October 30th – Volcanic Dominica

Dominica is world famous for its mountainous landscapes of rainforest, and what's given it this spectacular array of peaks and plunging valleys is a violent volcanic history. Fortunately, the last full eruption took place over a hundred years ago, however, there are lots of places on the island where hot springs and sulphurous stenches come to the surface – so, our tour was to discover some of the island's hot spots.

It seems that all tours in Dominica take you to the Trafalgar Falls, so after a bumpy drive into the rainforest we had the obligatory photo stop at this spectacular double cascade. On the way, we passed by a man at the side of the road brandishing a machete and looking very pleased with himself. It turned out that he'd just killed an 8 feet long boa constrictor that had killed one of his goats a couple of days before. Unfortunately for the horrible snake, he was caught unawares in the middle of a meal, as he chomped half way down a huge iguana. So, laid out on the road for us, we were treated to the sight of a boa constrictor breathing it's last breaths, and a half-chewed iguana who'd clearly seen better days.

So, after our brush with nature in the raw, we then headed to a spot where a hot spring feeds some luxuriously warm open-air baths, next to another waterfall – so I spent my time dipping into the hot natural bath, cooling down in the river water, and sitting under the crashing waterfall.

This was the so-called "Nature Island of the Caribbean" well and truly living up to its name.