Rum Journey's 2014 Rum Cruise, Part 3- by Paul Senft

by ,

Rum Journey's 2014 Rum Cruise, Part 3- by Paul Senft

As the sun set on a wonderfully relaxing day in Grenada, everyone’s thoughts turned to the island of Dominica. We had passed the half way mark of our rum cruise aboard the Carnival Splendor and our group had learned a great deal about the varied styles of rum production. In our planning for Dominica, my wife and I had opted to use a private tour operator to make the most of our time of the island. Helen, with My Sisters Tours, came highly recommended and agreed to provide us with an island tour that involved the Macoucherie Shillingford Estate Rum Distillery. This was the only stop on our cruise where we had the entire group participating and we were excited to have everyone together.

Dominica is known as “The Nature Island of the Caribbean” with most of its 70,000 population nestled in the area surrounding the city of Roseau. The base of the island measures 29 miles by 16 miles (47km by 26 km) with its highest peak reaching 4,500 feet. Discovered by Columbus in 1493, the island has remained relatively unchanged over the years due to the rugged terrain and the hostile native Carib Indians. Beginning in 1763 the island came under British rule where it stayed until it gained its independence in 1978.

Our ship settled in to port at the Bayfront ferry terminal in Roseau. The last time we saw Roseau it was recovering from hurricane damage. We were pleased to see the fully recovered multi colored city in all her glory laid out before us. As we departed our ship a light rain shower kept us cool as we waited for everyone to gather. A gorgeous rainbow arched over us and it was no time before we had everyone and met with our guide for the day. Due to the size of our group we had opted for an open air safari bus for the day. We met our guide Chris and departed Roseau for our tour.

Chris was everything you would want in a tour guide. As we toured the city he told us all about the city and it was obvious how much he loved the island, its people, history and especially the music. Chris is a lead singer for a local band and treated us to several songs with his stellar voice.

We departed Roseau and our first stop was the Morne Bruce view point which provides a picturesque view of the city and our ship. Vendors lined the area and were very friendly without being pushy. We spent some time taking pictures and shopping then reloaded our bus. Our next stop was Dominica’s Botanical Gardens.

The 40 acre Botanical Garden was established in 1890 and is home to 150 trees and plants as well as an aviary. We walked the grounds, viewed the birds and returned to our bus. Chris notified us we had to detour back to Roseau to pick up some supplies. This small delay allowed us to see some different parts of the city and we were all struck at how friendly everyone was. In no time our bus had enough water, Kulik beer and shandy to get us through the day, and we were on our way to the Shillingford Estate Macoucherie Rum Factory.

The estate and factory sit in the Macoucherie valley on the west coast of the island between Layou and Salisbury. Established in the 18th century, the distillery and estate was acquired by H.D. Shillingford in 1942. The company is now run by his grandson. Chris drove us along the coast of Dominica singing songs and telling us about the various picturesque locales we drove through. After about 40 minutes we pulled onto a dirt drive way and stopped in front of a field of sugarcane on one side and a water powered cane crusher on the other. Our guide Yves-Joseph, the Factory Manager, joined us outside and proceeded to take us on a distillery tour unlike anything we had seen before. Yves-Joseph explained that Macoucherie rum is produced using pure sugarcane juice from the surrounding fields. Due to this, most of their production was focused primarily in the spring during the harvest. The Sugarcane press was powered by the local creek with flumes that could be controlled by the distillery personnel. Due to the nature of the 18th century estate this was one of the most disjointed distilleries we had ever witnessed. The sugarcane juice was pressed and sent over via pipes to the fermentation room. After fermentation the liquid is distilled then sent to a separate area into holding tanks. After letting the rum sit for an indeterminate amount of time, it is sent for either blending to create their Bois Bandé rum or to bottling for their white product. During our visit some parts of the distillery machinery was disassembled for cleaning and refurbishment. It was interesting to see and learn about a production line that had been put together over 200 years. I for one had never seen a column still that looked like this one. We finished the tour in the Operations office lobby. Yves-Joseph answered our questions and let us try any of the rums they had on hand for sale. We made our purchases and regrouped at the bus for our 20 minute ride to Mero beach.

Mero beach is a popular black sand beach that attracts locals and tourist to the area. We had a late lunch at the Romance Café, a pleasant beachside restaurant with a nice selection of food and drink run by a delightful French ex-pat who made us feel right at home. We played in the water and chilled out for a couple of hours before we loaded up. The return trip back was a blast and over all too soon as we literally sang our way back along the coast to Roseau. Once back we said farewell to Chris and the group split up. Some bar hopped until it was time to get back to the ship and others visited the shops and vendor tents before boarding the ship.

Our last three days of the cruise involved two days at sea and a visit to Grand Turk. Grand  Turk is a tiny island only 7 miles wide and one mile long (11 km x 1.5km). The gorgeous white sand beaches and crystal clear water is what makes it worth visiting. On Grand Turk everyone explored the island on their own or in small groups. My wife and I visited Gibbs Cay where we played with the Stingrays and enjoyed a good snorkeling excursion. After the excursion we had a good time visiting the NASA exhibit and shops by the cruise pier.

All of the islands we visited on our cruise had rum available either as part of the tour or at duty free. In my opinion, Grenada and Grand Turk had two of the best rum selections of the islands we visited. Before doing a cruise I highly recommend you research what rums might be available to you. I usually avoid brands that I get at home, but make exception when there is substantial savings on high end products. Most of the time, I focus on rums that are exclusive to the island that are limited or not available in the United States.

The last day of the cruise we traveled to our final destination the Port of Miami. We spent the day with our group and made the most of our remaining time together. Sipping rum cocktails while soaking in the sun or playing in the pools was a wonderful way to wrap up our adventure. At the end everyone felt they had gotten a lot out of the trip and wanted to know when and where our next Rum Journey would happen. Where ever we go, we know we have a group of new friends to join us to add to the joy of our exploration.