So it appears everyone was right - Dominica has to be one of the most beautiful islands in the Caribbean to visit.  We were told this by others but having now been there we can confirm it.

We moved south to Roseau on Thursday (13th June).  Sailing behind the islands is pretty straightforward although you can get some nasty gusts off the land at certain spots where the topography is just right.  We arrived at Roseau around midday.  There is not much of a bay here and it is pretty close to the the southern tip of the island.  This results in the swell from the Atlantic wrapping around the island and rolling into the bay.

View of anchorage from Roseau

We were met by a boat boy and he showed us to a mooring.  We had decided to use a mooring here due to the holding not being as good as at Portsmouth and the seabed dropping away very steeply.  We ended up on a mooring about 80m off a small jetty but it was in 25m of water.  At first it was touch and go whether we would stay because the rolling was pretty bad.  Eventually we arranged to tie our stern off to another mooring in the bay and that damped down the motion.  We settled down for the afternoon to take stock of our surroundings.

The coastline here is as dramatic as the rest of the island.  The shore is a narrow pebble beach and the noise is constant from the surf pounding it.  Shacks and buildings line the shore just behind the beach and there are fishing boats pulled up on the beach or bobbing around in the water just past the shore line.  The town of Roseau is about half a mile north of us and there is a large concrete jetty which the cruise liners use when they visit.  Our mooring put us opposite the Roseau Fishermans Cooperative which is a interesting place.  Its really just a large open shed containing some boats which seems to be a meeting place for fishermen who are not working.  All day they are there milling around, playing cards and socialising.  Seems the small jetty is used by a number of different people including our boat boy.  Behind the main street following the coast the land rises steeply and is dotted with houses and just covered in forests.

Next day we hired a car from a local rental company and spent the next two days having a look at Roseau and the interior of the island which is not that big.  Roseau  is a nice place but Dominica is pretty poor and so a lot of it is pretty run down however it has a certain charm and you feel safe where ever you go.  At the local market it is incredible how much fresh produce there is and the variety of it.  You could get most of what you needed here.  

Local market in Roseau

The interior of the country is incredible.  Its really is very unspoilt.  In other places we have been in these beautiful forests but they are the national parks whereas here in Dominica it is like one big national park.  The Dominicans are doing the right thing in protecting their environment and as you travel around you get the sense that everyone is onboard with it.  Everyone we dealt with was very friendly and polite and even strangers were very friendly.  People will come up to you on the street and say “welcome to Dominica - hope you enjoy our island”.  

We visitied a couple of the more accessible waterfalls.  Normally these can get very crowded but  due to it being the off season were deserted of tourists.   The first waterfall was called Emerald Pool and it is not that big but the setting is just stunning.  We also visited the Trafalgar Falls which is much bigger and there are actually two high waterfalls that plunge of the moutainside into the valley and combine into a single river flowing out.  Everyone gets a real buzz out of first getting to the falls and then being able to swim in the pools.

Trafalgar Falls

The kids enjoying the Emerald Falls

Around Trafalgar Falls there is a lot of geothermal activity and so they have hot springs.  After the visit to the falls we spent the afternoon at a place called Wotten Waven soaking in these hot sulphur pools.  The place we went has a number of pools of varying temperatures all connected so you move between as your body temperature dictates.  It is very relaxing and the kids had a ball.

The hot springs at Wotten Waven

We hope to be able to return early next year and do some of the walks on the island.

Another tropical wave with the associated squalls was forecast for Monday night so on Monday morning we slipped the mooring with some difficulty and left.  In fact we had to leave our stern mooring line as the buoy had sunk.  The wind was blowing about 15kts when we left but about 5mins out we got hit by winds over 35kts as it accelerated around the cape.  One gust hit 40kts and we were well over canvassed which made the boat heel dramatically and really freaked everyone out.  We got the boat back under control and reduced our sail area and continued.  The wind maintained around 30kts to 35kts which gave us a very exhilerating sail.  Halfway to Martinique it abated slightly to around 25kts gusting 30kts.  The boat handled superbly and we made extremely good time.  We pulled into  a bay called Petite Cap D’arlet for the night after having a run in with a freighter who would not change course and would not respond to numerous radio calls from us.  Given the difference in size we decided to take avoiding action but it is really annoying that some of these guys are oblivious to sailing vessels.

