We left Portsmouth, Dominica in the morning of 23rd January and had a very pleasant sail to Isle de Saints, a small group of islands just to the South of Guadeloupe. Mick was a bit under the weather and so slept for most of the day passage and therefore missed the best sailing we'd had on the whole trip to date.
Isle de Saints provide a very pretty vista and sheltered waters for sailing and at first glance as we entered our anchorage off La Bourg at about 1700, looked like an area we might spend a few days in.
However, the next day having wandered
around Le Bourg we both got the distinct impression that we were in
the south of France. It WAS very pretty – but far too twee for our
tastes especially after our experience of Dominica. For one thing
there was hardly a black face in evidence (apparently most of the
islanders are descendants of Breton Fisherman). We therefore decided
to move on the next morning. We were woken at 0730 by a knock on the
hull by the local debt collector come for his mooring fee! We had
moved from our anchorage the previous mooring and had picked up a
mooring to be nearer the centre of town. Once up we decided to get
going but it was still 0930 before we had stowed the dinghy and
otherwise made ready for sea.
We were aiming for Basse Terre, the
Capital of Guadeloupe. There was a marina there and we thought we
would take advantage of such facilities as showers and laundry.
However we got no answer on the VHF as passed and so continued on to
the anchorage at Anse La Bargue where we arrived at about 1700. We
were just in time for a swim before it got dark and I saw a turtle in
the bay! There was nothing shore-side so we stayed on board and Mick
cooked an excellent dinner.
We made a reasonably early start on
Thursday and got the anchor up at about 1000. The wind was very
fickle and we therefore motored the rest of the day. Our destination
was Deshaise on the north wet coast – the real life location for
the TV series “Death in Paradise” which Sharon and I had watched
since its first (and best) series and which I had had long marked out
as one of my future sailing destinations. The scene looked so
enticing on the TV. We stopped off for a swim and lunch at the
anchorage at Pigeon Island about halfway to Deshaise. It's an
underwater protected area established by Jacques Cousteau.
Unfortunately I didn't anything of great interest when I went
snorkelling but no doubt I would have if we had stayed longer.
We arrived at Deshaise just after 1700.
The anchorage was very crowded (unlike on the Telly) and we had to
spend sometime looking for a suitable spot to drop the anchor (one
that was not too near other boats or the rocks or in water that's too
deep (the deeper the water the more chain you need to let out and the
heavier it is to get up).
Ashore I think I spotted some of the
sites featured on the TV but could not be sure. The only thing I was
sure about was the church. The actual Police station was clearly not
the building featured on the TV. This I think is the beach bar
featured.....
It was all VERY French, indeed,
Parisian (but less so than the Isle De Saints), and I was left
feeling a little disappointed that the reality did not live up to the
TV illusion! Once again we decided that two nights would suffice and
so tomorrow – Saturday – we'll be up early and headed for
Falmouth Harbour, Antigua
Well we did get up
reasonably early around 0800 and we got into town around 0930 BUT we
missed the morning bus to Laudat, the village which forms the base
for exploring the mountains and waterfalls in the Trois Pitons
National Park. However, all was not on this occasion, lost. Mick
spotted a bus stand for Trafalgar nearby with a bus waiting to fill
up. Trafalgar was a few miles from Laudat and so we thought it would
be worthwhile getting the bus there even if we would then need to get
a taxi. One of the excellent qualities of the local bus service in
addition to the friendly drives and passengers is the flexibility.
Once the driver understood where we wanted to go he cut a deal to
taxi us the remainder of the journey himself and so for the very
reasonable sum of $EC30 (about £12) our transport was arranged. The
deal turned out to be even better due to the very extensive diversion
the bus had to take due to a recent landslip having closed the main
road which was still under repair.
