Dominica Hiking – Being ‘Up a Creek’ Never Felt So Good
It was an enjoyable drive to Victoria Falls along the south-east coast of Dominica. Near the town of Delices, we followed the signs from the main road that led us down a dangerously steep narrow pathway carved into the side of a ridge. Thankfully it’s a short drive down to the local family ‘Rastarant’ (yes, a Rasta Restaurant), where one of the local Rasta guides came out to greet us.
We had heard that this was not so much a traditional hike, as an adventurous walk alongside and ‘in’ a shallow, fast-flowing river. That said, as we had never done a ‘river trail’ before, so we didn’t really know what to expect. Well, it wasn’t your typical Dominica hiking experience – It’s more of an adventure!
It was an enjoyable, but relatively short hike from the rastarant to the White River. The setting, with the eerily grey-blue mineral-rich water below us, was stunningly beautiful. Following our guide, we waded into and crossed the river to join another trail on the other side. After a short hike, we were back into the water just upstream from where we crossed. From here on, we spent most of the time walking in the river, against the current. It was fairly slow going, picking our way slowly across the rocks.
In some sections, the water flowed fairly strong, and in other areas we had to crawl over truck-sized boulders in the water. Some of the rocks were much more slippery than they looked. Unfortunately, we both slipped a couple of times. Personally, I had put too much face in technology, specifically the water shoes I was wearing, as Mother Nature gave me some tough love. We collected a few ‘souvenir’ scrapes and bruises along the way, nothing too serious – This was definitely a small price to pay for the rewarding sight that awaited us.
Wow, this was really a unique Dominica hiking experience – Our journey to the falls reminded me of stories I’ve read about the early French and English explorers travelling west in what is today Canada – via waterways as there were no roads and few trails to walk. Except here, we didn’t need canoes for our short trip. Oh, and the air and water temperature was really nice and warm 🙂
After a while, we knew we were getting close, as we could hear the roar of the waterfall getting closer and closer. Eventually, we turned a corner in the river and we could see the breathtaking Victoria waterfalls and the large blue-grey pool that it poured into. Being at the bottom of the spectacular 165 feet (50m) tall waterfalls was a truly humbling experience. The scene was like something out of a movie as we just stood in awe – You could just feel the power… Everything, from rocks to trees and shrubs, within hundreds of feet of the surrounding area was soaked from the falls’ mist.
Yup – That’s me in the blue shirt in the pool
Well, at this point I thought I would simply wade into the pool and get real up-close and personal, maybe even stick my head under and have a shower. Huh! There’s just no way… As I tried to approach the falls, the tremendously strong spray from the water crashing into the pool felt like needles… no more like nails, being shot at me. I couldn’t even get close – What power. A totally mind-blowing experience!
It was the same way back, although it seemed much easier in this direction. Perhaps it was as simple as walking with the current instead of against it, or perhaps it was now having the knowledge of what to expect. Either way, we made it back to the car fairly quickly, although I really didn’t want to leave this secluded paradise! What a unique Dominica hiking experience.
It is safe to say that our Victoria Falls hike made memories that will last a lifetime. The hike in terms of distance was fairly short, however there was so much to ‘take in’ – Travelling upstream in a wild rocky river and standing in the pool of this mighty waterfall – Time was ‘standing still’. An epic tropical nature experience for sure!
ACT Staff
* Please note that this review was done prior to Hurricane Maria in 2017 – The trail conditions/characteristics may have changed as the island recovered *
For the Victoria Falls Trail details, along with more information on traveling to Dominica, please reference the following links (to pages on our website):
The two-island nation of St. Kitts & Nevis is conveniently located southeast of the Virgin Islands, just west of Antigua & Barbuda. The mountainous islands are home to lush rainforest interiors and paved coastal roads that are ideal for an awesome Caribbean cycling experience. Nevis, the quieter of the two islands, is small enough to bike around in a few hours and offers stunning views of the island and the endless blue surrounding the island.