The anchorage was quiet and deserted and would have been a lovely place to stay for a few days but we wanted to get to St Lucia to get the boat ready for Scotts brother and family who are joining for a sail next week and so the next day we departed for St Lucia.  We reached Rodney Bay at the north end of St Lucia by midday and anchored out.  We will spend the next few days cleaning and tidying up and then move into a marina for a couple nights.  Rodney Bay is a popular spot and in the season it can get quite crowded but again at this time of year its quiet.

So we are down to a few days of scrubbing and polishing and then a couple of days relaxing in the marina before we take out Lars’s family for a week in Martenique and then a week in St Lucia

Dominica - Prince Rupert Bay

Sail down from Les Saintes to Dominica went without a hitch although the wind and waves were higher than expected.  We left Les Saintes with about 12kts and wondering if we would have enough wind.  Once we cleared the islands the wind accelerated to around 20kts and the seas picked up.  Luckily we were not hard on the wind.  Believe there is some funneling effect between the islands which accelerates the wind and magnifies the seastate .  Anyway we were doing typically 7 to 8 kts with a reefed main and the staysail.  We were, however, missing our crewmembers, Pete and Claire, who had just departed - the boat seems a bit empty now without them.  Once we got into the lee of Dominica the wind just about died and the seas flattened out.

First sight of Dominica

We arrived in a place called Prince Rupert Bay.  This is a huge protected bay on the Northern west side of Dominica in the lee of some of the island’s big hills.  As soon as we neared the bay we were met by a “boat boy”.  We had read about these guys but thus far had not seen them in action.  They are pretty prevalent from here south.  They meet your boat, help you anchor or moor and can get fruit, veggies, ice etc.  There are many stories about how they can be a real nusiance, like hawkers on the beaches, and in some instances quite aggressive so we were not to sure what to expect.  Here in Dominica they have formed a group called PAYS and its a lot more organised.  They assign one guy to your boat so you are not pestered by a whole army of guys.  Still there are a few non PAYS boat boys milling around touting for business.

Prince Rupert Bay

We were about a mile offshore when Alexis, our PAYS guy, approached us in a yellow wooden open boat and told us he would assist us once we were anchored.  We sailed into the bay and were approaching the anchorage, doing the final maneuvers and a couple of other boat boys came over trying to sell fruit.  One guy was paddling a surf board sitting on an upturned crate.  We have enough to think about when approaching a new anchorage without deciding on whether or not we need to restock with fruit.  Luckily we could tell them we were dealing with Alexis so for the most part they left us alone.

Alexis our PAYS guy

We dropped anchor about a quarter mile offshore.  Sure enough within a few minutes Alexis was there and offered to run us into customs to clear in.  Obviously, there is a fee but its worth it as he knows the drill.  Scott and Calley went in and did the necessary.  They were taken to a jetty about a mile away and the customs hut was just a short walk up a dirt track along the shore.  Clearance was easy and they were back onboard within an hour.

We relaxed for the evening and got used to our new surroundings.  Dominica is a British Commonwealth country but is pretty poor by western standards.  It was discovered by Columbus and the story is that when he was trying to describe the island to the Queen of Spain he took a piece of paper and crumpled it up to show how rugged the terrain was.  The island see-sawed mainly between the French and British due to its strategic position between the French islands of Martinique and Guadeloupe.  The island ended up British after the Treaty of Versailles.  As a result of the history there is still a some French influence here.  The island is renowned as a nature lovers paradise with mountains to almost 5000ft criss crossed with over 300 rivers many of them falling in spectacular falls into the rainforest valleys.  All along our travels people have raved about Dominica, its natural beauty and the friendliness of the people.

The view from our anchorage is spectacular.  The green hills rise pretty quickly to the highlands which are shrouded in dark low lying clouds.  Most of the time these are in motion being driven fast by the trades.  At the North end of the bay on a promontory is Fort Shirley built by the British which looks out over the bay.  The town of Portsmouth is the main settlement in the area.  There are a few rusty hulks moored in the bay and about a dozen yachts.  The weather is still very changeable with gusts howling through the gaps in the hills on a regular basis and blasting the anchorage.  Rain showers are intermittent throughout the day and night.  Luckily these are relatively short but dump a significant amount of water when they do occur.