An aside on the
Dominican “buses”. They are actually mini-buses in various states
of repair, owned and driven by enterprising individuals who have
raised the necessary investment to buy the vehicle. The fares and
routes appear to be proscribed by the state but that still allows for
a great deal of additional enterprise and additional services to be
provided. On our travels the buses were often waved down by someone
and a package handed over amidst a good humoured conversation and it
would then be delivered miles down the route with similar bonhomie.
Women with babies and old ladies would be driven right up to their
front door before, with much tooting, waving and good natured
shouting from both parties the bus would speed off once more up some
increasingly impossible mountain track. The suspension and
transmission of those vehicles take a tremendous battering.
Thankfully the ones we travelled on all got to their destinations
without mechanical failure or other mishap but either seemed almost
inevitable! Finally a word on the drivers. All ours were men. The
younger ones seemed to consider it a matter of honour to drive as
fast and as dangerously as possible. On our first bus trip out of
Roseau to Scott’s Bay, one of ours spent about 10 miles on the
wrong side of the road desperately trying to over-take the two others
slightly slower vehicles in front. He never managed it. No one
appeared to consider his driving remarkable apart from me and Mick,
not the other passengers nor the drivers of the other vehicles. Not a
cross word was uttered by either party. Thankfully, our drivers up to
and returning from the mountains were of more mature years and
driving styles. Perhaps the youngsters are limited to the relatively
straight and flat coast roads before being let loose on the
mountains.
Anyway back to our trip
up the mountain. Another benefit of our special bus/taxi ride was
that the bus driver took us to a nearby kiosk to buy the necessary
weekly passes (about $15EC) needed to enter the park and then drove
us down a very bumpy track to the beginning of the trail to the
Middleham Falls, being the main objective of our day out. Our passes
were inspected by the local Park Ranger and off we set up the track
towards the falls. Our sailing guide suggested it would take about an
hour and half each way but we soon came across a sign proclaiming the
Falls were a mere 45 minutes away. Having forgotten to bring any
sustenance apart from a bottle of water I was immediately heartened
by the prospect of an earlier than anticipated lunch. 45 minutes
later we were in the midst of dense rainforest without the slightest
hint of the sound of falling water! The forest was breathtakingly
beautiful as were the occasional vistas that opened out between the
trees. What wild life there was, was keeping to itself however, and I
only saw a couple of birds flying through the greenery.
A few minutes past the
45, we came to a resting place with a sign indicating the falls were
a mere 20 minutes away. This one proved more accurate and after a
very steep descent we came to the foot of the spectacular Middleham
Falls. The sight and sound of the falls was well worth the hike.
After taking in the
experience we commenced our hike back. After a similar period
returning on the trail we past the Ranger's shelter climbed the bumpy
track – goodness knows how the bus made it without coming to grief
– and turned left up the road towards Laudat where we hoped to find
lunch. On the outskirts of the village we were greeted by another
ranger who checked our passes and told us where we could find
sustenance. We got to the village shop first and bought a beer to
quench our thirst before continuing on in search of the promised
restaurant. Within 10 minutes we were there and were 'treated' to
well made sandwiches by our very friendly hostess and of course
another beer!
Her equally friendly son(?) engaged us in conversation
and both football (of course he supported Manchester United – but
we were also impressed that he knew of Charlton Athletic, a club with
which Mick has some affinity being a South East London boy).
After lunch the big
decision. Should we continue further into the park to visit Tito
Gorge where one could apparently swim in crystal clear cold mountain
water, or retreat back to the shop from where at some point we could
expect to get a bus back to Roseau. We had enquired about the bus
schedules with a few locals and got a different estimate of when and
how many buses there were likely to be returning to Roseau on each
occasion. All they agreed upon was that there was actually only one
bus and it would return to Ladaut at some point. It was 1545 by this
time and we were both fairly knackered and decided caution topped
valour on this occasion. We did not fancy being stranded in the
mountains when darkness fell!
The bus arrived at
about 1645 and we commenced our circuitous route back to Roseau.
