Dominica Mar 19-20,2006

Sailboat | Voyages | Log

A couple of photos from the Saints along with Dominica A left over shot of us scootering in The Saints The Caribbean is the destination of LOVE Also from The Saints Arriving at Dominica and reconnecting with our guide Alexis, who helped us five years ago when we were here with Cathy and Pat Fern tree canopy in the rain forest Pineapple Field Our rain forest guide Winston Showing us a Banana tree Notice his T-shirt Milton Falls, one of many in the rain forest 300 inches of rain per year Feed 365 rivers! They built this dock for cruise ships But they have yet to come We tried to take on water here 5 years ago And nearly wrecked the boat in 20+ knots of wind Corrugated metal is pervasive Used for roofs, walls, and fences Typical Portsmouth store Portsmouth fish market on street corner Conch shell is blown to alert town that fish are in Jeremy, they actually blow these things Where the yachtees hangout It's not much, but it is all there is Except for the equally bleak Purple Turtle Life is simple, yet surrounded by beauty A house on the main street in Portsmouth Days like today were made for sailing. The sky is clear, and Full Circle glides through the water at five knots with only nine knots of wind. The ride is gentle and peaceful. It is a fitting way to begin our six weeks alone. We don’t know how far south we will go, since every island we stop at is one more that we will have to stop at on our return trip north. Karen has a flight scheduled for April 23rd in St. Martin. As we pass the big island of Basse Terre, we can see the Chutes of Cabrit sparkle in the sun. They are long vertical slivers on the side of Soufriere, one above the other. It is hard to believe I hiked up to them. We are approaching Les Saints for the third time in three weeks. We stopped here on our way to Pointe-a-Pitre from Montserrat and again while Linda and Steve were here with us. It is now Saturday 3/18 and we are stopping again on our way to Dominica. The Saints are the gems of the Caribbean. There are no bad islands in the Caribbean, but the Saints are unique in there natural beauty and tourist charm. The shops are quaint and the restaurants excellent. The only negative is their popularity. Ferries, tourist catamarans, and small cruise ships disgorge hundreds of tourists, armed with cameras, fanny packs, and water bottles, every day. The roads buzz with scooters. The locals live for 5 PM when the last ferry leaves and the streets are again quiet. We skipped the buzz of the main island with the restaurants and shops and headed directly for a return visit to Ilet a Cabrit (Little Island of Goats). We will eat on board and watch the next episode of Horatio Hornblower. When we last left him, he was in a prison in Jamaica awaiting trial for mutiny. Of course, he is innocent, but we are anxious to see how he extricates himself from his latest predicament. Tonight we are free from the confines of the marina. Full Circle swings her nose into the wind. She sniffs it out and points in that direction, making it possible for the hatches to scoop up the fresh breezes and send the cool air swirling over our bed. The night sky is no longer blotted out by the marina lights. Through the hatch opening we see the Hunter Orion and his dog Sirius. We get a great night’s sleep before heading for Dominica in the morning. The sail to Dominica is just as pleasant as the one from Pointe-a-Pitre to the Saints. The winds are slightly higher, and we drive forward at 6.5 knots making short work of the twenty mile passage. We arrive in Portsmouth, Dominica at 12:30. The boat boy, Albert, rushes out to solicit our business while we are still three miles from shore. In Dominica, and in some of the other islands south of here, boat boys greet the sail boats, and for a fee, provide small services, not the least of which is making sure your boat is not robbed. We have learned from previous trips that it easiest to take the first boat boy that approaches you. From that point forward, you simply tell all others that you are working with X, and they leave you alone. This time we tell Albert that we are working with Alexis. He is the fellow we worked with five years ago when we were in Dominica. To help him remember us, I wear a T-shirt that his mother tie-dyed and he sold to us. He seems to remember us, and that makes us feel good. At any rate, he is all smiles and arranges for us to take a hike in the rain forest and to visit Milton Falls. The next morning he picks us up and zooms us to the customs dock a mile away. It is worth the ten dollars not to have to mess with our dinghy and outboard. Besides, his heavy wood boat with a 40 horse Yamaha feels like a floating dock compared to our wobbly, unstable porte-bote. Montserrat calls itself the Emerald Isle, but it is Dominica that deserved the title. It receives over 300 inches of rain per year, enough to feed 365 rivers. The rain forest is the largest and densest in the Caribbean. It is a tragedy that so much beauty is surrounded by so much decay and poverty. The harbor of Portsmouth is ringed by rusted abandoned ships, destroyed in past hurricanes, too costly to remove by an impoverished government. The people are poor, but they greet you with a smile and are oh so proud of their island. Most have never been off the island, so, other than the make-believe of television, this is the only world they know, and for them, it is more than enough. Except for the occasional hurricane, the weather makes little demands of them. They live in simple corrugated houses and need few clothes. They buy most of what they eat from local markets or grow it themselves. Their primary foreign aid partner is Red China. Dominica is to the Saints like Satia is to St. Barts. The sudden contrast in going from the Saints (20 miles to the north) to Dominica makes the poverty all the more shocking. After clearing customs, we search for a café to get a cup of coffee. After three weeks in Guadeloupe we have grown to expect superb coffee and pastries. We find a café, but it makes the worst small town truck stop in the US look like a gourmet restaurant. Café-au-lait is an oxymoron in Dominica. We are served instant coffee. As I said in a previous log entry, the French are so civilized; they treat food with reverence, which makes sense since food is such a big part of daily life. They go so far as to shut down the stores at mid day to enjoy a two hour lunch. Their priorities are aligned with maximizing pleasure from daily life. On the flip side, there are no real restaurants in Portsmouth, but there is a medical school, Ross University (www.rossmed.edu.dm), run by DeVry Institute. We briefly speak to two female students from New York and Rhode Island – how strange. The best restaurant that we can find is Big Papas, nothing but a beach bar selling burgers and Kubuli, the local beer. Of course, there is the Purple Turtle, but calling either of them restaurants is an exaggeration. After a cheeseburger at Big Papas, we have Alexis take us back to our boat. It is so clean and peaceful. It is our sanctuary when life ashore gets more primitive than we care for. Our satellite phone is mal functioning. We can call out and make a connection, but the person we are calling cannot hear us speak. If you are one of our children and received such a call, it was probably from us. Technology is so aggravating when it does not work. Think how much aggravation would be eliminated from our lives if we rid ourselves of all unnecessary technology. Unfortunately, it makes things like this web page possible. I admit that I am addicted, as are most of you, but with each passing day, I get closer to even more radical simplification in my life. I think it is a symptom of age. A boat without engines, refrigerators, telephones, or radios might be the answer. Trivia question of the day: why is the coconut tree called the tree of life? Tomorrow we leave for Martinique, another French island. Oh dear, oh dear, we can hardly wait: café-au-lait, croissants, other amusement pour le bouche. It is a long sail, 55 miles. We will depart before sunrise so as to arrive before dark. Previous | Next