The first day was a school day and then in the evening we went ashore to a BBQ held in an open shed on the beach which the PAYS guys put on for the yacht crews in the bay.  It was fun with good basic food and some seriously strong rum punch.  We met with a few of the other cruisers and Calley met up with some Swiss kids she had not seen since Deshaies.  As usual it was really interesting talking with the other yachties.

The PAYS beach BBQ

The next day Alexis had organised a couple of trips for us.  We started early and went up the Indian River which flows into the bay near Portsmouth.  The river is a park and so you are not allowed up in motor boats.  We transferred into an open wooden boat and a local guy called Jerome rowed us through the jungle for a couple of hours telling us about the forest and the river.  To give you some idea of the scenery - this was where some of the scenes from The Pirates of the Caribbean (Part 2) was filmed, in particular the scene with the witches cottage on the river bank.

Jerome our boatman for the Indian river trip

Sam and Calley at the witches cottage

After the river trip we transferred into a taxi with a friendly driver called Winston and got taken up to a national park in the highlands.  We did a short hike to a spectacular waterfall, wading through gushing rivers to get there.  There had been a tremendous amount of rain falling so the waterfall was in full force.  We had hoped to swim but it was far to rough in the pool.  We could not even get any pictures as the air was full of moisture.  After that we walked through the rainforest gazing at these huge trees with massive buttress root systems, some spreading out 20 to 30 ft from the base of the trees.  Winston was great and had a wealth of information on the flora and fauna and of Dominica itself.  All along the drive he pointed out the fruit and vegetables growing on the hillside slopes.  The variety of fresh food that they grow here is incredible - we saw fruits like bananas, pineapple, mango, oranges, limes, pawpaw, avocado. coconut, grapefruit; vegetables like eggplant, pumpkin, yams, taro, chillies and peppers and spices like ginger, nutmeg, cinnamon and lemon grass.  Apparently Dominica exports a lot of this to other islands and as far away as the UK.

Winston showing us the forest

We had a trip into town the next day and then a visit to Fort Shirley the day after  The town is pretty run down but you can get most of what you would need on an everyday basis plus fresh fruit, veg and fish.  There was also a nice Roti shop.  The people are friendly and helpful.  The fort afforded spectacular views over the anchorage and parts of the outlying ruins have been completely taken back by the forest and look amazing with huge tree root systems running through the massive masonry walls.

The guns of Fort Shirley overlooking the bay

After our trip to the fort we got back to the boat to find a charter cat mooring right on front of us.  We tried to explain that we thought they were too close given the different swing circles of the vessels but to no avail so we had to move Dulcinea.  It is unbelievable with a bay this size that they have to moor so close - the herding instinct in humans is certainly alive and well in charter yachts.

We have decided to move tomorrow to the capital city called Roseau, about 18nm south.  From there we hope to do a couple of more trips into the interior before heading off to St Lucia.

Ile des Saintes

Have just said goodbye to Pete and Claire and waved them off on the ferry going back to Guadeloupe.  They have been with us for the last 7 or 8 weeks so the boat will seem pretty quiet without them.  We must say they were fantastic guests and apart from being great company contributed a lot to the general work on the boat which was very much appreciated.  The kids also had a great time with them.

Waiting for a Dingy

So for the family it is now onward on our own for the next couple of weeks.  It is always strange to start off again just the four of us after we have had company but we quickly fall into the day to day routines again.  We have a rendezvous with Scott’s brother and family in a couple of weeks in St Lucia so we will slowly make our way south.

For the last few days we have stayed moored off Le Bourg which is the main town on Iles de Saintes.  It is very peaceful and relaxing here.  There are three or four islands forming a fairly sheltered bay.  All the islands have high hills.  We arrived and moored up during a rain shower which drenched everyone except Scott and since then the weather has been showery although the last couple of days have been beautiful and today is just superb.  The water is clear as bell, the sky is completely blue apart from a few white puffy clouds.  There are huge black frigate birds circling overhead.  The hillsides are full of colour being covered in red “flamboyant” trees and purple wisteria.

Le Bourg - Ile des Saintes

This is a very French enclave.  The islands were never used for agriculture and so slaves were never brought onto the islands.  Therefore the local population does not have such an African heritage.  Instead the island was settled by fishermen from Brittany and the local population reflects this.  

