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.