Once back in town we
had another wander around to look for an alternative place at which
to eat. However, the cruise ship that had been in and which had
encouraged the local taxi drivers and other vendors to a state of
some considerable excitement and persistence that morning had left.
It seemed that the whole town had fallen into a state of collective
exhaustion after the morning's feeding frenzy and every bar and
restaurant except for the Chinese (there's a moral in that state of
affairs) was closed. We therefore decided to walk to the southern end
of town to the well named Anchorage Hotel mentioned in our sailing
guide. We passed the scene of our previous two evening meals – the
very pleasant Loft Bar and Restaurant at the end of the dock we used
to moor the dinghy, but hoped to find an alternative.
It was quite a trek
down a poorly lit main road through less well-heeled residential and
commercial premises but at no time were we treated other than with
friendliness and courtesy. Oh and we were also frequently drenched by
heavy rain showers.
On arrival at the Hotel
we found it to be over-run by American Ophthalmologists! It turned
out they were touring the island offering free ophthalmic diagnostic
and treatment services to the locals. It's part of a regular
programme run by Michigan
University. Good for them. We got chatting to a couple of the
students on the programme who were as impressed by two blokes of
mature years sailing across the Atlantic on a little boat as we were
of their and the University’s good works. Our chat with the girls
was cut short by their call to dinner. We weren't overwhelmed by the
fare on offer at the Hotel and so after our beers we re-traced our
steps through more heavy rain showers in the dark to the Loft Bar and
Restaurant and had another good meal there.
During the course of
the meal we got chatting to a sailing family on the next table and it
turned out that we were rubbing shoulders with a well know German
Ocean Racer – Henrik Masekowitz. He had sailed almost the same
route as us in just over half the time in his racing machine and was
now enjoying some more relaxed sailing with his family. His boat was
one of a 12 Metre Ocean racing class (a
64) capable of speeds of up to 19 knots! He had previously had
to curtail an attempt at the world circumnavigation record for the
class due to breaking his leg whilst sailing the boat!
The next morning we got
the boat ready to leave and after filling up with fuel and water at
the local dock we eventually got away around midday.
The short passage was a
mixture of gentle sailing and motoring, so gentle in fact that we
indulged in a very dilute rum punch with the first ice we had managed
to buy during the whole trip.It was quite delicious.
We entered Prince
Rupert's Bay and after being greeted by a member of the Portsmouth
Association of Yacht Services (PAYS – an organisation about which
we subsequently developed a great deal of respect) dropped anchor off
Portsmouth, Dominica around 1700 local time. We ate on board that
evening.
This Portsmouth is
still a very small town unlike Portsmouth, UK. It's heyday was
probably at the height of GB's presence in the Caribbean in the 18th
Century. Originally the capital it became something of a backwater
after disease – mostly malaria from the surrounding mosquito ridden
swamp lands – forced the relocation of the capital to Roseau. What
we later discovered was the renovated Fort Shirley in the Cabrits
national park, overlooked the bay from the north, an impressive
reminder of Britain's imperialist past. The small town of Portsmouth
was situated in the middle of the bay surrounded by gorgeous tropical
rainforest. Looking around the bay from our anchorage it seemed
highly probable that the view was little changed from that which the
sailors of Nelsons' Navy would have witnessed as they arrive in the
bay. Indeed as we later discovered the Cabrits peninsula would have
been a hive of military activity and buildings. The restored Fort
that we could see was only a relatively small part of the original
site.
Over the last two hundred years the Forest had reclaimed the
terrain....
The Dominican
government restored the main Fort buildings in the 1990s and did a
very impressive job of it too. Unfortunately it seems that since then
there have been insufficient visitors to keep the Fort open to the
public. We visited the following Saturday and whilst we were able to
roam freely around the site all the buildings were locked up. During
our visit we saw only two other small parties of visitors. It seems
that significant cruise ship traffic was anticipated because a now
largely disused cruise ship dock built in 1990 sat at the base of the
complex. Next door was a once smart and still informative museum
cataloguing the history of the island.