While we’ve enjoyed many hiking and snorkelling excursions in the Caribbean, we have never gone for a bike ride before. So, on our recent trip to Nevis we were excited to be heading out on our very first Caribbean cycling adventure, although unfortunately some things just don’t work out as planned. We were visiting Nevis for the day and had planned to go for a nice bike ride in the morning, followed by a unique rum experience in the afternoon. Problem is, the bike rental shop opened about 2 hours after we had hoped to have been on the road. As a result, we didn’t have much time to enjoy our cycling event before we had to get back in time for our scheduled rum tour.
Anyways, while we were getting our hybrid bicycles adjusted to our height, I talked with the shop owner to get some recommendations on where to bike. He repeatedly stated that the island is “tiny” and that we can’t get lost. He suggested riding into Nevis’ capital Charlestown and exploring some backroads, but that sounded kind of boring, so we decided to heed his other idea… to undertake the much more strenuous and time-consuming ‘around the island’ route. The shop owner told us that the record time for riding all the way around the island is less than sixty minutes, so we figured we could do it comfortably in a couple of hours. Well, we were about to find out the hard way that that was not a good assumption.
We were advised to bike clockwise around the island, to avoid having to cycle uphill on a long stretch of road just south of Charlestown. So off we went under the midday heat. Starting from the Oualie Beach area we headed east along the main road. It was a nice leisurely ride along the north end of Nevis where we encountered many sheep (that look like goats) at the side of or just as often, on the road. These critters displayed interesting behaviour. While they barely moved when cars drove past, they seemed to be absolutely terrified when they saw us coming. I don’t know why, but they nervously scurried into the bush whenever we approached – Perhaps they thought we were trying to round them up or something. Comforting views of St. Kitts across the channel started to fade as we passed Nevis’ Vance Amory airport and headed south down the east coast.
It was cool to see some monkeys scavenging around some fields, however we had to stay focused on our cycling as we were encountering a number of hills. We know Nevis is a mountainous island and had expected some hills, however they were starting to test us. We stopped once in a while for a break and to observe a small wind farm as well as a small island way off in the distance. After riding for about 45 minutes or so, we passed the Nevis Raceway – I have to say, I was not expecting to find a dragstrip on this small Caribbean Island. We didn’t see any race cars that day, although the cattle, donkeys and sheep were enjoying grazing on the fields surrounding the asphalt tracks.
Rounding the southeast corner of the island, the road headed inland and we encountered a beautiful green mountain landscape along with some much bigger and steeper hills to take on. Being we just left a snow-filled winter wonderland at home, we hadn’t ridden for a few months, so our biking muscles were a bit rusty and were starting to get fatigued. We ended up dismounting and walking up two or three of the longer, steeper sections of road. We were falling way behind schedule and were stressing that we wouldn’t make it back in time for our scheduled pick-up. While I’m sure it was less than an hour, it seemed like it took us forever to travel across the southern end of Nevis.
The worst part of being so time-sensitive was that we were not taking the time to enjoy the local attractions and gorgeous Caribbean sights that this magnificent Caribbean Island had to offer. If we would have had more time, I would have liked to have checked out the Nevisian Heritage Village and one or two of the old plantations. This would have also given us some much-needed rest breaks. Eventually, we rounded the southwest corner of Nevis and were elated to realize that we were finally seeing the Caribbean side of the island. About 2.5 miles (4km) or more outside of Charlestown the road was on a near-constant downhill, so we enjoyed the glide, which included a few steep sections that provided an exhilarating ride. We were flying down the roads, braking to stay in control around the corners. We quickly reached the capital, but again we didn’t have the time to wander around the quaint town to take in the sights.
