Dulcinea

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