Exploring Dominica

Blogger: Gill

Sunday 12th April. A quiet day on Petronella. Alacazam set off early and I slowly recovered from the flu. In the afternoon we went to the Internet cafe for soursop smoothies (a greenish fruit that looks interesting but is not actually very nice in smoothies!) and emails. 

John catching up with the e-mails.

Then in the evening it was the Sunday PAYS...that's Portsmouth Association of Yacht Services...BBQ. PAYS was set up about twenty years ago, when Dominica was almost off limits to yachts due to the violence and thefts in the anchorages there and has revolutionised the welcome we get. Now the boat boys are friendly and well organised and it feels a very safe country.

The idea of the BBQ is that the yachties each pay 50$EC, about £12, for fish and jerk chicken, salad, rice, as much strong rum punch as you can stomach and a mind blowingly loud 70s disco. The boat boys put on the BBQ, do the DJ ing and generally enjoy the music. Lots of Rastas with their small children, about 80 yachties and a good evening. It's a great way to meet the local community and the money goes into helping the boat boys provide a good service. And you meet fellow yachties too.

Next day we were on the lookout for Carpe Diem. We usually track them on AIS but could see no sign of them then suddenly the boat was on the screen 2 miles away and there they were.  Jack and Fizzy waving with Ben and Lucy, the Labradors, barking a welcome. They anchored in front of us and we dinghied across to say hello. Great to see them again. We haven't stopped talking since!

Tuesday morning we were up at dawn and Martin rowed us up the Indian River in his pirogue. It was used as a location in Pirates of the Caribbean and some of the set is still there, along with later additions of skeletons and pirates hanging from the trees. Bizarre! 

A house used in Pirates of the Caribbean

We asked Martin if he was an extra in the film. He said they only wanted ugly blokes with one leg or one arm so he didn't get chosen! Lots of land crabs and herons in the roots of the huge trees along the banks. Looked for boa constrictors but didn't see any!

The Indian River

Wednesday we hired a car and toured the north of Dominica with Jack and Fizzy. First stop Syndicate Falls. A 20 minute hike in through incredible scenery to an impressive waterfall in the rain forest with a less impressive barbed wire fence at the base to stop you swimming there. 

Fizzy at Syndicate Falls

But further down was a deep pool which we all decided was a great place to skinny dip.  Then on to the Carib reserve to learn about the Kalinago, the tribe which colonised Dominica before the Europeans arrived. Three thousand of them still live on tribal land in the north east of the country and keep their traditional way of life. A bit touristy but interesting, especially the history. The Europeans didn't come out of this with much integrity.

Friday the four of us plus the dogs walked Section 13 of the national Dominican trail. Again the scenery was amazing. The walk goes along the side of the hills so you look down into tree filled valleys or to the sea. Lots of fruit trees growing wild so we made a good lunch with wind fallen mangoes and grapefruits. And because we were in the rain forest it was cool. On the walk we met Simon, a fellow walker who turned out to be from a gaff rigged Wylo yacht called Island Swift near us in the anchorage and later we met his wife JoJo and boys Finbar and Lockie.

Then Saturday it was market day again and I made the most of it, stocking up for the next week.  In the afternoon our friends Graham and Joan on Karma put a BBQ on on the beach and around 20 of us got together to watch the sun go down and eat BBQed fish.

BBQ on Portsmouth Beach

We loved Portsmouth and had a great two weeks there exploring the north of the country. But time to move south and on Monday we sailed down to Roseau, the capital of Dominica. Picked up a mooring buoy owned by a character by the name of Sea Cat who organised a trip to the Boiling Lake for us and Jack and Fizzy the next day. Another great day out. This time we had a guide. Kenny. Tall thin with a degree in mechanical engineering from Woking!  He told us you don't get rain in Dominica, just liquid sunshine!

The walk was up a volcano to a lake which was so hot it was boiling, hence the Boiling Lake. You hike up through rain forest until you get to the active volcanic stuff: sulphur vents, bubbling pools of mud and hot streams in the evocatively named Valley of Desolation. Pretty dramatic scenery.

Valley of Desolation

The track is generally good but muddy with a couple of scrambles but nothing we couldn't cope with. We were very lucky and had no liquid sunshine on our trip but it was still quite slippery. 

Yup! It's steep!

Then 3 1/2 hours in we arrived at the Boiling Lake. A steamy pool of muddy water at a rolling boil. Only two in the world. Quite amazing.

The Boiling Lake, boiling!

