The Nature Island

Today we took our “land” tour of Dominica.  Columbus named this island Dominica on November 3, 1493.  He was not a very creative fellow as Dominica means Sunday and November 3, 1493 was a Sunday.  The island has 365 rivers and is known as prime Whale and Dolphin territory although I have yet to see either one.  First we passed by a small shack on which was painted a photo of an elderly woman.  We were told this is Elizabeth Pampo Israel who lived here in Portsmouth, Dominica her entire life of 128 years (she was the oldest living person in the world before she passed).  Moving on, we quickly arrived on the Atlantic side of the island.


Our guide showed us an old Sugar mill that is now in ruins.

Next stop was Red Rocks.  And no, we are not back in Colorado although it seemed very similar.  While hiking, our guide grabbed a fern branch and asked me to hold out my arm…then he held it to my skin and created a “temporary” tattoo…at least that is what I was hoping it was    We were all left to ourselves to walk around the red rocks and as I was returning through the “bush” something GROWLED at me and I screamed.  There were a few French tourists with us who stopped immediately and asked if I saw a snake.  “No” I said, "something went GRRRRR”.  So a friendly gentleman from Germany, named Clause, proceeded to go ahead of me the rest of the way.  When we gathered near our guide he informed me that it was HIM who was in the bushes scaring me to death.  My heart was still racing.

Further down the East coast we went to the Carib Indian Reservation.  We were told the true-blooded Caribs (ancestors of the 1st inhabitants of the island) get to live here for free.  We got several estimates of how many true full-blood Caribs still exist…anywhere from 200-2,200.  As soon as we were inside the reservation we stopped at a booth making “Cassava” bread.  The Cassava is a tubular root plant which is ground and dried and then made into bread.

The Carib Indians call themselves, Kalinago Indians.  They also specialize in basket weaving and canoe making (out of a single log).
We enjoyed a local lunch with the local beer “Kulubi”!  Lunch (from the Mahi-Mahi fish clockwise) was salad, rice, dashine, bread fruit, plaintains and yam.  We even enjoyed seeing the local hummingbirds.


After lunch we stopped at The Emerald Pool Waterfall. it is a quick hike to the falls and worth every step!

Indian River, Portsmouth, Dominica

Today we hailed “SeaBird” on the VHF and arranged for an Indian River trip.  It cost $50 EC (about $20 USD) per person.  You have to use a guide (ours was Andrew) and no motors are allowed so they have to row the mile long trip.  As we were heading in we saw all the scrapping being done on the ships washed ashore by the latest hurricane which occurred 3 years ago.  Andrew told us the large fishing dock was funded and built by the Japanese…we still don’t fully understand that connection.  There was a ship blocking the entrance to the river but they moved it out a bit to make way for the tours (photo#2). 

At the end of the mile long trip there is an “Indian River Bar” where we stopped for a rum punch.

I think every boat owner needs one of these!

We received a gift from S/V Island Spirit that is very ingenious!  It is a clothespin bag that hangs from the life lines…one hangs on the port side, one on the starboard.  We have been through gales lately and yet, the clothespins stay in the bag and with the netted bottom, they are dry and ready to use!  Thank you to Dianne and Island Spirit for letting us be the testers…a great product that can be done in many colors and monogrammed as requested!

Why Is It?

Why is it that when you are in Colorado you can only buy “Arizona Tea” but when in Dominica you can buy “Colorado Tea”????

Dominica

Moving on again…Left Martinique heading towards Dominica.  It was another rough one with squall after squall after squall with gusts over 35knots.  Instead of stopping in Roseau as planned, we kept going until we arrived on Prince Rupert Bay, Portsmouth.  There were to be moorings available for $10 US per day but when we arrived we were told by the local boat-boy that they were coming loose and so they were not available…we anchored…no problem.

More rain and more rainbows.  We crossed a fresh-water lake flowing into the Sea and you could see the difference in the water (see photo #3)…pretty cool.  And then at dusk last night…a tall ship turned on its mast lights for all of us to enjoy the view!

Not goodbye but “Until Next Time”

Thursday morning we had to leave and start heading North.  We had to say our goodbyes to some very dear French and Swiss friends on “Jambalaya” and “Yapuka”.  We have sailed around much of the world with them…Rome, Tunisia, Greece, and now we had met up again on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean…in Martinique.  It is amazing how you keep bumping into certain friends as though you are meant to be together

So we headed North on Martinique to Sainte Pierre.  It is a small anchorage because there is an underwater wall that drops from 20 feet (a good anchoring depth) to around 100 feet (not so good).  When founded in 1635, this town was known as the “Paris of the Caribbean”.   That is far from its image today.  This town was hit by a hurricane in 1780 that killed 9,000 persons.  This same town lost 30,000 people to the Mount Pelee Eruption on May 8, 1902.  It took less than 3 minutes to cover the city in ash and lava. It was a bit creepy as we were trying to anchor noticing the buoys marking the 9 submerged ship wrecks that were anchored in the bay that day.

We walked the beach for a bit (finding a lot of sea-glass) before heading more into town to explore.  We found ruins of a market and a theater from the cities hey day.  Behind the theater is the prison cell that held the only survivor of the 1902 eruption…being put in the cell the night before for drunkenness.  Outside the theater ruins is a statue which to me symbolizes the agony that the people were going through that day.

Ash Wednesday is still Carnaval?

Growing up Catholic, I was under the impression that Carnaval was over when lent started.  After listening to the music until 5am on Ash Wednesday I thought nobody could have any more “party” left in them…I was wrong.  We heard that there was more to come on Sainte Anne’s that night.  Wednesday night is when they burn King Carnaval and so the “she-devils” come out and the crowd dresses in Black & White.  I knew about the Black and White dress so I made the crew participate and they were glad to fit in.  The community builds the Funeral Pyre and as dusk falls they burn King Carnaval, also known as VAVAL.  Although the parade itself was small, the entertainment value was Huge.  Almost everyone got the dress code memo but there were a lot of he-she’s…see if you can spot a few in the photos.  The parade goes around and around and around this square block gathering up followers to march to the beat.  We joined them until deciding we should get a spot by the Funeral Pyre…then it down-poured and we headed back to the boat.  I don’t know if King Carnaval was ever torched that night so…BEWARE.