At this point, we found our second wind, and with the clock always on our mind we bore down and finished the final 5 miles (8km) or so in business-like fashion. In different circumstances, I would have really enjoyed cycling alongside a donkey that was scampering wild down the street, but at this point, I was just focused on finishing the ride. About half an hour later we made it back to our starting point, and fortunately, our afternoon ride was still there, even though we were more than an hour late – Thank goodness for ‘island time’…
In summary, we enjoyed the unique view of the mountainous interior, including the wonderous Nevis Peak and its surrounding rolling ridges. We got an awesome workout, although we felt a little weak after cycling in the heat and humidity. FYI – The ‘around the island’ route is just over 19 miles (31km) long, with over 785 feet (240m) of vertical to climb along the southern stretch across Nevis. A route that avid cyclists would probably enjoy and may even consider a bucket list activity! In hindsight, we tried to do too much in too little time and hence failed to enjoy the experience. It would have been better to have planned for 4-to-5 hours, including stops at various beaches, historical attractions, maybe even a restaurant or two along the way. Alternatively, we could have spent a couple of hours with a loop route at the north end of the island, or just ridden down to Charlestown and back.
ACT Staff
For more information on cycling in the Sister Islands, including a list of local tour operators and bike rental shops, take a look at our St. Kitts & Nevis MTB & Cycling page
If you’re looking for some other adventures that will raise your pulse rate a bit, check out the recommendations in our St. Kitts & Nevis Adventures blog
If you’re looking to slow-it-down a bit, maybe take a tour of the island to see some attractions, check out our recommendations for Things To Do in St. Kitts & Nevis blog
Saint Lucia Hiking – Few ever see the Pitons from this angle!
Saint Lucia is nicely positioned in the southern Caribbean’s Windward Islands, just south of Martinique and west of Barbados. The mountainous island is covered with lush green rain-forest and is instantly recognizable by their distinctive Pitons (mountains) along the south-west coast. A very popular Caribbean destination known for romantic getaways, St. Lucia also has plenty to offer adventure seekers interested in a hiking-filled vacation. While most hikers go to climb the Gros Piton, I chose to hike the island’s tallest peak, Mount Gimie. Oh, what an excellent decision that was!
Our day started with a pleasant drive down the west coast from where we were staying near Anse La Raye. We met our guide in the village of Migny, just a little south and inland from Soufriere. We joined a few others and headed off up a rough, partly paved road. The track was on a steady incline and we were met with a nice breeze that swept over the farmers’ fields – What a great way to start the day! While we had some decent views of nearby valleys and the Gros Piton way off in the distance, I was looking ahead to getting into the jungle… After about an hour we headed west on a dirt path towards the Edmund Forest Reserve.
From here, the trail got real interesting – This is what I was looking forward to, spending half a day roaming through a rainforest! We hiked through some pretty dense forest, with our guide literally clearing parts of the trail with his machete so we had a path to follow. Clearly, we would not have been able to do this trail without him. Talk about not being able to see the forest for the trees, the trail had so many ups-and-downs and twists-and-turns, I wasn’t real sure where we were going. There were even a few short distances of vertical where we had to literally climb, some up and some down, with our hands using tree roots like a natural ladder. OMG – What an awesome and wild St. Lucia hike!
Every once in a while, we stopped while our knowledgeable guide pointed out some weird and wonderful looking plants or birds that we could hear along the way. While we couldn’t spot most of the birds, I did see the occasional colourful hummingbird fluttering from plant to plant though. These breaks conveniently gave us some time to catch our breath and drink some water. Thinking back, I believe that we hiked across a ridge or two, ventured down into a valley and crossed a small river before attacking another ridge that would take us to the top of Mount Gimie. I had been looking forward to a remote and challenging rain-forest hike on the island, and this trail satisfied that… and we were far from finished…
For the next hour or so the trail became pretty much all uphill, at a pretty steep incline, making our workout a little more intense. Thankfully, the number of photo opportunities increased along this path, although maybe we were just finding a reason to stop and catch our breath. Seriously, we had amazing views of the valley we had just crossed, as well as a very unique perspective of the iconic pitons that had come into view. I doubt too many people get to see the spectacular Pitons and Tet Paul from this vantage point – The view was Priceless!