The next day, Friday,
we took the dinghy to the town dock and explored the town. It was
little more than two streets of low rise buildings – none more than
three stories. Many of the buildings were colourful – some were
rather dilapidated. The people were the most friendly, courteous and
helpful I have met. Yes, some like the guy who paddled out on his
board were most interested in making money by selling us something.
He was offering something I wanted, a Dominican flag and so even that
was fine. Unfortunately, he rather wound us up on his return by
announcing that in addition to the price of the flag ($35 EC) which
we had accepted, he also expected to be paid a “service charge”
of $5 EC. It was very little and had he advised us up-front I would
have paid but this smacked of deviousness and I refused. After a
slightly heated exchange he accepted defeat and paddled off having
sold a flag but without the benefit of the service charge. In town we
were engaged in conversation a number of times by people who were
simply interested in us and in helping us find what we were looking
for.
After exploring the
town we walked along the almost deserted beach and enjoyed a cool
beer under the palm trees and I went for a swim and found some treasure...
We got back to the
boat for 1500 having previously accepted an offer by one of the locals to take us on a tour of the Indian River (where Europeans first
encountered the local indigenous people). He didn't turn up until
1600 by which time we thought we would have insufficient daylight for
the trip and so we declined to go. He was rather off-hand about the
whole thing and so we also declined the grumpy offer to go in the
morning.
I spent the rest of the
afternoon fixing eyelets into the sun awnings that Chris had stitched
for me and then we swam off the boat. That evening we went for drinks
in a Reggae bar at the north end of the beach where an excellent
guitarist/singer entertained us as the only visitors plus a crowd of
locals. We ate in one of the beach restaurants before returning to
the boat.
On Saturday we explored
Fort Shirley by taking the dinghy over to the Cruise Ship dock where
we were able to moor at no charge/
We met a most
impressive local ....
and hiked across the
headland to the Douglas Bay Gun battery. On our return leg we met
another local ......
On Sunday morning we
hailed another one of the PAYS boats to arrange our trip up the
Indian River. This one was manned by Andrew who turned out to be a
most helpful and informative guide up the river. The trip took about
2.5 hours and was fascinating. The river wound its way gently through
tropical rainforest and we were transported back in time as Andrew
rowed us up the river pointing out various plants and animals of
special interest.
The turn around point
was marked by a tasteful Jungle Bar where the locals had made an
excellent job of providing a place of refreshment without spoiling
the natural beauty of the river and forest.
We enjoyed a local rum
punch – Andrew accepted only a beer because he was working. Andrew
and the Bar's manager, Roy discussed the state of the island's
economy and politics with us. They were both of the view that the
government should do more to advertise the island and attract more
visitors which is perhaps not surprising given their livelihoods
depend on tourism but most impressively they were adamant that the
expansion should be carefully controlled. They did not want their
island ruined by hotels and concrete and were quite against the
establishment of a major airport hub. Getting in and out via other
islands was fine with them.
That evening we
attended the PAYS beach barbecue laid on for all the yachties for $20
per head which covered as much food and drink as we wanted. We met up
again with Richard and Bridget, fellow members of the Cruising
Association whom we met earlier in the day.
We had a most enjoyable
evening. Mick developed relations further with the PAYS to the extent
that Andrew introduced him to the President of the organisation. With
very little capital PAYS runs a very helpful service for visiting
yachts people and will hopefully continue to do so.
We left Dominica the
next morning bound for Isles de Saints, just south of Guadeloupe. We
both suspected that our time there would turn out to be one of the
highlights of the cruise. Anyone thinking of taking a genuine
Caribbean holiday will be hard pressed to find a more authentic,
beautiful and friendly island.
