Hopping North

A very enjoyable afternoon and evening with our land-based friends Sally and Tom, concluded our stay in Bequia in the beginning of the New Year. About an hour before we left the harbor, a big oil slick traveled through our area, staining Irie’s (and others) hull, all four sides of it, leaving a blackish mess behind. It wasn’t even four weeks after we worked so hard to make her bottom clean, pretty and presentable! Now, we have to do it again, in the water and it will take more than soap and a sponge… An experience not in favor of our already mixed feelings about Admiralty Bay.

A short, slow but nice sail brought Irie to new-to-us Keartons Bay in St. Vincent. It is a pretty, quiet and small bay where the boat boys are friendly enough and anchoring - without lines to shore - is possible for a couple of boats. It was pretty rolly, but we needed a better jump off point for our next, long sail to St. Lucia. After motoring our way up the Vincentian coast, we were ready for a great, brisk sail across the channel. As always, the sight of the Pitons was majestic, but no dolphins this time. Once we hit the shores of St. Lucia, we motored for a bit, but then managed to sail the rest of it, adding an hour and 5 miles to the trip because - being set off course - we had to tack back into Rodney Bay, well before dark.

The weather window to go north (less strong winds with an eastern-southeastern component instead of northeastern) lasted a few days, so after a day of shopping, catching up on internet work and a bit of rest, we left early in the morning for Fort-de-France in Martinique, a fast sail five hours away. The main reason for a stop here is a store called Leader Price. This is where cruisers stock their boats with French goodies like cheese, salami, pâté, smoked salmon, snacks and wine at affordable prices…

The following morning was, yet again, a very early one. From the moment we could “see”, which is around 6 am this time of the year, we motored our home out of the bay and raised the sails. Going north along Martinique’s coast was a patient and time consuming endeavor that we had to give up the last 6 miles. We couldn’t afford losing too much time and motored the last bit, before gaining speed again in the channel between Martinique and Dominica. We were trying to cover 65 miles in 12 hours of daylight. An impossible feat totally under sail, because the wind dies along the land. From the moment we approached Dominica’s capital Roseau, it was time to start the engines again. The rest of the way, we were busy adjusting the sails to motor sail or sail in the most efficient way. When the sun set behind the horizon we finished our long day in comfortable and familiar Prince Rupert Bay (Portsmouth). Loud music onshore made for a sleepless night.

By now, our natural clock made the use of an alarm unnecessary to get going early. Taking advantage of the eastern winds, we reached Marie-Galante in Guadeloupe before lunch, setting a new record high speed of 8.8 knots. Sure, we’ve done 10 knots, but that was either because of current or of riding on top of a breaking wave… Choppy, high seas made for a wet and salty ride, but we were happy to finely arrive at a new place. Time for some island exploring, once again!

A Day of Exploring in Dominica

After spending some time in the picturesque and friendly town Bourg des Saintes in Guadeloupe’s southern islands, the “Grenada Armada” moved on to the underdog of the Caribbean, Dominica. SV Imagine only stopped for the night, but the crew of SV Alianna (minus Ali the cat) joined Mark, Darwin and me on a land tour of the interior.

A previous attempt to see the country by car that resulted in a day of mostly driving, had taught us to focus on the important sights first. From Portsmouth in the north, Mark drove us to the area inland from the capital Roseau, already an hour and a half away. Over crumbled “roads” without any sign posts, but with the help of a friendly local, we managed to enter Morne Trois Pitons National Park. Our first stop was Fresh Water Lake, a very serene (yep) lake surrounded by rainforest and cool air. Darwin loved the temperature and so did we. After a short walk through the greenery and a glance at the pipeline, we continued on.