The air was so moist and the flora so tropical, that there was also some amazing rain-forest vegetation to capture in photos. As we neared the peak, I learned the hard way about a Caribbean plant that I had heard of but never encountered before. Due to the steepness of the trail, I reached down and grabbed a handful of some greenery to help with my balance. Well, it turned out to be ‘razor grass’ and I sliced the palm of my hand and all my fingers. Kind of like getting a bunch of paper-cuts all at once. Oh well… Just a few more minutes and the discomfort in my hand became a distant memory as we were well rewarded when we reached the top of the Island.
Mount Gimie, not the famous Pitons, is St. Lucia’s highest peak, and at just over 3,000 feet (950m) above sea level we had sensational panoramic views of the island. We could clearly see the east and south coastlines, including Vieux Fort and the Maria Islands. Looking to the north across the whole island, really gave me an appreciation for the rugged terrain of St. Lucia. We lucked out and enjoyed some incredible views for several minutes before the top of the mountain became enveloped in clouds. Although this was the pinnacle of our day, we were still in for more fun and adventure…
We headed back down the same way we had come, however this time once we descended the mountain and were heading back through the valley, we took a little detour. Our guide took us upstream along the river we had crossed earlier and after a few minutes, we came to a small waterfall, complete with a pool. It was really refreshing to wash the sweat off and cool off my over-heated feet. This was a nice surprising break, although apparently I was looking for more self-inflicted pain. As we crossed the river I was jumping from rock to rock trying to keep my shoes dry, and I slipped on a large rock. Both of my feet flew right out from under me and I landed on my butt – It must have been quite comical to watch. Fortunately, my butt is well padded, so I just sort of bounced. No big deal.
As we were nearing the end of the hike, I was thinking that this trail probably isn’t used more than a couple of times a week. When we got back to the road section and was heading down to our car, I started to better appreciate the refreshing breeze and nice views of the surrounding valleys. Our guide pulled some grapefruits and tangerines down from the trees on the side of the road, so we also had an invigorating snack along the way.
Wow – I got to tell you… St. Lucia’s Mount Gimie trail really has it all. Relative to some other Caribbean mountain hikes, this one was not too long or too steep. It had some unique near-vertical sections to spice things up a bit, and it was filled with amazing tropical plant life, a waterfall, and of course spectacular views! One of my favourite Caribbean hikes for sure!
For a more ‘technical’ Trail Report as well as much more information on hiking in Saint Lucia, please reference the following links (to pages on our website):
Martinique Hiking – An amazing trail to the tallest peak on the island!
While researching the 10 tallest peaks in the Caribbean Islands, one of the most attractive hikes to me was Martinique’s Montagne Pelée, or the Mount Pelée Volcano Trail. Seeing pictures of the massive green mountain dominating the Caribbean Island landscape with its long open ridges and steep peaks really got me excited. Having had the Montagne Pelée Volcano trail at the top of my list of dream hikes for several years, it was great to be in Martinique and finally have the opportunity to experience it for myself! After reading several reviews, a common recommendation was to start the hike as early as possible in order to reach the peak before the clouds inevitably roll in, removing the chance for some amazing views from the top. Well, I have to say, our experience was not exactly consistent with those recommendations. The sky was fairly clear when we left Saint-Pierre, however after gaining some altitude on the 10+ minute drive to Le Morne-Rouge, we could see the sky was getting grayer. Another 10-15 minutes later and it was pretty grey and lightly drizzling by the time we reached the trailhead parking lot.
As a result, our morning adventure, or at least the first half of the hike, was in a combination of fog, mist, clouds and even a little light rain. The good news, however, is that the second half of our hike, which luckily included my exploration of the mountain peak, was under a near-cloudless, sun-filled sky. So clearly (pun intended), the trail conditions and views are highly dependent on the weather system around the volcano on the day of the hike.