The main town is small but big enough to be interesting.  There are quite a few restaurants and lots of shops selling beautiful summer clothes.  There is a Carrefour and most importantly two boulangeries.  There is a main dock which is used for the daily ferries running back and forth to Guadeloupe and some other small businesses dotted around the main harbour and primarily catering to the tourists.  Apart from tourism its difficult to see how the island survives.  There are a lot of open fishing boats so obviously there is some revenue from fish and lobster but that appears to be all.  There are quite a lot of tourists here though - each day the ferries arrive and disgorge a horde of visitors who wander over the island or go diving which is supposed to be superb.

The Waterfront

The town is big enough to wander around a few times and see new things.  It has a village feel and especially today (Saturday) it seems really busy.  All the shops are open and there are locals wandering the streets and chatting.  There is a small park with lots of shade trees, some of which are bottle brushes like we have in Australia.  In the park the locals sit and chat on the park benches.  Its a really relaxed setting.  

Local Park

When we pulled into the bay there was another boat which looked very similar to Dulcinea but quite a bit bigger at around 73ft.  It was the same colour, same rig and same basic look.  There were a couple onboard taking care of it called Frank and Christina who we got to know and so we each visited each other’s boat.  Their boat was called Pulsar 2 but originally it was owned by the owner of Maersk and called Klem VII.  It is a Danish X-Boats build. It always interesting to have a look at other boats and compare them to Dulcinea.  I guess its something to do with combating any buyers remorse!  Some of the time you get ideas on how to implement small improvements.  Pulsar 2 is a big boat but the layout down below was very strange - with all the volume of a bigger boat it still seemed quite enclosed.  And they had the strangest mainsheet arrangement ever - the mainsheet is deadended on the aft deck under the boom, it then travels up to a sheave in the boom, along the inside of the boom to the mast, down the mast below decks into the engine room where there is a single drum winch which controls the pay in / pay out obviously from a switch at the deck.  Frank said it worked pretty well but strange never the less.

We took a day out of school to have a look around the island.  We hired three scooters and just went exploring.  There is an old Napoleonic fort here which has a small museum and was very interesting.  There were a few displays showing details of a huge naval engagement which occurred  between the British and the French fleets around Napoleon’s time just off the Saintes.  Unfortunately most of the text was in French but we got the gist of it.  We found a fantastic restaurant for lunch on Marigot Bay and had one of those meals you only seem to be able to get in France.  They had these wooden painted place mats with the island on them.  Pete had asked about being able to buy one as a souvenir but had not got much of a response.  On the way out though one of the waiters came running after us and handed him a place mat.  That is typical of the local people here - very kind and friendly. 

Fort Napoleon Bell

The rest of the day we enjoyed zooming around the narrow local roads and visiting a number of the beaches on the island.

Quality control on local fish trap manufacturing

Originally Pete and Claire had planned to leave us on the Monday but the weather forced a change.  We are slowly beginning to understand the summer weather patterns here in the Caribbean.  Generally the wind blows east at 15 to 20kts but there are these tropical waves which are areas of low pressure and which originate over by Africa.  These move west with the trades and bring thunderstorms and squalls for couple of days.  When conditions are right it is these tropical waves which start circulating to form hurricanes.  The next tropical wave is forecast on Sunday and so we wanted to move onto Dominica before it hit the Saintes which meant bringing our departure forward a couple of days.  Luckily it was not a major for our guests as the ferry connections here are no problem.

The Scooter Gang

So in a few hours we will push on to the island of Dominica which lies about 20NM SSE of the Saintes.  The weather at the moment is pretty nice and it should be a resaonable sail.

Cousteau, Turtles and an open table

On this trip we are extremely lucky in that we get to experience all these really amazing places but the added bonus is that we get to do it all with Sam and Calley.  Today has been one of those amazing days.

We left Deshaies yesterday (Saturday 1st Jun) and had a quick sail down the coast about 8NM in gusty conditions to a bay south of a place called Pt Malendure.  There are two small islands only about half a mile offshore of the bay, the larger one being Pidgeon Island and the smaller one predictably being Petit Ilet.  The islands are nothing special to look at - fairly low lying, volcano shaped with scrub covering and very steep rocky shorelines.  From the islands to the mainland and then up the coast for a couple of miles is the Cousteau Marine Park with some great snorkelling and diving.  Ashore on the mainland there are a couple of beaches fringing the bay and then onshore directly opposite the islands are a number of dive tour operators.  Further south are a few restaurants and shops although there does not seem to be any real town.

