man-eating mountain shrimps, oh my!

Dominica is a small rainforest island with 365 rivers and numerous waterfalls. Yesterday we went up to Trafalgar falls. On the short hike we came across a sulfur river with steam coming up from the yellow milky waters. After that the trail turns into a climb as we had to scale over boulders to get to the first freshwater pool below the falls. We tried to get to the base of the second fall above by following the water but came to a dead end of boulders too large to climb and too slippery to try. A guide was heading up there to catch shrimp for dinner so we made use of his services. That’s right, shrimp…in the mountains…under the waterfall. That in itself was reason enough to hang out with him. He took us to a side trail hidden from view and we clambered our way over moss covered rocks. The second fall was even more picturesque. The water fell over the cliff down alternating rocks creating a zigzagging cascade. The guide jumped into the lagoon and reappeared with mountain shrimps in hand. He kept diving under and never came up empty handed, or even empty mouthed. These were what we would consider jumbo shrimp and he said that under the log there were hoards of them, many much bigger. Some as long as his forearm and had razor sharp pinchers that could snap off fingers. Steve decided he would take the guide's word for it and not investigate the validity of the claim.