The Wild Caribbean

[Scott P]

Introduction

While the Caribbean is usually thought of being full of cruise ship passengers and other yellow-belly type tourist (often the type who tend to ask everyone directions because they can’t even find their own cruise ship dock on a map!), it does have a wild side. Luckily, the stereotypical luxury cruise ship tourists tend to gather at the casinos and shopping centers, rarely venturing more than a few miles from port.

Yet in the Caribbean, beyond the casinos and shopping centers lies a lost world of spectacular waterfalls, virgin rainforest, beautiful mountains, hidden beaches, rugged coastlines and hidden ruins. This is the story of a trip to two Caribbean Islands (Puerto Rico and Dominica) that I took with my seven year old daughter Shaylee between December 20 2011 and January 6 2012. On this trip we climbed several steep and spectacular mountains, taking on some of the Caribbean’s toughest hikes and ascents (especially on Dominica); swam, climbed and rappelled through subterranean gorges, explored dark rainforest and yes, we even did a lot of tourist stuff too.

Because of the nature of this website, only the more adventurous aspects of the trip will be highlighted on this trip report. To fill in the blanks and if you are interested in seeing the more touristy photos from our trip, you can click the link below:

Touristy Photos





Shaylee on the summit of Morne Nicholls.



To reach the summit of Diablotin, you must climb up, over and through the roots of the kaklen trees.

December 21: El Portal Trail/Angelito Trail (Puerto Rico)

After arriving at the San Juan Airport at 3 am we caught some sleep before picking up a rental car and heading to the Caribbean National Forest and the El Yunque area. We were tired and only had some time for some short hikes.

The first hike we did was the El Portal Trail. We completed the loop trail and saw some really big snails and lizards along the way. Shaylee also liked to play with the huge dead leaves on the trail.

After the El Portal Trail, we drove to the Angelito Trail so we could hike it. We hiked down the trail to the beautiful pool at the river and watched the fish swim in the crystal clear pool before heading back up to the trailhead. It was a great day, but we were tired from the previous flight.




Shaylee at the pool along the Rio Mameyes.
December 22: Big Tree Trail (Puerto Rico)

In the morning Shaylee and I attended the iguana feeding at the hotel and after that we went horseback riding so we only had time for a short hike by the afternoon. We chose to hike the Big Tree Trail in the El Yunque area. We hiked the trail to the Cascada La Mina, a beautiful waterfall.

After enjoying the waterfall we hiked back to the trailhead and on the way back we stopped to check out the Cascada La Coca.




Iguana at Rio Mar.




Cascada La Mina.
December 23: Los Picachos/Pico El Yunque/Roca El Yunque/Monte Britton (Puerto Rico)

Shaylee and I climbed all the points in the El Yunque area today. We started out at the Ba

[Scott P]

December 29: Titou Gorge/Middleham Falls (Dominica)

In the morning, Shaylee and I walked to the Rainforest Arial Tram from Roxy

[Scott P]

Tourist photos only:

[accadacca]

GREAT report!

That snail was huge and what a cool lizard!

[Rob L]

Great report. Scott. I'm always amazed not only by your trips but the detail you go into reporting them. Thanks!

[powderhound]

Great! Hi Scott, know you from SP.