FYI – Besides a couple of other really long trails, there are three main routes to hike Mount Pelée: A relatively short hike from the west side of the peak; A longer hike from the north side of the peak; and a slightly longer one from the southeast side of the peak. We chose to hike the latter, known as the L’Aileron Trail which can essentially be divided into 3 main trail sections plus the spur trail to the peak. The first is a long steep climb up the side of the mountain to gain altitude and get near the top of the volcano. The second section is a nice ridge walk around the top of the crater known as the Caldeira. Then there is the spur trail to the actual peak, which at 4,583 feet (1,397m) above sea level is the tallest peak in Martinique, and the 10th tallest in the Caribbean Islands. The third main trail section is a shortcut across a deep ravine to get back to the first section without going back around the crater rim.
OK, so back to our hike… We left the parking lot around 8:30 am, heading past the fenced-in telecom station and up the trail. For the first couple of hours the trail is basically straight up the side of the mountain. There was little time for a warm-up as before we knew it, we were climbing stairs. This first section is the longest part of the hike, and unfortunately for us, we were completely surrounded by a wet grey blanket. There wasn’t much for us to see from a ‘view of the island’ perspective, so our eyes were pretty much glued to the mostly washed-out steps we were climbing. This part of the trail had plenty of areas with wood planks partially buried in the ground, although many had little earth between them, having been eroded by the frequent rain. The distance between the steps varies, with most being around 2 feet in height – Kinda awkward, but much better than a mud slick. We also traversed several natural, but no less difficult, rocky ground areas as well. Everything was a little wet, so it was good that we focused on the trail, proceeding fairly slowly to avoid slipping. The trail was quite busy, which also slowed our pace as we passed people or others passed us. OK, I’ll be honest, stepping off the trail once in a while to allow others to pass, gave us a well-needed opportunity to catch our breath. I have to say though, in all our previous Caribbean Island hiking experiences, we have never come across more than 2 or 3 other small groups of people on the entire trail. That was not the case here – There must have been a hundred people hiking at pretty much the same time as us. Apparently, we weren’t the only ones that read about starting the hike early.
Back to the trail… The steepness of this first section varies over time, with some reasonably easy gradually rising sections, while others are quite steep requiring us to use both our hands and our feet to move forward. While we were enveloped by grey mist and couldn’t see too far in the distance, I was struck by the lush green vegetation that surrounded us. Even with few trees in sight, nature is pretty cool! All along the trail there are posts/markers, 14 in fact for this first section alone, that identified where we were on the mountain. After a good couple of hours, we eventually reached the top of this first section, going up and over the peak of this mountain top. From there we walked across a nice relatively flat section, skirting the occasional muddy puddle, again allowing us to catch our breath before pushing onto the next section of the trail.
Near a small shelter, a few different paths intersect, including the trail that ascends the volcano from the north side of the island. This provided us with a couple of options on how to get to the actual peak of Mount Pelée. We could have taken the steep plunge down a near-vertical ladder-like set of stairs in order to cross a deep ravine. This would have taken us on the most direct path to the plateau near the peak, however, we chose to journey counter-clockwise around the rim of the volcano to get views of the north and west side of Martinique, the Caribbean Sea, as well as down into the volcano itself. The trail along these ridges took us on a pleasant roller-coaster ride up and down small hills.
Not much to see looking down into the crater…
That said, as we were still shrouded in clouds, we really couldn’t see very far through the mist until we were almost fully around the Caldeira. Even without the long-distance views, it was still a very interesting hike. Again, there wasn’t a tree in sight, although the ground is blanketed with dense vegetation. The plants are mostly green although there are yellow accents everywhere as well as some colourful red flowering plants occasionally poking out through the sea of green. The ground was quite muddy, and we encountered a few areas where it was simply unavoidable getting a soaker. For most of the walk around the crater rim, I felt that we were gently descending, making it a pleasant and easy walk. It was unfortunate that we couldn’t enjoy views from the north side of Mount Pelée as I’m sure they would have been spectacular, however our luck was about to change at the western end of the trail where it connected with the trail that approaches the volcano from the west of the island.
