I’ve always had a fascination with apples, maybe it’s because of my father would drag me to the apple orchid when I was young. While he picked apples all day, my brother and I would play in the orchid; climbing trees, having apple wars, and I can’t help but wonder how many apples we would eat in one day.

Of course I’m not alone with my apple fascination, religion, mythology, and folktales have all incorporated the apple as a mystical or forbidden fruit for years. The scene of the evil witch giving Snow White a poisonous apple by The Brothers Grim in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs comes to mind when finding out about the Manchineel Tree.

Have you ever heard of the Manchineel Tree? I never could have imagined that an apple could really be deadly. Its present day Spanish name is “manzanilla de la muerte” which means “little apple of death.” This tree is so deadly that you should never stand under it while it’s raining, if the sap touches your skin it will blister and can even cause blindness. The apples from a Manchineel Tree are fatal. Since the “little apple of death” is native to the Caribbean, this seems like vital information for everyone to know what the Manchineel Tree looks like. 

This is what to look for:

Extreme Dominica will be the highlight of your Caribbean vacation. I’ll admit that this was an adventure that I had to be talked into because rappelling down a canyon isn’t something that I would search out to do on my own. Extreme Dominica’s canyoning tour is, without a doubted, an amazing adventure and the most exciting part of my vacation on Dominica.

Rappelling into the deep gorges of volcanic bedrock canyons will be the only way you will be able to see these amazing formations that the owner of Extreme Dominica, Richard Metawi, calls “cathedral-looking.” Floating in a crystal clear pool of water at the bottom of a canyon, I cannot think of a better way to describe how amazing it truly is.

Extreme Dominica will outfit you in a full wet suit, helmet, harness, life jacket, and provide a training lesson, this makes such a big difference when rappelling down a waterfall for the first time. I can’t wait to go back to Dominica and do it again.

Thank you Richard, Liz, and Nahjie for making this an amazing experience.

National Geographic Travel Magazine just named Extreme Dominica one of the “Best Trips of 2011.”

Trip Advisor rates Extreme Dominica as the “#1 thing to do in Dominica.”