Dive Review of
Anchorage Dive Center/Fort Young/Papillote Wilderness Ret in
Dominica

 Caribbean, Mexico, Red Sea, Mediteranean 

Dive Conditions

No restrictions  

Small rinse tank on board  

Overall Rating

In order to experience all that Dominica has to offer, we decided to split
our stay between Fort Young Hotel in Roseau and Papillote Wilderness
Retreat 5 miles up into the rainforest. Fort Young is a 4 star hotel right
on the water with easy access to Roseau. The construction is completed and
the facilities are in good shape. The Oceanfront rooms are excellent with
the older side more spacious (although only 2 double beds) while the rooms
on the new side have king size beds but are a little smaller. The food at
the hotel was good (for Caribbean fare) but a little pricy. We also ate at
the La Robe Creole, which is across the street where the food was good and
inexpensive and they serve the best rum punch we had on the island. If you
want to experience the local food try the Guiyane, the local beer is a
$1.50 and the pastries are very good. There were cruise ships every day,
sometimes two or three at a time. Apparently Dominica has now been
discovered.
We dove with Anchorage Dive center for 4 days and were very pleased. They
picked us up at the Fort Young dock (although they were always late even by
Caribbean standards) and the excellent dive sites around Scott’s Head were
only a 15-minute boat ride away. Dives were all they were hyped to be, no
large animals but a tremendous profusion of life everywhere. The reefs are
covered with hard and soft corals and large barrel sponges abound. The
small fish cover the reefs with many schools exceeding twenty-thirty
members. We saw turtles on almost every dive along with many spotted
morays. Favorite sites were Dangleben’s Pinnacles, Village and Caribe’s
Lip. The hot springs at the Champagne dive site are interesting for about 5
minutes but the site is mostly a mud flat. The dive masters were very
friendly, upbeat and clearly enjoyed their job. They pointed out a lot of
sea life and allowed everyone to burn off the last of their air at the end
of the dive under the boat. Boat’s were well equipped, clean and always had
plenty of water and fruit juice.
The second half of the week we spent at Papillote, which is located up in
the rainforest in the Morne Trois Pitons National Park. Our room had an
incredible view down the valley and was comfortable but a little spartan.
This area is so dense with ferns, palms and all manner of tropical foliage
that you could imagine King Kong breaking out of the rainforest at any
time. The island is very mountainous and the flight in from San Juan takes
you through the passes with peaks on either side of the plane, shrouded in
clouds. The inn lacks AC or a pool but the evenings were always cool and
the hot springs baths make up for the lack of a pool. The meal plan at the
inn is your only real choice as there are no other restaurants in the area.
The food was ok but limited choices. We hiked to Trafalger Falls from the
inn but had to employ a guide for the rest of the hikes, a bit costly but
well worth it. Our guide would spend the entire hike explaining the various
flora and fauna while cruise ship excursions blew past us on the trail. We
did not try the boiling lake hike but we did the Fresh Water Lake,
Middleham Falls and the Titu Gorge trips and they were all fabulous. 
 

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