At this point, the trail becomes very steep as it ascends the mountain. We were about halfway through our final push up the west side of the volcano when the clouds started to thin, providing gaps that allowed us to see how high we were, also revealing amazing views of the Caribbean Sea in the direction of the town of Le Precheur. A great reward for making it this far! After about an hour after starting this second trail section, we crossed over the mountaintop and came to another small cement shelter near the top of the volcano. This area is a relatively flat plateau with no real view of anything as it is surrounded by areas of higher ground. My hiking partner decided to rest here while I pushed on to the tallest peak of Montagne Pelée, following the spur trail known as Le Chinois.
The Le Chinois spur trail was extremely uncomfortable and somewhat difficult to traverse, mostly because there is no real ground to walk on. Most of the trail is a collection of big black wet boulders strewn across the landscape, many of which have fairly sharp protruding edges jutting upwards. Definitely, the trickiest part of the entire hike, requiring good balance to avoid taking a spill. The whole area is so incredibly lush and green with low-growing vegetation though, that I didn’t dwell on the negatives. My excitement was mounting as I knew that I was so close to the peak! After gaining more elevation by climbing a couple of hilltops and crossing a little gully, I could finally see the peak – A small flat(ish) surface composed of large grey boulders and blocks. After a short climb up to the awkward viewing platform, I joined just over a handful of people who had each found their own little space on the giant rock pile.
Ya just can’t get any higher than this in Martinique!
The peak was still veiled in clouds, although every once in a while a few seconds of blue appeared, providing an opportunity to experience some pretty special views. After a few minutes, I left the peak and found a much safer and more comfortable viewing area on an incredible ledge facing south. From the top of Martinique, through windows in the clouds, I enjoyed some amazing views of the central and southern parts of the island, the Caribbean Sea and even Saint Lucia in the distance. I stayed here a while, soaking in the incredible scenery and warmth of the sun. A very memorable experience!
After about an hour, I was back at the shelter with my partner preparing for the journey down the volcano. After a small snack, we headed up and over yet another mountaintop that offered a great view and perspective of the tallest point on the island that I had just visited. After descending a short distance down this mountaintop, we entered a steep side of the ravine we had earlier decided to go around. This turned out to probably be the most treacherous part of the entire hike.
The trail plunges deep into the gorge at a near-vertical angle with most people, including ourselves, scrambling backward, crab-like down the wet rock-strewn trail using both hands and feet with our bums hovering just above the ground. Attempting to walk down some of the more extreme sections of the ravine walls could easily result in a serious fall. We were rewarded for reaching the bottom of the gorge with a wonderful, unique view of Mount Pele’s green jungle ravine! Unsurprisingly, in order to get out of the gorge we then had to climb a series of steps and ladders to ascend the steep hillside on the other side of the ravine – Although we always prefer climbing up, to scrambling down steep mountainsides.
Once out of the ravine, we were back at the first section of the trail, although our descent was totally different than what we had experienced just a few hours earlier on the way up. Under virtually clear skies this time, we had incredible views of the south and southeast side of Martinique along with the Atlantic Ocean! Seeing the towns of Le Morne Rouge and L’Ajoupa-Bouillon so far in the distance really provided a perspective of how big and high this volcano is. After another hour or so, we were back at the parking lot. As we left the trailhead, we chatted about how full the parking lot was, as well as the spillover with dozens of cars lining the road as we drove away – Man, the people living and/or vacationing in Martinique sure like to hike! I can’t blame them – this is a great place to enjoy a vigorous walk in nature and take-in some incredible views!