Pidgeon Island

We anchored up in the bay.  Pete and Claire took Calley into shore while the rest of us stayed on the boat to get some schooling done.

Reality bites

In the evening Scott, Nicole and kids went ashore and gave the newly weds some time on their own on the boat.  

The next day we got up early and took the dinghy across to the islands for a snorkel.  The marine life was fantastic.  There were only one or two other small boats when we arrived so we had no problem finding a mooring buoy to tie up the dinghy to.  We were in about 2.5m of water.  Everyone got their mask and fins on in the dinghy and then dropped over the edge into what seemed like an aquarium - The bottom is rock with boulders and crags and small caves or crevices everywhere.  Corals, every conceivable colour, shape and texture cover the rocks so it looks like a multicouloured carpet has been laid on the seabed.  There are fern like corals and soft tube corals waving in the currents, hard staghorn and brain corals growing out from the rocks and everywhere there are thousands of fish moving around the coral or drifting in schools over the seabed.   The visibility was perfect and limited only by the schools of fish or moon jellies.  The water temperature here is also perfect and so you feel completely at ease in the water.  Even Calley is now comfortable snorkelling on her own. She still gets freaked a bit if a big fish is spotted but otherwise she is good.  Sam is turning into a little Aquaboy and could probably stay in the water all day if we let him.

Sam in his element

At the seaward edges of the islands the seabed drops away sheer and the rock walls are lined with coral.   This is probably better suited to diving but the top part of the walls are spectacular to snorkel also.  If you look down or out to sea you just see dark blue with the occasional shadow moving around.  

We reluctantly returned to the dinghy and back to Dulcinea but another treat lay in store.  There are lots and lots of turtles in the bay and as you sit on the boat you see them surfacing all around to get a breath.  We jumped in and snorkelled around the boat and within seconds the first turtle had been spotted.  The turtles here are not as skittish as ones we have previously come across and so you can dive down close to them and even touch them.  Sam managed to get a ride off one of them by grabbing both sides of the shell.  It is awesome swimming with the turtles - they are such graceful and docile creatures and the patterns on their shells are amazing.  They move kind of slow so it is easy to keep up with them as they move over the bottom grazing or slowly surface for air.

Turtle grazing

We finished off the day with a Danish open table.  We had been collecting bits and pieces for it since Charlotte Amelie.  Claire had never experienced one before and so was a novice with the schnapps but she ended up doing very well.  We took it pretty easy as there is no telling what kind of trouble we could get into if something went wrong onboard.  All in all a good day.

The West Coast of Guadeloupe

We have now moved further south to a place called Iles des Saintes.  These are a group of islands off the south coast of Guadeloupe.  We were going to try and have one more stop in Guadeloupe in a place called Basse Terre and get ashore but the anchorage was a bit exposed for our liking so we pushed on to the Saintes.  

First Views of the Saintes

Deshaies (Day-ay)

Fantastic sail from Antigua to Guadeloupe on Tuesday (28th May).  Distance was about 40NM and the wind was almost directly on the beam blowing around 18 to 20kts gusting to 28kts.  We cleared English Harbour, set a reefed main and staysail and made our course almost due south.  We were doing an average of 7 to 8 kts with us making over 9 when the gusts came through.  Sea was a bit lumpy with a combined wind and swell producing around a 2.0 to 2.5m sea so there was a bit of motion on board the boat.  Those who weren’t on deck retired to sleep or watch TV below while those on deck had an exhilarating sail.

