Allan and I recently traveled to Dominica - not to be confused with the Dominican Republic. What’s the difference? Well, there are many, but the primary distinction is that The Dominican Republic is a major tourist destination in the Western Caribbean, and it shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti, while Dominica - known as the Nature Island - is an entire island located in the Southeastern Caribbean and seems to be far less known or, at least, less visited for vacation.

7 FUN FACTS ABOUT DOMINICA - THE NATURE ISLAND:

• Dominica has 9 volcanoes

• Dominica’s beaches are black sand beaches

• There are at least 365 rivers in Dominica

• There are at least 12 waterfalls in Dominica

• Dominica can be visited by airplane or cruise ship

• Dominica is known for excellent whale-watching and dolphin-spotting as they live very close to shore, year-round

• Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Dead Man’s Chest and Pirates of the Caribbean 3: At World’s End were filmed, in part, in Dominica.

Dominica was country number 30 for me, getting us closer to accomplishing our goal of visiting every country in the Caribbean!

 GETTING TO DOMINICA 

We had previously booked one MSC and two Royal Caribbean cruises that were scheduled to port in Dominica, but those plans changed for various reasons, from itinerary changes due to Hurricane Maria, to cruise cancellation in March 2020 because of the obvious, and to itinerary changes earlier this year. So, for this May 2022 visit, we decided to fly to Dominica and spend a long weekend there. Yes, that’s right! If you’ve been following this blog over the years, then you know that we don’t only cruise - we fly to a variety of vacation destinations and enjoy land vacations from time to time too. If you’re new here, welcome, and now you know!

There are currently no non-stop options from New York JFK to Dominica DOM. The most direct options are to fly American Airlines from New York to Miami, then American Eagle from Miami to Dominica, or to fly JetBlue from New York to San Juan, then Silver Air from San Juan to Dominica. To get to Dominica, we flew American Airlines from New York to Miami, then from Miami to Dominica. We chose this option because American Airlines/American Eagle arrives in Dominica at around 1:30PM while the Silver Air connection offered through JetBlue arrives in Dominica after 5 PM. Since we already planned a short stay on the island, we wanted to maximize our time as soon as we landed, and we did pretty much that, as we got picked up from the airport and went right into a tour that we booked through Waitukubuli Adventure Tour Company. We had first communicated with Waitukubuli Adventure Tour Company, via email, a few years ago when we were planning excursions for one of the cruises mentioned earlier, but we clearly didn’t go forward with that tour back then, since our cruise plans to Dominica changed. Waitukubuli’s tours have wonderful reviews, and they are often the company that TripAdvisor and Viator use for the tours they offer in Dominica. Our tour on arrival day included Trafalgar Falls, the Botanical Gardens, and Morne Bruce lookout point, and concluded at our resort, Jungle Bay! You can get a good taste for our travel day in our YouTube vlog: How To Get To Dominica | Arrival In Dominica | What To Do | Where To Stay.

WHERE TO STAY IN DOMINICA

Jungle Bay is a unique, simple, yet modern resort with a truly inspiring story, past, present, and our guess is future also - a real Caribbean gem! Many thanks to our friend, @mytravelstamps, for recommending Jungle Bay! After her recommendation of the resort, Allan and I saw a YouTube video about Jungle Bay, the Edible Resort, in which the Developer, Sam Raphael, shared some of Jungle Bay’s treasures - particularly, the MANY fruit trees throughout the resort that guests have access to, including mangoes, jackfruit, coconut, pineapples, pomegranate, bananas, and so much more! We had never seen anything like that in terms of a resort with such lush and delicious offerings right there “in our own backyard,” so to speak, as Jungle Bay guests don’t have hotel rooms, but rather, guests have villas from which we can easily walk out and enjoy the gardens, including the fresh fruit, vegetables and herbs that grow there. After watching that video, we were ready to book our trip! We are so happy we stayed at Jungle Bay… AND one of the best parts of our trip was meeting Mr. Sam Raphael, himself, and spending some real quality time with him and some of his family members who were also visiting throughout our stay. They’re such a genuinely sweet and caring family!

