Today we’ve decided to get a taxi of some sort up to Syndicate Nature Reserve, walk around it and also knock off a piece of the Waitukibuli Trail. We’ve done all of 13 and 14, this is section 10.

We’re slow to get going but eventually climb into the dinghy. We have one quandry with the dinghy here though. We don’t like to leave it all day at the PAYS dock because the odds of it getting smashed up with the swell and the other dinghys is high. We don’t like to leave it all day at the town pier because you’re not supposed to lock it there and that’s a bit of a risk. With OD (now on its way to Nicaraugua) we were less concerned but now we don’t like either of those options.

We’ve decided to pull up on the PAYS beach and tie to a tree. As we’re loading up I get the idea to take a PAYS taxi in that way we don’t have to worry about the dinghy. We call in on VHF 16 and soon enough they send a taxi. From there we negotiate EC$200 for a taxi to the start of the trail which is up the Syndicate Road. In hindsight this is exorbitant. We could have rented a car for the day for US$63. But so be it.

Jeff takes us up, appears he doesn’t drive standard much because he can’t find first gear. Stalls once, almost stalls a few times. He is very slow, don’t think he ever got out of third gear but at least he’s safe and a nice guy. Takes us a while but soon enough we’re at the top of Syndicate. Go left for the Syndicate Nature Trails, go right to return on the Colihaut Road. Our plan is to go left to the trails, backtrack to here, then go right down to Colihaut where we will catch a bus back to Portsmouth. Easy peasy.

The walk to the Syndicate Nature Trails is pleasant and easy, follows a paved road all the way. We pass the starting point for Morne Diablotin, the highest peak in on the island and second highest in the Antilles, behind Soufriere in Guadeloupe. Says it’s only 2-3 hours to the top from here but it looks diabolical. Little Dominican mountain humour there.

There is a big park office at the Nature Trails but nothing is open, which is good since that means nothing to pay. There is also a sign for the kickoff to Section 11 of the Waitukibuli Trail – so when we walk back to where we are going we will have completed Section 10, pretty much by accident.

The trails are nice, very well managed with interpretive flora signs abounding. There are 3 scenic viewpoints along the cliff edge which see way down into the valley below. You can hear the river down there but you can’t see it. Like all things Dominican, the scenery is dramatic. Steep, steep cliffs, verdant hills. You COULD climb out on one of the trees to see down into the valley, but I figure it’s a 500 foot drop straight down. One wrong move and goodbye. We don’t try it, though you can see the rubbed off bark of the trees where others have. Colby would be standing out on that tree barefoot on one leg.

It takes about 45 minutes to complete the circuit and we have a bite to eat (Christy has packed a lunch God Bless her) at the picnic tables in the nature centre. Time to head back for the long trek down the other side to the highway.

Another half an hour brings us back to our starting point where we head down the concrete road which is supposed to take us to Colihaut. It’s a very civilized road, concrete all the way, although it is clearly becoming the Road Less Travelled the further we go. About 45 minutes on, we come to a little hut that marks the end of Waitikibuli Segment #9 (beginning of #10 which we just did) and the road immediately tops being concrete and turns into a path. A rough path. We are expecting to come across the navigable road down to Colihaut, but it doesn’t seem to be here.

We know from Syndicate Falls that this side of the valley features a nearly vertical wall so either this trail must somehow go down into the valley quickly or go over the saddle into the next valley. In that valley our map shows a different road down but the one we were expecting here doesn’t exist so how confident are we the next one will? We follow the track for another 10 minutes or so, it is in decent shape except for a couple places but now it clearly goes over the saddle into the next valley. Decision time. If we continue and there is no descent road then we either camp in the forest on Segment #9 or walk back in the dark. From here it’s probably 2 1/2 hours on foot back to the highway and it’s already 2:15 pm. We’re likely to get a ride but if we leave it too late we’ll miss the workers going home and the tourists leaving the sites.

Discretion wins over valour, we retrace our steps.

We just get to where the Syndicate River crosses the road and there is a local cleaning off his gear and filling up his water from the crystal clear waters of Syndicate River. (I don’t think it’s actually called Syndicate River but can’t seem to find the real name.) We ask and he agrees to take us down to the highway. We both fill up our waters and we jump in the box of his pickup. Half an hour later we’re at the highway. Great guy doesn’t want any cash, I even offer him my Stihl sunglasses to match his Stihl weed whacker but he says no. God bless.

We’re just getting organized on the side of the road when the bus approaches. 20 minutes later we’re in Portsmouth and walking to PAYS. At PAYS we pay for our taxi and find the same water taxi driver that brought us in to take us back out. He also has done the walking trip from Colihaut and confirms that if we had kept going over the saddle we would have met the road that goes down to the highway.

We didn’t realize this morning we were supposed to tip him so glad we make the return trip and give him EC$20 – he’s happy about that as we buck and roll in the windy, big swell. He tells us a story of a woman that fell off her boat in the swell and he rescued her from her dinghy. Not sure of her sobriety level, may have been a factor like Nimrod’s on Thursdays in Grenada where a couple people a year reportedly drown after leaving the bar.

We’re glad to be back. Christy makes another excellent dinner. But we’ve officially completed 3 full sections of the Waitikibuli Trail and we know where the kickoff is for #9 if we wanted to go in the opposite direction.