The peak from partway up the first trail section
The parking lot from partway up the first trail section
After hiking the Montagne Pelée – L’Aileron Trail, we obtained an even deeper appreciation for how mountainous and beautiful Martinique is, and how amazing and diverse this trail is. There are steep mountainside sections, a rolling hill-like ridge section, a challenging wet and rocky section to the peak, as well as a wild in-and-out of a ravine section. Relative to other hikes we have done in the Caribbean, this has to be one of our ‘top 5’ favourites. We took our time, taking about 5-6 hours in total to experience this incredible hike, and feel very satisfied that we did it – Thanks to the weather clearing up, this hike created great memories for sure!
For more information on hiking in the Isle des Fleurs, check out our Martinique Hiking page
For an overview of the beautiful island of Martinique, take a look at our Martinique Vacations page
Martinique Hiking – A French Caribbean Island Paradise
With Dominica to the north, and St. Lucia to the south, Martinique is pretty much the centre of the West Indies’ Lesser Antilles. As an “over-seas region” of France and the 3rd largest of the Windward Islands, Martinique is a very unique Caribbean island, and that holds true for its hiking trails as well. The island offers a variety of easy relaxing walks as well as some very challenging/mountainous hikes. Having stopped there as part of a cruise, we were only there for the day – We decided to try an easy and fun looking coastal trail known as the Circuit de la Caravelle.
The day started off by renting a car in Fort-de-France, which was a bit of an adventure in itself, but we’ll leave that for another day… Once we finally got our car, the drive from the Capital to the Presqu’Île de la Caravelle Peninsula took just under an hour, as the traffic was fairly heavy. The main roads on Martinique are large multi-lane highways, however they can get quite crowded. This made for a fairly uninteresting drive, as I had to keep my eyes on the road and all the traffic. Once we reached the peninsula however, the views and my mood started to improve. For a short stretch, the road followed the shoreline through a quaint tourist town. It had a laid-back atmosphere, with beachgoers sun tanning and playing in the water. There were little cafes and restaurants opposite the beach. All this helped to relax our frame of mind after the hectic drive. As we proceeded, the setting really started to improve, as more than half of the peninsula is a Nature Reserve.
We soon found out that the Chateau Dubuc area is a popular place, as the parking lot was overflowing, with cars parked all along the side of the narrow dirt road. C’est la vie. It was a gorgeous day for a walk – Very warm and sunny. At 86 (30c) degrees it seemed hot for early April… and we were about to find out that the couple litres of water we had brought, was somewhat insufficient to replenish the fluids we were about to lose. Thank goodness we had dressed light and had sun protective hats.
From the parking lot, it’s a short half kilometre walk to the plantation ruins of the Chateau Dubuc, although we decided to head the other way, and walk the main loop in a clockwise direction. We headed off for the lighthouse called the Phare de la Caravelle, via a winding gravel road through a green ‘dry forest’. The road had a gradual incline and eventually turned into a broken paved road before getting even steeper. As we were walking along, we heard a fairly constant, rustling in the leaves on either side of the trail. As a Canadian, I naturally thought of squirrels or small birds making the noise, but as we are in the Caribbean, I imagined the culprit might be lizards or iguanas… But no, upon closer inspection, we were surprised to realize that there were a number of large red crabs scurrying around in the foliage – Wow, I wasn’t expecting that!
After a little more than a mile (2km), we came across the side trail that branches off towards the lighthouse. We followed the short paved road uphill to a large wooden structure, where a few groups of hikers were taking refuge from the sun, eating snacks and drinking water. From the look of them, they had likely hiked the loop counter-clockwise and had just completed the dry exposed section of the trail along the coast, that we were heading towards. From here we discovered the cement staircase that led to the lighthouse and look-out area.
We climbed the stairs and came across a semi-circular monument/bench/map of sorts. The built-in map’s arrows pointed to the features and landmarks of the surrounding landscape that could be seen from this high ground. We could see various mountain ranges and peaks of the island, ranging from the north-east coast, Piton Lacroix on the other (west) side of the island, as well as the mountains south of Le Francois in the south-east of Martinique. Closer to where we were standing, we had an amazing panoramic view of the peninsula and surrounding bays and shorelines.
