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!