We thoroughly enjoyed our stay, and Jungle Bay delivered on providing our much-desired escape from hustle and bustle, and we felt right at home staying there, not just because of the beautifully kept premises, but also the warmth that exuded from Sam, his family, and much of the staff at Jungle Bay. We highly recommend Jungle Bay when visiting Dominica!

With that said, we like to provide a well-rounded thorough review of places that we visit, and even with the best places, there are some things that can be improved. So, in our opinion, here are things about Jungle Bay that potential guests should know or be prepared for before your trip, so you can’t say we didn’t tell you.

What could be better?

None of the following issues are huge, but they are things we observed that can be improved.

• In our villa at Jungle Bay: Although the closet near the bathroom makes complete sense, the dresser is all the way on the other side of the room. We often found ourselves moving from one side of the room to the next to prepare the clothes we would be wearing after our shower. It would be more convenient to have the dresser and closet closer to each other. Even if the closet is near the entryway by the dresser, although further away from the bathroom, that would be more convenient for guests when gathering items to get dressed after showering.

• At the restaurant at Jungle Bay: The food, primarily at dinner, could be seasoned a bit more; however, we understand, as with many Caribbean resorts that cater to different taste buds, they tend to withhold some of the peppers and spices to cater to taste buds that aren’t as familiar with such seasoning. Jungle Bay does, however, have a bottle of pepper sauce on each table in the restaurant.

Other things to simply note, include the following:

• Jungle Bay may not be suitable if you have mobility issues as guests will encounter quite a few inclines walking around the resort. However, there is a golf cart that is used to transport guests around the resort. Additionally, room service is available, so a guest may not need to leave the room throughout the stay. That said, most guests to Jungle Bay and Dominica will want to be outdoors quite a bit.

• There are no irons in the rooms.

• The resort is fairly new, as it was rebuilt and reopened right before the global health crisis that stopped and slowed travel, so staff members are still developing. If there are hiccups, extend grace, and remember the good far outweighs anything else.

• On the same note, the facilities are also still being developed. There are works in progress, including a second restaurant and activity center.

WHAT TO DO IN DOMINICA

Dominica is known as the Nature Island for good reason! Dominica offers lots of great snorkeling and scuba diving - Champagne Beach is probably the most well-known place for this on the island, and while we drove by there a few times, we didn’t actually go to Champagne Beach. That said, our wonderful resort, Jungle Bay, offers an excursion to and from Champagne Beach, as well as many other excursions throughout the island. As whales and dolphins live near Dominica’s shores year-round, the island offers excellent opportunities for whale-watching and dolphin-spotting. As previously mentioned, Dominica is rich in fresh and nutritious fruit and vegetables, as well as natural herbs, including medicinal herbs, that grow freely throughout the island. Along with natural springs, and waterfalls, Dominica also offers many hiking trails that range from easy to extremely challenging.

One of the highlights of our visit to Dominica was the Gallion Loop hike that we did with Sam and his family. This was our first real hike, so for us – me in particular – this was challenging. However, Dominica offers much more challenging hikes than this, and some that are easier also. You can get a feel for what our hike was like in our YouTube vlog: Dominica | Gallion Loop Hike | An Edible Resort.

 OUR CONCLUSION ABOUT DOMINICA

Dominica is not your typical “lay on the beach” Caribbean vacation destination, but it IS indeed very relaxing, filled with nature, adventure, and wellness. Dominica, and in particular, Jungle Bay, is an ecotourist’s dream! We don’t consider ourselves ecotourists though, so we can truly say that, whether or not you consider yourself an ecotourist, if you’re looking for true relaxation, restoration, and rejuvenation, we highly recommend a Jungle Bay, Dominica vacation.