kick, reached up my hand, and touched a bit of the waterfall. The real challenge though, is to swim through the waterfall until you are past it and touch the wall behind it. I might have been able to do this but it probably would have taken several tries. Next time!

Next was the Freshwater lake, source of the waterfall in Titou Gorge, as well as Trafalgar Falls which would be my next stop. I hiked half way up the trail that goes around the lake and back.
I didn't get a chance to visit the Boiling Lake; that is at least a 4 hour hike itself.

Next was Trafalgar Falls, the most famous of Dominica's many waterfalls. This is actually a pair of falls. The one on the left is called the "Papa" falls and the one on the right is called the "Mama" falls. Remarkably, the two falls have totally different sources. The Mama falls is fed from the Freshwater Lake and pours cold water; the Papa falls is fed from a hot springs and pours hot water.

Next up were Bubbling Sulphur Springs, and the Dragon's Mouth.

Finally, a soak in the hot springs at Tia's Bamboo Cottages rounded out a wonderful day of exploration of Dominica's natural beauty!