Wednesday 14th January was
our last day on Martin at what we decided was the best spot we had
been to in the boat, Les Anse D'Arlet a few miles south of Fort De
France Bay. Lunch the previous day was so good we decided to go back
for more but prior to that we had a swim from the beach. On the way
there we stopped off at our new neighbours an Oyster 37 from the UK
crewed by young couple Matt and Amey from Portsmouth and invited them
over for drinks in the evening. We then bumped into them a number of
times ashore!
First objective was to find a spot on
the beach with a bit of shade from which to swim. The beach is lined
with little bars/restaurants and so we inevitably ended up close to
one and so a nice cold beer was on hand after our swim followed by a
debate about whether to return to the place next door to eat which we
knew provided great food or to try the new place.
View at Lunch
We both concluded
that on balance a return to what we knew would be a good lunch was
the best option and it was another good lunch. After lunch a wander
round a bit of shopping and we then headed back to the boat to
receive our visitors.
Not on the Menu!
Matt and Amey are a charming couple in
the early stages of their round the world experience and we spent a
most enjoyable evening with them. They landed in Saint Lucia a week
before we got to Martinique and suffered a broken boom in a squall
which caused an accidental gybe. They were therefore waiting for a
new boom to arrive in Rodney Bay, Saint Lucia and were returning the
next day to collect it and commence fitting. They would then be
heading south to Panama to transit the canal into the Pacific.
The next morning, Thursday 15th
January we were up at 0400 in order to ensure we arrived in Roseau on
Dominica in daylight. With the wind in the North East the passage
along the west coast of Martinique was a mixture of calms requiring
some motoring and squalls in flat water.
The forecast was for 20+
knots from the NE and so we had a reef in the main in preparation for
bigger winds to come. Approaching the NW tip of the island the
squalls increased in intensity with higher mountains to windward and
then the wind died down somewhat for a short period. It did not last
however and we were soon sailing to windward under the reefed main
and a well reefed Genoa in an increasingly lumpy sea as we progressed
further into the gap between the islands. We saw a couple of other
yachts in the vicinity but not many. Once again we were 'enjoying' a
wet and bumpy ride. The boat handled the conditions well and we
continued close hauled on a heading for Roseau at the 5+ required to
get us in before dark.
On our approach to Scott Head, the most
southerly point of Dominica we were eventually overhauled by slightly
larger yacht from Denmark sailing well in the brisk conditions.
We eventually picked up a mooring at
about 1700. There were a couple of locals out in their high speed
boats touting for business and although our guide book said it was
possible to anchor the moorings seemed to be in the best places and
we didn't want to piss the locals off. $15 US a night was not to bad.
Feeling quite tired after the long day we elected to remain on board
for the evening and start our exploration the next day.
We got shore about midday on Monday -
that seems to be the earliest we can make without a special effort!
Government House
First job was to check-in with Customs.
Our guide book said there was an office in town and another further
up the coast an a mile or so where the larger ships docked. It turned
out we walked straight past the office in town. Still the walk was
interesting enough – even though much of it was conducted in the
pouring rain - and we got to see more of the local area than we might
otherwise have done. On our return it was lunch time and the office
was shut and so we of course had to have lunch. We found a great
restaurant just over the road where we enjoyed an excellent meal at a
very reasonable price and spent a couple of hours watching the rain
come down.
Lunch stop
After lunch we checked in with Customs
(they then dealt with immigration) and went off in search of a
barbers and a bank and did some shopping. The town was a bit scruffy
around the edges but had a vibrant and friendly atmosphere. There
were a lot of reminders of the islands colonial past with a number of
impressive buildings and a red post box outside the Post Office. We
encountered a few hard sell merchants but most of the time everyone
was friendly and we were able to wander freely. At the end of the day
further down pours 'forced' us to eat ashore at the dock our moorings
belonged to.
The island looks beautiful and is the
location of a nature world heritage site. This afternoon we will take
a bus up the coast and tomorrow we WILL get up early and take a bus
into the mountains to explore properly! On Thursday we will sail up
to Portsmouth at the north of the Island where we hope to meet up
with Arvin, our guest on Christmas Day.