We seem to have been loosing and breaking stuff recently.  Seems we left the electrical shore power cable on the dock when we departed St Maarten.  This is the cable we need when we come into a marina to connect to shore power.  Not sure what happened but it got left.  Luckily there was a spare cable onboard but it is a bit shorter.  In Antigua when we had the passarelle deployed we managed to put a crack in the stern section of the toe rail;  Also in Antigua we seem to have lost the ensign which we fly at the stern - well lost or it went walkabout.  Then on the sail over, the staysail furler malfunctioned due to corrosion in some fasteners.  We had to drop the sail to come into anchor.  We had only just got over the loss of the kitchen sink plug.  Funny as it may seem it is a very important piece of equipment and a replacement was extremely hard to come by - (finally found in a plumbing shop in St Johns after combing other islands north of Antigua for it)

We made landfall off the North West tip of Guadeloupe and our first destination was just on the west coast at a place called Deshaies (pronounced Day-ay).  This is a little town nestled at the bottom of dense green covered hills in a small bay.  The land around the bay rises steeply and on one side it is cliffs.  It is very Jurrasic Park’ish.  It looks and feels very tropical and the weather adds to this as it is quite humid with fairly frequent showers.  There is a small river emptying into the bay and when we arrived it must have just calmed down after some significant rainfall as the bay was all brown and silty and the smaller streams off the hillsides were still gushing.  We heard later that one unfortunate yacht had left their dingy tied up at a dock just in the river mouth and the force of the water had sunk it whilst they were away sightseeing.

Deshaies

Deshaies main street

Guadeloupe is very different from Antigua.  First it is French, second it is much bigger with a population 4 times that of Antigua and thirdly the terrain is very different.  The island is in the shape of a butterfly with one wing very mountainous and the other fairly flat.  We will be transiting down the high western side.

Scott and Nicole went to check in the first morning after our arrival.  Customs and immigration here are pretty relaxed.  They went into town and found an internet cafe called “Le Pelican”.  There was a computer terminal which all the ship and passenger details were logged into, a four euro charge and we were cleared in.  Excellent system and only slightly slower than Changi Airport.  Then it was off for a quick cafe and pain au chocolate before returning to the boat with an armful of baguettes.  The town is quite small, with a single main street, but it seems to have all the essentials - a patisserie, a few restaurants, a supermarket and some well stocked fruit and veg market type stalls.

Of course the first priority was school.  We are just around the lesson 100 mark - yay only 60 more lessons to go.  Not sure who will be more relieved when its all over - the kids or the parents.  But when we finish we will probably have to roll straight into the next years course which has already been ordered and delivered.

The next day was awesome.  There is a walk here along the river which the guidebook had pegged at around 3hrs round trip.  We decided to start early at 0700 whilst it was still cool.  We walked from the town a short way to the trailhead at the end of a concrete road and tried to follow a path up the riverside.  The path however soon vanished and we had to scramble over the river rocks.  Due to the recent flooding everything was extremely slippery and there was flash flood debris everywhere.  We kept going and eventually seemed to be spending more time in the water than out.  It was sometimes easier just to climb straight up the rapids.  Everyone was muddy and soaked from the rainfall and the river but it was great fun and the kids loved it.  After about 3.5hrs we ended up at an intermediate stop near a paved road.  We carried on for another three quarters of an hour hiking up a muddy trail and then back into the river until we came to what we had been looking for - a cave.  The river seems to just emerge from the cave which is more like a very narrow gorge.  The gorge is blocked by a huge bolder behind which you can hear a waterfall.  

The cave and waterfall

With a bit of scrambling it was possible to get through a gap between the boulder and the gorge wall behind which is a small pool with this waterfall dropping from what looks like a rock chute about 20 or 30ft.  It was a really amazing spot.  The gorge walls rise vertically on all sides and are covered in brilliant green ferns and moss.  At the top of the gorge the sides seem to almost touch and you can see trees precariously balanced on the edges and silhouetted in the sunlight.  Their roots snake down the gorge walls looking for any tenuous hold they can find.  The air is full of mist from the waterfall which swirls about in the void coating everything in water droplets.  The noise is deafening even though its is not that big a waterfall.  You could stand under the water chute and get pummelled by the water.

Getting ready to head back

We hung around the waterfall for the best part of an hour and then trekked back to the road and then took the road back to town arriving over seven hours after having started.  Everyone was tired, had sore legs and was relieved to be back but it had been a lot of fun.  Calley especially did extremely well.  It was a hard walk and she had new boots which seemed to do the trick.

Calley very happy with herself

The next day we hauled our weary selves off to a very picturesque botanical garden here which is amazing but given that we have recently just left tropical Singapore was very similar to the gardens there.  

We push on tomorrow a bit further down the coast.