Month: October 2014

For the Eccentric Millionaire: Rainforest Lodge for Sale

/ Kate Bonello / Leave a comment

I really, really want to go to Dominica. What a crazy island! So volcanic that it has a boiling lake (which requires a very strenuous hike, guide recommended). So volcanic that you can snorkel in the ocean over volcanic vents that make it feel like champagne. Plus there’s a cottage industry that I can really get behind: roadside rum shops that sell homemade medicinal booze infusions for almost any ailment you can name (especially sobriety).

There’s so much rainforest-y fun—soaking in natural hot springs, hiking to waterfalls, swimming through river gorges. You’d almost be selling yourself short if you had a sea view.

I highly recommend this site to research places to stay. The only thing that makes me sad is that some of the best places are closed…including this crazy place that’s for sale near the village of Wotten Waven, which is known for its natural hot springs. I can’t embed their images to show it off, but you really should click through while the listing is up. Here’s a description:

….over 17 acres of partly forested land at a cool altitude of around 1,500 feet, bordering the sparkling River Blanc.

This spa features seven stone tubs that are fed by natural, healing, hot water. Three are on the situated along the clear, clean, rushing River Blanc. There are also large reception lobby with bamboo facade, which includes a restaurant with lovely polished hardwood floors which can seat up to 30 guests, kitchen and washroom.

The property also includes three double cabins, two deluxe cabins, a massage cabana, large open pavilion for aerobics….

This community is quite unique with its geothermal qualities. This location has several natural features – bubbling mud geysers, hot springs, crystal sulphur cavern and a 100ft waterfall.

The only problem? At US$773,000 it’s hard to see how you’d ever be able break even, let alone make a profit. One of the many cool things about Dominica is that it’s hard to find accommodation over $100 a night.

But if you’re an eccentric millionaire who wants your very own bubbling mud geyser, I’ve found your place!

More on Dominica to follow…

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Stuff That Works: The Grand Trunk Parasheet

/ Kate Bonello / Leave a comment

A new topic, since this blog is service-y and all that: gear that actually does what it’s supposed to do and is worth the money.

For a long time our primary beach was Cape May, New Jersey. And during that time, we usually plopped ourselves down on an old quilt from my bed.

Now that was fine in many ways. It was pretty, for one thing. The patchwork really looked good in Cape May, which takes old-timey-ness to its ultimate, borderline kitschy extension. It was soft and comfortable, since it had been on my bed for years.

But it doesn’t work if you’re taking a plane to the beach! We’d need an entire suitcase at $50 roundtrip just to bring the blanket. So we reverted to beach towels.

Beach towels are great…for fluffing up a big, wet, hairy dog. They’re bulky and they stay wet and sand sticks to them and never lets go. The loopy side is pretty much velcro, after all.

Prompted by a recommendation on an online forum I found a good deal on a Grand Trunk Parasheet and it is one of the best things I’ve purchased in a lifetime of excessive consumption.

On my laptop, for scale

On my laptop, for scale

Smaller than a towel, sand shakes right off, stuffs into its own pocket, weighs a few ounces, handy for sheltering fragile stuff in your suitcase, dries almost instantly, and easy to throw in the wash. If you load the corner pockets up with sand it stays put in a brisk wind. In a little over a year it’s been to the Turks & Caicos, Mexico, the Jersey Shore, St. Croix, Vieques, and Virgin Gorda. It’s been shat upon by birds more than once. We’ve slept on it, snacked on it, read books on it, and sat drying in the sun gazing at the water. It works.