The sky was alive with color when we picked up our rental car—a older model Honda HRV—at the Avis rental place a short walk from the terminal. I’ve owned Hondas for over a decade, so the car was pretty familiar to me, aside from the fact that the driver’s seat was on the opposite side. This was my first time driving in a country that drives on the left, and I have to say the 30 min from the airport to the Villa Passiflora in Calibishie in the waning light was a harrowing experience. I will have much more to say about the driving later.

After checking in with the villa’s caretaker, we ventured out into the town to get some dinner and essentials at Coral Reef Bar & Restaurant, which had a little grocery store (more like a convenience store) attached. We sat on the porch just at the water’s edge, which we couldn’t really enjoy because by this point darkness had truly fallen.

That first night we enjoyed a seafood feast that set the model for most of the meals we would enjoy on the trip: amazing seafood + sides that were just “meh”. I had a delightfully seasoned mahi-mahi, paired with fries that appeared to come out of an Ore-Ida bag. We drank the local beer, Kubuli, which I found to be a bit too hoppy for my (admittedly anti-hoppy) tastes. At the convenience store, we picked up basics, including a bottle of the rum that would become our staple, Belfast Estate BB Rum.

We knew most things would be shut down on Sunday, which was fine by us, as we were both looking for a vacation with some built in chill time. Waking up to this view, I was pretty content to stay put.

Perched up in the hills, the house was largely open to the elements. The porches on the first and second levels were nearly as large as the enclosed rooms themselves, of which there were really only four (not counting bathrooms)—a kitchen on the first floor, a master suite on the second floor, and two other bedrooms (one on each floor). Each one could be fully opened up in fair weather, with plantation shutters and French doors and for the most part that’s how we left the house.

Fans and natural breezes provided all the cooling we needed—and when they didn’t, there was always the infinity pool, which is where we spent most of our first day. Laying in the sun, floating in the pool, drinking a Dark & Stormy. Rinse, repeat.

Mid-afternoon (after sobering up from the Dark & Stormy), we ventured out to find some real food (the off-brand corn flakes I’d bought the previous night could only tide us for so long) and explore the local town by the light of day.

We drove west through Calibishie and beyond, along the coastal road that rings most of the island.

After passing through town, the road swept up onto the cliffs and plunged down again to the shoreline. The only challenge was finding places where we could safely pull over to take in the view of the aqua blue, rocky coastline.

We found a fun little beach in a town called Thibou (Tee-bow)—the armpit of the island, as my friend called it, not because it wasn’t nice, but because it was right in the crevasse before the northern peninsula juts up.

Finding an open grocery store on a Sunday proved a challenge, and stores that were open were rather limited in their selections. We managed to cobble together enough ingredients to pull off a chicken curry back at the house, where we watched the sun set on our first full day in Dominica. Despite the challenges of driving and finding food, we felt at peace and confident that we’d chosen our island destination well.