We had lunch there and Fizzy climbed down to verify that indeed the water was boiling. On the way back we soaked for a while in hot water pools in the river by the track.The first hot bath we've had since November! Then a final swim in a canyon at the bottom of the trail before returning to the bus.

On the way back to the anchorage we saw an agouti. A rare rodent about the size of a rabbit. We spent most of our time in Les Saintes looking for one without success. So they DO exist Mary and Dick. You were right!

Dominica Fishing and Market

Blogger: John

After detailed instruction from Dick we bought some more ballyhoo for bait and I settled down for a long evening fishing on Petronella. Nothing, nada for hours fishing on the bottom with bits of ballyhoo or whole fish. There was a lot of disturbance on the surface though so when a flying fish noisily jumped aboard I gave him a quick stab in the guts and stuck him on the end of the line, free lining as we say. I jigged it up and down in the top 3 metres and finally around 12.30am there was a “bang” on the rod and off we go. The fish let go though and I wound gently in trying to get him to attack it again. “Bang, bang”, here we go again, and again. Finally he was properly hooked and eventually bought alongside. I tried to use the gaff for the first time but it wasn’t sharp enough (subsequently sharpened). So hand lined him out after waking Gilly up for assistance. We got him (it turned out to be a her) on board, dispatched her with alcohol in the gills and Gilly used her fish factory skills to gut her. She’s now in the fridge awaiting grilling (tuna, not Gilly). I think it is a tuna of some sort. The tail looks very tuna-like and it could possibly be a black fin tuna. Whatever, it looks very tasty.

Fish

Proud angler with fish

So today it’s Saturday, market day in Portsmouth, Dominica and we meant to be off early to catch the bargains but Gilly is not too good today – temperature, feeling sick and achy and very, very tired. It was 8.30 by the time we had dinghied to the town quay. The conchs (big shells) were being sounded so we knew that there was fish for sale (we, off course, did not need any!) but it was the vegetable and fruit market that really caught the eye.

Selection of fresh Dominican fruit and vegetables at the Saturday market

Coconut husks

More fresh and colourful Dominican produce

Trimming sugar cane

As I was off buying a delicious fried cooking banana (plantain) stuffed with celery and salt fish a crinkly old chap came up to Gill and asked her if she had anyone to look after her. If not, he said, he would like to take care of her!! Yeah, I bet.

Yummy grilled plantain banana filled with celery and salt fish (70p)

We’re still waiting for Jack and Fizzy to get here. They’ve had problems with their tenants in the UK and then can’t check their dogs in to Dominica over the weekend. So our reunion will be delayed yet again as they wait in Martinique, the next island south. Hurry up guys, there’s walks to do and fish to eat.

Postscript: It appears this was no tuna, ratyher some sort of Jack. Jack's are particularly renowned for  carrying ciguatera the nerve poison that can, at worst kill you. Luckily this one was not carrying the disease. Lucky, especially as we fed a good portion of it to the French on the next boat!

Dominica

Next stop. Dominica. That’s the former British island, pronounced “Domineeca” not the Dominican Republic which is also in the Caribbean but not in this chain of islands. We had been told it was very poor but this is the island that seems to grow fruit and vegetables for all the other islands and it is definitely Mary’s FAVOURITE ISLAND. We had met Vera’s friends Cath and Barrie on Yarona in The Saintes and they were ambivalent. Nowhere to eat, very poor etc, etc. Our destination was Portsmouth, a scruffy one horse town full of skates (ha, ha – in joke there for you Saints fans).

We had another great sail just under main and genoa across from The Saintes. It gets easier as you go south. The islands are now at about 160 degrees which with a reasonable wind with little south in it we can make quite easily even with the generally west going current. The winds of course, are still generally from the east. Further north the islands were at closer to 120 degrees which usually meant either a long tack or a bit of motorsailing. Dick and Mary’s boat, Alacazam, sails better to windward and they can usually make all these islands without resorting to the engine.

An interesting fact about Dominica is that it is the first of the islands as you work southwards where you are met by “boatboys”. They’re not boys at all but grown men. Last year in St Vincent with Dave and Vera they were quite aggressive and certainly of no benefit to us cruisers. Here it’s different now but not long ago they also had a bad reputation and indeed the entire island was considered off limits by some, much like St Vincent seems to be today. But they have cleaned up their act. The boatboys have set up a sort of cooperative called PAYS (Portsmouth Association of Yacht Services) and instead of them all racing to your boat when you arrive there is some sort of order. We, however, had been announced in advance by Alacazam so we knew to call up this year’s head boatboy, by the name of Martin, or his boatname of Providence. They all had great names like Cobra, MyWay, Wop Wop, (Respect) and Seagull. Each boat is open and about 15 feet long (yes, we’re back in imperial here – it’s all feet and pounds to go with the Eastern Caribbean dollars).