After soaking in the spectacular sights for awhile, we went all the way back down to the junction point and continued back on the main road which eventually transitioned into a more natural trail that headed towards the shoreline. We were getting anxious, as this narrow path provided a glimpse of the sea, hinting at the coastline trail we were approaching. This was a nice walk and we were accompanied by a bright orange butterfly (moth?) who meandered down the trail with us for a while.
Did I mention that it was hot and humid? Well, it was, and we were just about to leave the shelter of the low scrub-like trees to walk along the sun-soaked rocky shoreline of the peninsula’s east coast.
Ahhh, I was looking forward to this stretch of trail – We headed south down the wind-swept shoreline. We were thrilled with the eye-popping views of the rugged coastline and its multitude of blue inlets and bays. For the next mile (2km) or so, the picturesque trail consisted of dry gravelly coastline paths, some large sections of rock, a few man-made stairs, and some short forest trails that bypassed some dangerous cliffs. We even walked through a short 3-4 foot deep rut in the earth – that was weird. We really enjoyed this scenic coastal section of the trail! While the large rock sections provided the best views, we had to search a bit for the markers indicating where the trail was. Hiking this path was like a mini-roller-coaster ride, taking us up and down in elevation, sometimes 30-100 feet (10-40m) at a time.
While this was an absolutely beautiful trail, we were aware that there had been little shelter from the relentless heat of the sun which was high in the sky at this point. Thankfully, there was a great breeze coming off the Atlantic Ocean, and that, along with our water, kept us from over-heating. With the constant thought of having to get back to the cruise ship on time, we were moving at a fairly quick pace throughout the hike. We were only stopping to take the occasional picture of the amazing coastline and ocean views! Eventually, we reached a junction in the trail where a side path ventures further south along the coastline looping for another mile (2km) or more. My feet were kind of burning, so we decided to head back towards the Chateau at this point.
So, we traveled inland again, back into the dry forest landscape. That said, in less than a mile (2km), the terrain transitioned into mangroves. Perhaps the area was in need of rain, as we encountered some fairly dry mud patches. Suddenly, we were in for another treat – There were holes in the mud everywhere. It appears that there are dozens, if not hundreds of Soldier (Bernhard’s Hermit) crabs (that we had encountered earlier) living here! So Cool… After examining the place thoroughly, we now quickened our pace, which was a bit of a challenge as the path had many twists & turns and ups & downs as we climbed back up into the scrub forest.
I should mention that there was informative/educational signage (in French) along the way. They became more frequent as we neared the end of the trail. About 2 hours and 15 minutes after we left the car, we eventually reached the Chateau Dubuc, which we found out is the ruins of a large 17th-century plantation that grew coffee, tobacco and sugar among other things.
The ruins consist of the stone remains of a Greathouse along with a number of other buildings set magnificently on a hillside overlooking the well-protected Baie du Tresor. This would have been a large and extremely impressive plantation in its day, with the owners having their own slice of Caribbean paradise. I can easily imagine the buzz of activity all around the area, with the movement of people, crops and produce from the fields to the mills, warehouses and to & from the waterfront where ships would be anchored just offshore… The modest fee of 5 Euros per person to enter the grounds and view the small museum was well worth the price.
After the half kilometre walk back to the car and a change into some dryer clothes, we headed back to Fort-De-France, which this time took us about 40 minutes… Leaving us enough time to wander around the Capital for a while 😊.
ACT Staff
For a more ‘technical’ Trail Report as well as much more information on hiking in Martinique, please reference the following links (to pages on our website):
For an overview of this French Caribbean Island paradise, take a look at our Martinique Vacations page
If you’re looking for more active things to do while vacationing on the island, click on our Martinique Adventures blog for more great ideas! (coming soon)
For a more relaxed vacation itinerary, you can find great Tourist Attractions on the island, by checking out our Things to Do in Martinique blog (coming soon)
