Dominica has been called the "anti-Caribbean" island. It does not suffer as much from the mass tourism of many of the other islands. There are no flashy resorts in evidence. Most of the island is mountainous with untamed rainforests and only a few beaches. Cricket is the national passion here and hurricanes are a common occurrence. In 1975 Hurricane David wiped out 75% of the island's homes and killed 42 people and Hurricane Dean in 2007 destroyed 99% of the banana crop severely affecting the economy.

Luckily Hollywood loves Dominica as a location. Much of the filming of The Pirates of the Caribbean has been shot here and also a USA reality show "Pirate Master".  

We chose to do a tour that would take us into the rainforest and the Morne Trios Pitons National Park, of interest to us being UNESCO World Heritage Listed. The scenery is lush and stunning with waterfalls and deep gorges. Every shade of green imaginable makes up the jungle with the occasional flowers breaking the green. The roads, well, we haven't seen worse in a long time. Extremely narrow strips of deeply potholed bitumen are the main highways and the bends so acute our small minivan needed to back up to make the turn. We were glad we decided not to hire a car!

A dip in the romantically named Emerald Pool and a splash under the waterfall finished off our tour in fine form. 

We had particularly chosen this cruise ship itinerary because the islands were not the usual ones and we were well rewarded for our choice with Dominica.

Footnote: Morne Trios Pitons National Park is UNESCO World Heritage Listed.