Martin hard at work on Providence

As we arrived we called up Providence on channel 16 and he came speeding over to us. We anchored next to Alacazam and sorted out water and vegetables and were generally welcomed to Dominica. We already had a Dominican flag (it’s got a parrot in the middle – at first I thought they said “pirate”) but they were selling them too. We went to check in after making sure they didn’t close for lunch. We got there and guess what “closed for lunch”. We sat on the water’s edge as squalls came and went. Swishing in and out of the little waves were two small moray eels, gobbling unwary crabs and crab bits.

The island is green and mist shrouded, a bit like Saba but on a bigger scale. As Mary says Dominica is a “real” island. Little has been done to smarten the place up and it feels Caribbean with a touch of order rather than the other way round. It is definitely not French chic and property prices are maybe a half of those of the islands either side of here. But we like it. People are polite and friendly, not in a “have a nice day” way but as if they are genuinely glad to see you and want you to enjoy their beautiful island. The beach bars are scruffy, they all have wifi now and if you ask for a soft drink there’s a good chance they don’t have one. They will definitely have rum and beer though and they often have enough fruit lying around to know up a cracking glass of fresh juice – bananas, mangoes, grapefruit etc, etc.

We arranged a “trip” for the next day. Martin picked us up in Providence and took us ashore with Dick, Mary and four others from two other boats – three Brits and a Malay. We were taken to see Paul with his minibus who would be our guide. Off we went. What a place. The whole island is like a botanical garden. Wild pawpaws, castor oil trees, bananas, mangoes, avocado and coconuts, cashew nuts, walnuts, ginger, bamboo, you name it, it’s here. And not just the odd tree, they’re everywhere in a mind blowing profusion of greens, greens and greens. Royal palms, climbers, creepers, odd looking root vegetables. Amazing, just amazing. This is a place I think I could live. At last we saw cricket being played in a little clearing in the forest. Three teenage guys, three sticks for stumps, a patched up bat and well used cricket ball. Left handed batsman eventually clean bowled by Alistair, one of our group!

The perfect beach with coconut palm

Jungly jungle

Cricket - Caribbean style

We worked our way down to the Chantiere Falls, full of water today due to the heavy overnight rains so instead of swishing down the natural rock slide we splashed about around the edges in the dappled light thrown by the strong sun intercepted by more greenery. Giant cheeseplants and many other plants more usually seen in pots in the UK.

Jungle guide

The Chantiere Falls

Paul knew everything there is to know about the nature of this eco-island. He told us of boa constrictors eating his chickens, of the 365 rivers on the island, of his time in Guadeloupe where he was a top karate instructor and something of the politics of the island. We lunched on the water edge and visited a one man chocolate factory.

Just an average lunch stop

Local chocolate from the north of the island

We went to the Red Rock at the NE corner of the island where the lovers go at full moon and then we went to Cold Soufriere as the sun was setting.

Red Rock park ranger

Fresh roadsaide fruit

Opening a coconut - careful with that machete Paul

Cold Soufriere is the crater of a caldera or collapsed volcano. You can smell the hydrogen sulphide as you approach and then there it is, a bubbling other world. But wr4215e’ve seen all this type of thing before. The special thing about Cold Soufriere is that this bubbling mass of water, is not hot, but cold! Why? Well, the theory is that there is so much surface and subsurface water that by the time the hot gases have reached the surface they have been cooled by the surrounding water. All very odd and a good end to a sense-numbing day.

Cold Bubbles!

The Saints (Isles des Saintes)

Blogger: John

As a Southampton football supporter you just have to visit The Saints. That’s the name by which the team is universally known, so I was really looking forward to arriving there. We motorsailed across from Guadeloupe in a lumpy sea after a pretty rolly, uncomfortable night right on the southern tip of mainland Guadeloupe right by the lighthouse. We spotted Alacazam as we arrived and radioed them. They had already seen us coming in and our arrival caused them to delay their departure by a couple of days. Once you leave the BVIs charter boats are few and far between. Most boats have sailed at least from Florida, many have come down from Canada and there’s a good few ocean crossers too. Most boats in the anchorages here know what they are doing and are equipped with self steering gear, jerry cans (“jugs” to the Americans) and heavy duty ground tackle (big anchors). But here in the Saints and Guadeloupe there are a few more charterers. Many are French and catamarans are very popular.

