Continuing Travels

We left Isles des Saintes at 7:00 am on June 5th for the 22 mile journey to Dominica (Dom A Neeka). The wind was a brisk 19 knots at a 60 degree wind angle. It was a quick sail to Portsmouth in Prince Rupert Bay.

Dominica didn’t always have a good reputation. Cruiser boats would get hassled as far as 3 miles out by boat boys wanting to show you to the anchorage or get you a buoy for a fee. The boat boys would argue over who saw the boat first and would hassle the cruisers. Sometimes the boats at anchor or moorings would be boarded by thefts looking to steal from the boat. The yachting community has a good network of letting other boats know when it is not safe to go to a particular anchorage or country. The bad press was really affecting Dominica’s tourism economy and the legitimate tour operators business.

The tour operators and boat owners that provided service to the cruiser boats organized and formed Portsmouth Association of Yacht Services (PAYS). PAYS is a self regulating group that controls a group of mooring balls in Prince Rupert Bay. They allow only one boat to greet a Yacht coming in and see if they need a mooring ball. They inspect and maintain their mooring balls to ensure the moorings are sound. They offer tours as well as a number of services, such as laundry, vegetables, water and fuel. It is a great service to be greeted by a friendly person that leads you to your mooring and assists in connecting to the mooring. The only fee they charge is the use of the mooring. Of course, you tip them for helping you tie to the mooring. They know that you are going to use them for tours and other services. We were met by Andrew and led to our mooring ball. We let Andrew know that we wanted him to take us on The Indian River tour where some of the scenes from one of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies was shot. He was actually a hired boat guide for the movie.

The Indian River is one of the many fresh water rivers that flow from the mountain peaks that are everywhere on Dominica. Similar to PAYS, the Indian RIver Guide Association patrols and monitors the river. Many of the guides are members of both. Andrew met us the next morning at 8:00 and started the tour up the river. The guides can only use their engines on their boats up to a certain point. From that point they must paddle their boats up the river. Pretty good workout for the guides. The tour up the river was very serene and beautiful. It was perfect that Andrew had to paddle as the scenery slowly floated by. Andrew showed us the two spots where they had shot scenes from Pirates of the Caribbean movie Deadman’s Chest. We got to the turnaround point where the guides association had set up a bush bar and nice shack in the shade. Thankfully, it was too early for the bar to be open. Very nice way to start the day.

One of the items we wanted to get fixed in Dominica was the halyard. We asked Eddison, one of the leaders of the PAYS group, if he knew a rigger. He told us that he did and he would have him come to our boat to check out the issue. Margie had reached out to the Dominica Facebook group to see if someone could recommend a rigger. One person in the group told us they used a gentlemen named Yellow. Yellow was the same gentleman that Eddison sent over. Two recommendations we felt pretty good.

Yellow was an interesting character. He had long dreadlocks and an accent that was hard to understand. We hoisted him up in the bosun’s chair using our topping lift. When he was at the top of the mast he would shout instructions to us, which would be hard to understand, if he was standing next to us, but at the top of the mast and the wind blowing and loud music coming from the beach it was impossible. He got the problem sorted out and proceeded to get our halyard re-connected. He didn’t like the original setup and we will have it relooked at in Grenada. Thank you Yellow. I asked him what we owed him and he gave me a really low price. I tipped him well. I didn’t want to go to the top of the mast.

Another tour we wanted to do, while we were in Portsmouth, was of the northern part of Dominica. Eddison set us up with a tour guide, Grey Goose. I asked him where he got the nickname and said in high school, everyone gets a nickname in high school. You don’t pick it, it is given to you. The first stop of the tour was a hike of about 50 minutes to Chaudiere Pool. The end of the hike was well worth the effort. We came to a waterfall with a 30ft deep pool of clear fresh water. Margie and I both scrambled to the jump spot and took the plunge. The height of the jump felt like 100 feet. I think it was about 20 feet. It felt fantastic.

Next stop was a overlook of the Atlantic Ocean on the eastern side of the island. Calibishie was the town at the bottom of the overlook. The bay has a huge reef that protects it from the waves of the Atlantic. Very scenic. We made a stop at an area called Red Rock. It was truly like our Red Rocks, but on the ocean. Very cool. Next stop was the chocolate factory where we got the solo tour on their chocolate making process. We had to sample some and buy some, of course. We went back to Calibishie, where we had lunch at a restaurant on the water. Last stop of the tour was a soufriere pool. In English soufriere means volcano. Dominica has 9 volcanoes on the island and many of them have sulfur vents and pools that are near them. The water in the pool was very hot and very smelly. Not getting in that water. We made our way back to Portsmouth after a full day tour.

We had a great stay in Portsmouth, but it was time to head to the southern part of the island and the capital Roseau (pronounced RoseO). Eddison told us to use SeaCat in the southern part of the island as a guide and to use his mooring balls. We had a great sail going the 19 miles using our mainsail. Thank you again Yellow. We feel complete. The southern part of the island is just as green and lush as the north. When we approached Roseau, we contacted SeaCat and we were met by Mr. Beans, an associate of SeaCat. He led us to the mooring ball and got us tied up. Again, it was great being met and greeted by someone and led to the mooring ball. We told Mr. Beans we wanted to do a tour of the southern part of the island. He set up a tour through our tour guide Armstrong. As good as Grey Goose’s tour was, this was better. We started by going up into the mountains where we were in the clouds. Felt a little chilly for the first time in a while. Armstrong showed us the trail for a hike around Clear Water Lake. It was incredible. A fresh water lake was formed by all of the rain that cascades down the mountains. It was an interesting trail that would not have passed any OSHA standards. It traversed a ridge that dropped off on both sides. No guardrails. It was a mixture of up and down, seemed mostly up, on the ridge. We were in the clouds most of the time, but when they cleared, we could see the Atlantic Ocean. Spectacularly beautiful.

Next stop on the tour was Titou Gorge falls. You had to swim about 200 yards through a canyon to get the waterfalls. Very cool. Another scene from Pirates of the Caribbean was shot here. Armstrong said that the movie spent about 5 months on the island shooting different scenes. Once you got to the falls, you could stand underneath them. It kind of hurt having all that water cascade down on you. Very refreshing getting the fresh water shower.

Next stop was Trafalgar Falls. They are twin falls, Papa Falls about 280 feet and Mama Falls about 130 feet. It is a short hike to the viewing area for the falls. I thought we were going to stop there, but Armstrong let us know we were going to “hike” to the base of Papa Falls. It wasn’t really a hike it was bouldering over a path that only Amstong knew. Margie wore her flip flops, which was a bad choice. The rocks were slippery and very tricky. It was worth it. We got to a spot that had a mixture of cold water from the waterfall and hot water from a volcano vent. It was crazy going from hot to cold waterfalls. Armstrong had a lot more he wanted to show us, but we learned from the first tour, our attention span and time riding in a car was about 5 hours. It was an incredible tour. Thank you Armstrong.

Our time on Dominica was winding down as we planned to leave for Martinique the next day. Until next time.

Yellow at the top of the mast. Way too high for us.

Taking Yellow back to the dock.

Red Rocks (a lot like ours)

Armstrong and me at Trafalgar Falls.