Enlarge Photo

Photo by: Bob Friel

To authentically experience Dominica, you need accommodations as distinctive as the island. Here are six of our favorite lodgings, including a few genuine finds.

COCOA COTTAGES

Stepping through the colorful Dutch door and into Cocoa Cottages' Honeymoon Suite, you're greeted by the words of the Dalai Lama hand-painted on a chair: "Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck." It's hard to imagine, though, that the kind of person who makes it to this six-room lodge deep inside Roseau Valley won't find what they came for. Guests here are on independent journeys – travelling light while looking for deeper experiences.

"People who need to be here – whether they realize it or not – somehow find us," says Cocoa's deliberative owner, Iris Azoulay, her Israeli-born accent warmed with a slight tropical lilt from years in the islands.

And the "needs" that Cocoa satisfies?

"It's all about connecting," she says of the mind-body experience that comes from getting in touch with elemental Dominica. The food she prepares is fresh-plucked from the surrounding bush or fresh-caught from local waters - you'll hear the village fishwife blowing a conch shell to announce a sweet new haul of mahimahi or tuna. Everything's served family style in an alfresco kitchen/dining room that feels so much like eating at a friend's house that you reflexively help clear the table. The convivial atmosphere encourages conversation that connects you to simpatico souls.

The rooms – four in the main lodge, plus two in a rounded cottage that feels like a treehouse – were built of Dominica hardwoods by a local Rasta, with subsequent interior touches by Iris and other artists. Book the Honeymoon Suite and you'll nest amid the forest canopy in a plush bed surrounded by louvered windows. The outdoor living room/deck stands high above a stream, with a rustic driftwood swing and a hanging bed.

Connecting you with the island's most adventurous side, Extreme Dominica, based out of Cocoa Cottages and with a team of professional guides led by Iris' partner, Richard, takes small groups on canyoning trips that use climbing gear to explore awe-inspiring sights no other visitors ever see. Between them, the couple offer everything you'd want to connect and commune with the Nature Island – and sometimes, the best luck is getting just what you want.

$104 year-round; cocoacottages.com; 767-448-0412

Action Planner: What to Do in Dominica...

BEAU RIVE

A single, gangly palm tree brands the view from any place you stand at Beau Rive, towering improbably tall and steadfast above all the other greenery against a dramatic backdrop of Atlantic waves crashing into Wakaman Point. After getting to know Mark Steele, the soft-spoken owner, designer, head chef and host of this classically comfortable guesthouse on Dominica's rugged east coast, just south of the Carib Territory (home to descendents of the Carib people, or Kalinagos, who used only spears and arrows to hold off the world's greatest military powers), you get the idea that he identifies with that lone tree.

After struggling for years to break through as a musician and actor in England, Mark, at 40, decided instead to break away. Fittingly for a lifelong fan of classic films, like Casablanca, that romanticize the lives of tropical expats, he set off for the islands.

"When I got to Dominica," says Mark, "I realized I'd landed in the Caribbean I always hoped to find – unspoiled by modern mass tourism."

Life for this would-be Rick Blaine, though, was anything but romantic at the start. Mark slept under a lean-to for two-and-a-half years while he and a borrowed cow chopped and chewed their way to clearing the land. He planted 170 flowering and fruit trees even before construction began, and thanks to Dominica's wild fecundity, the gardens surrounding his six-year-old guesthouse already look decades old, overflowing with theatrically blossomed ylang-ylang, frangipani and several color variants of flamboyants. Paths lead into a forest and down a steep trail to the Richmond River, which borders the property and runs to a rocky beach. A separate piece of land in the hills supplements the supply of fresh produce for the restaurant – where the three-course menu changes nightly – and provides the cocoa beans for Mark's homemade chocolate.

The 10 rooms – eight in the main lodge and two in new cottages – reflect their designer's interest in old movies: cool, clean and classic, with off-white walls and wide-planked hardwood floors. Ceiling fans, screened windows and carved transoms above louvered doors welcome the sea breezes and the sound of the ocean swells tumbling the stones down on Anse Francais. Each room opens onto a veranda that overlooks the forested valley, a pompadour of trees swept back over the headland by the wind, and of course, that iconic palm.

From $180 year round; beaurive.com; 767-445-8992

JUNGLE BAY

"When I bought this land, they were laughing," recalls Dominica-born Sam Raphael. "This was the wasteland, the useless part of a banana plantation,  unproductive, worthless." Now, after turning this rugged stretch of steep hillside above a wild and rocky Atlantic beach into one of the Caribbean's most lauded eco-resort/wellness retreats, Sam is the one who's laughing.

At the resort's Spa du Soleil, you almost laugh too - in between groans of pleasure coaxed by a strong-fingered masseuse from the nearby village of Petit Savant. While the relaxing smells and sounds you've come to expect at spas are nearly always canned, here exotic plants and wildflowers surround the treatment room, and outside the open wall, genuine ocean waves crash against a craggy outcrop just off the beach.

With 35 cabins scattered and blended into acres of steep hillside thick with tropical cedar, and gommier and mammee-apple trees, Jungle Bay guests feel like they reside in a secret forest colony. The ground falls away so precipitously that the cabin balconies stand propped on stilts up to 30 feet high while the entryways sit on solid ground – and the climb to some of the rooms is a decent warm-up for the island's hikes. Inside, the cabins' open beams and unfinished walls capture a comfortable simplicity that keeps the focus on nature. Outdoor showers and porches strung with hammocks ensure that you spend most of your time in the elements.

Following a strict sustainable philosophy, the resort's restaurant uses dozens of local fishermen and organic farmers to supply the full range of Dominica's extraordinary bounty for healthy dishes that go heavy on fresh fruits, veggies, seafood and chicken. Jungle Bay has also created a series of nonprofits to help local entrepreneurs and disabled children. The entire staff, drawn from the four neighboring villages, donates 10 percent of tips (matched by the resort) to a community fund and then votes on which local projects to support. So whether you come here for a yoga retreat, or an adventure or wellness vacation, you can feel even better knowing your dollars are touching nearly every family in southeast Dominica.

$195 in low season ($209 high), including breakfast; junglebaydominica.com; 767-446-1789

See the last three featured eco-lodges...

Go back to the beginning of this feature...

Learn more about Dominica...

Action Planner: What to Do in Dominica...