Here you are Vera. Cath and Gilly with Yarona and Petronella (both Transatlantic crossers this year), in the background

Anyway we spent a happy few days there, chilling out with Dick and Mary (they really are good fun), walking the trails, fishing and eating. It’s all very civilised and chic, particularly along the frontage of the main town in the little island group, Bourg des Saintes. For example you check out, not in the customs office, but in an internet cum laundry, contrasting nicely with the check in facilities located in the boutique/underwear shop in Deshaees. Smart pastel coloured shacks, patisseries, ethnic dresses and tripper boats from the mainland. Tres joli!

Another laid back beach and shore frontage

In this place a very nice pair of shoes and dress were purchased

John checking out of Guadeloupe (The Saints) in the laundry/internet cafe

We climbed the tower on the highest point, we walked to some of the windward, Atlantic beaches and Dick taught me more about fishing at anchor. We also spent an inordinate amount of time looking for agoutis. These are big rodents that scuttle around the ground. According to Mary there are loads of them but only on a few select islands, The Saints included. On the last day I asked Mary exactly how many of these odd animals they had actually seen in the 8 years they have been roaming the Caribbean islands. The answer? TWO! No wonder we had missed them.

Agoutis? Unfortunately not. Dick and Mary

Anyway it was time to move on again and it wasn’t until we had left that I realised things had been so chilled I hadn’t had time to raise my Southampton flag and photograph it in “The Saints”. Poor show John.

Another day, another beer

Sunset over The Saints

Gilly at play

Gilly at work. Repairing the sacrificial strip on the Yankee sail.

Green Flashes over Nevis and Guadeloupe!!

Blogger: John

Every sailor will know what they are but very few non sailors have heard of them. Under the right conditions, generally clear, cloudless evenings with a big red sun there is a flash of green just as the sun sets over the horizon. We looked for them crossing the Atlantic but the waves obscured the horizon as the sun set there. Now, in each westward facing anchorage we sit in the cockpit with a rum and coke waiting for this unusual phenomenon. Until Pinney’s Beach on Nevis it was too cloudy or too wavy or just the wrong conditions but over the past few weeks we have seen them three or four times. It’s not a flash though (unless we still haven’t seen one!). As the last bit of sun disappears down below the horizon and you are just thinking “Oh, no flash today”, in that second before you look away until tomorrow, there it is. The very last little slivver of sun turns green almost like a pulse of green rather than a proper flash. It extends about twice the width or that tiny bit of disappearing sun. You just have time to say “There it is” and give a little cheer, and then it’s gone for another day.

No pictures yet of the Green Flashes I’m afraid.

Guadeloupe. French patisseries for breakfast in the Caribbean

Blogger: Gill

Another day, another island, another country. . Each island is entirely different from its neighbours. Here in Guadeloupe  it is French, euros, stylish, efficient with  pattiseries and good fresh vegetables We arrived in Deshaies, pronounced day hay, on the north west coast of Guadeloupe, yesterday afternoon after a phenomenal sail, Petronella bowling effortlessly along at up to 7.5 knots and with NO MOTORING! Hurrah! Finally got it right.

Petronella hard on the wind bound for Guadeloupe

The bay was packed with boats but we managed to anchor easily, then launched the dinghy and went ashore. The customs office half way up the hill had a large sign saying that check in was now done at Le Pelican so back down the hill we walked in the 30 degree heat and found Le Pelican. Can’t believe it, we checked into the country in a boutique! No officious or unpleasant officials to deal with, just a computer in the corner of the boutique next to the bikinis and ladies underwear and a friendly Madame to help when you don’t quite know what the form means. Could only be French. I love it.

Checking into Guadeloupe in an underwear and dress shop!

So here we are. We are anchored away from the main melee of boats in the beautiful sheltered anchorage that is famous amongst the cruising population. Yesterday it was packed. This morning over half the boats left to go to Antigua for Classic Week and we went into the town for an early breakfast as the clock on the church struck 7 am.  We tied up on the excellent dinghy dock and headed for the cafe/bakery at the end of the dock. We sat and watched the town wake up over our croque monsieurs and coffees feeling as though we were in some sort of film. Amazing experience. After we had finished our food John filled our jerry can with water from a café whilst I went shopping and bought a dress and t-shirt. All before 09.00am.

Sunset over Deshaies Bay

The dinghy dock at Deshaies

 Tonight we are going to have a meal in Deshaies then tomorrow off south to The Saintes to meet up with Mary and Dick again and enjoy another French island.