The day dawns pretty decently so we’re ok to continue our road tour with Scott and Carol. We’ve engaged a driver to take us around some of the sights on the north-east end of the island.

We dinghy into PAYS where we meet Andrew, who calls Max, who brings his car, that Kevin is going to drive. Very straightforward. Kevin turns out to be a great guy, looks dour but full of fun and laughter and is totally, 100% awake. Over the day we have great chats, and I have to tell Christy to tone it down once as, sitting in the back with them, I can feel how uncomfortable Scott and Carol are.

But first, we have to go and pick them up. We accidentally drive right past them on the road but soon we are on our way. First stop is the top of a big ridge overlooking the north island, very good views and we snap a few photos.

Next is the Cold Sulfur Spring. Says its closed for renos but nope, it’s fine. Perhaps the most interesting thing here is the fact we are driving inside an extinct (?) volcano rim. Only one in the Caribbean you can drive inside, I guess because it’s not very high. Short walk down to a platform where, yes, there is a bubbling, cold, sulfur spring. We snap a few photos but don’t stay long.

On we go to Bwa Nef Falls. 10 minute walk along a nice path, 5 minutes in there is a guy who says we have to pay US$10 each to continue. That’s egregious and a clear shake down. Christy negotiates him down to EC$80. The falls are beautiful, we don’t regret the C$10 each but we’re not sure it was legit, especially since the sign at the entrance says the trail is supported by about 10 Dominican companies. Interestingly, there are two other tourists shadowing us at these stops and they come up behind us as we’re negotiating. Only one of them elects to pay the fee.

We walk the final 5 minutes to the falls. Very beautiful. Take some photos, walk down, they guy who charged us cuts open a coconut for us to drink so there’s that.

Back in the car, off we go to Chaudiere Pool. We don’t really know what that is but the road in is pretty unbelievable, lucky we have a decent vehicle (Honda CRV all wheel drive) but it’s still bumpy and slow. Kevin drops us at the trailhead, we don’t know how far it is but off we go. It’s only about 6 or 7 minutes down the trail to a pretty sizable river, split in two around an island. There are 4 tourists there already, an older French couple and 2 young girls. Turns out they hiked in about 2 km longer than we did – they weren’t willing to sacrifice their car.

Thankfully, Kevin told us to go PAST the river. These 4 are bathing in the river but frankly we can’t see what’s so interesting or “pool-like” here. I wade across the first part of the river and walk upriver a bit and, aha!, there is the pool. Very cool and a shame the other 4 didn’t find this. I think I read that it’s 20 feet deep but I can’t remember so don’t want to take too much of a chance – I jump off a small ledge. We swim a bit, take some photos, make the walk back up to the car.

Kevin takes us down to the Calibishie village for lunch. We have a pretty decent meal right on the very wild Atlantic Ocean. Shockingly expensive, EC$230 for the 4 of us.

We leave, next stop is the chocolate factory. It’s just a house and none of us wants to pay to see the operation so we just buy some chocolate. It’s very good but, of course, expensive – EC$20 per bar.

Then we’re on to the Red Rocks very nearby. A fee of course but this one is only EC$2 each. I strike up a conversation with Dean at the bar who moved from Washington State to Tennessee. We discuss the demise of Canada and Washington and how we like Tennessee because it’s a God-fearing Red State. “That’s why I’m there” says Dean.

The rocks are … red. Kinda like PEI but smoother. We would have stayed and walked around a bit more but all of a sudden the rain returns and we high tail it back to the car. The rocks are slippery when wet.

Quiet ride back to town, we take a different route through the centre. The roads are pretty good.

Christy and I are thankful that Scott and Carol want to negotiate with Max/Kevin for a taxi ride to Rosalie and their next destination because that means we go to PAYS first. We say goodbye to Kevin and to Scott and Carol, unlikely we’ll see them again in Dominica.