Hiking to the Boiling Lake on Dominica is by far one of the most amazing things I’ve ever done. The trail is about seven miles each way and took us seven hours to hike, we stopped a few times along the way. It was an all day hike and at one point I didn’t think I’d make it; the terrain was really challenging for me. We had the best guide on the island, Nahjie, who not only lives in Laudat (which makes the Boiling Lake in his ‘backyard’) but holds the record for hiking to the Boiling Lake in one day – Nahjie has hiked to the Boiling Lake three times in one day, AMAZING!!!

The Valley of Desolation is surreal, it’s so alive with boiling volcanic activity, steaming, sulfur smells, a rainbow of mineral colors, and dangerous in places. Nahjie showed us a spot where the sulfur turned into a mud and makes an amazing facemask for cleaning the skin. So we did the rest of the hike in a sulfur mud mask.

Papillote is one of the most magical places I’ve ever experienced and is the definition of a nature sanctuary. It has been called “Eden on Earth” by Caribbean Travel & Life. Papillote is located in Roseau River Valley on Dominica and their gardens are internationally recognized among the best in the Caribbean. They where closed while we where visiting Dominica last September but the owner, Anne Jno Baptiste, was kind enough to let us walk through the garden and make these photographs. One day I hope to have the full Papillote experience and stay here for a week.

Visit Papillote's website HERE.

You must add a night swim in the Bioluminescent Bay at Vieques to your ‘Bucket List.’ This was one of those amazing life experiences that cannot be described in words or a photograph – it’s an experience that should not be missed!

We went to the Bioluminescent Bay with Abe’s Bio-Bay Tours for a night guided kayak tour and to experience the world’s best and brightest bio bay. Abe’s provided everything we needed for the adventure and the guides where awesome, helpful, knowledgeable, and fun. The experience: we had a two person kayak and fallowed a guide to a mooring ball where all of the kayaks where tied together so that we could jump off of the kayaks for a swim. The water was illuminated upon contact that makes for the most amazing swim you will ever have; it’s almost like swimming through a starry sky night. Swimming in the bioluminescent bay is like no other experience I’ve had. Visit Abe’s site HERE for more information.

How to get to Vieques.

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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.”

If you’re planning a trip to Dominica, ‘Natures Island’ of the Caribbean, you should make sure to stop by Screw’s Sulphur Spa. It is an amazing experience to soak in a naturally hot mineral pool in the middle of the rainforest. Screw’s Spa will be an experience that will definitely be put on your best things I’ve ever done list.

Screw’s Spa has three handmade pools that fit naturally into the landscape. Each pool is a different temperature, one hotter then the last, which is why they have a cool pool, because it does get really hot. There are also a number of refreshing waterfalls that you can stand under while submerged in a pool of hot spring water.

I’m ready to go back to Dominica for all their beautiful, endless amounts of hot spring water.

©Sage C Parker