Titou Gorge was our next challenge. Once again with the directions of helpful people after we parked, we reached a rocky river and walked along and over a wooden pipeline to a small fresh water pool. The water was ice cold, but we were in for a treat if we could endure it long enough. Mark, Darwin and I swam through the gorge and followed the icy river to the end (or the beginning?) where a waterfall prevented us from going further. We were surrounded by enormous walls, carved out by millions of years of water flow. On a rocky outcrop and in a separate small pool we could take a break and enjoy the incredible environment. The sun was just high enough to warm our bodies a bit while we took in the sight and the thundering noise. A “splash” caught our attention. A small lizard fell out of the sky and jumped back up the slippery wall. We wondered how many attempts he tried to reach the top of the gorge. The current pushed us back to the pool, where a divided river up in the rocks was made into a shower with slightly warmer water. Then, it was Rosy and Sim’s turn to explore the gorge. After the initial shock of the icy water, this place is most enjoyable and our favorite attraction in Dominica.

On the way back to the car, we marveled over the engineering of the pipelines (made out of wood!) that transport water to all parts of the region. A lot of the country’s electricity is also created by water. Fresh water is extremely abundant in Dominica with its 365 rivers and almost constant rainfall in the mountains. It is about the wettest place to visit by boat, but the rewards are plentiful: colorful rainbows, free water and fertile grounds. Everywhere you walk, you are likely to find fruit on the trees, from mangoes to oranges and coconuts. And calabash to make bowls.

For lunch, we found an attractive, cute, local restaurant in Wotton Waven, called Petit Paradis. The price of the food and drinks was very reasonable and the service friendly, until the ordered food was prepared and handed to us. At that point, the waitress (instigated by the owner without doubt) told us she was mistaken with the price. She meant to say US dollars instead of EC dollars, which more than doubled the cost. A game they play when they think they can get more money out of the “unaware” tourist. We didn’t “bite” and didn’t want the food anymore, but worked out a compromise. An incident like this is very unfortunate and changes the mood of the moment, that’s for sure. Our appreciation for Dominica dropped and now, we didn’t want that second drink anymore and I was not temped to buy their locally made rum either. The owner could have made more money, if she would have treated us with respect and like locals…

Our next stop was Trafalgar falls, where Sim and Rosy went for a walk, photographed the waterfalls and took a dip in hot water springs. Mark, Darwin and I waited in the parking lot and enjoyed the scenery of the jungle there. We visited the falls last year and wanted to save some money. On the way back to Roseau, we stopped near a side road to “hunt” for fruit. The reward: three oranges, a coconut, almost cocoa beans and breadfruit and two calabashes later on. Some places are better than others, like the shore side of our anchorage in Portsmouth, where mangoes and coconuts”litter” the ground.

The day was running out of hours quickly and after a short stop in Roseau, we drove back to Portsmouth after a 30 minute delay waiting for the Chinese road crew to blast part of a mountain. Mark dropped the car back off and as the sky turned black, I picked him up with the dinghy while our friends watched Darwin. A drink at Big Papa’s (another spot where tourist dollars are wanted) sealed a wonderful day of exploring. Dominica is a very interesting and beautiful country, but everything costs a lot of money and tourists are highly encouraged to hire guides, do tours and buy entry tickets and souvenirs, making it hard for the independent traveler on a budget. Renting a car and splitting the cost with some friends is in this case the best solution. Signs for sights are hard to find, but luckily there’s always a friendly face around to show you the way…

New Year’s Eve in the Caribbean

Mark and I never used to eat out much, mostly for financial reasons. But, once in a while we would like to celebrate something or we (think we) deserve a treat. Those times, we expect some good food and service for the hard earned or hard saved money we spend on a meal. The prospect of no dishes and no cooking in a hot kitchen would be an added bonus.

Performing such an easy task as having a decent, affordable dinner and be pleased is challenging in the Caribbean. Over the last one and a half years, we have tried multiple times and failed more than not. Bear in mind, though, that we are not on vacation, always ask or check prices ahead of time, always look at our bill, hate it to be taken advantage of and, that we have certain expectations, like a friendly face and an honest atmosphere, and certain principles in the lines of “Don’t play (tourist) games with us”! Is that too much to ask for?

So, when Mark and I go out to eat, we never know what to expect, except not to expect too much. We still get excited about treating ourselves sometimes and do give it another try, only to find out that the restaurant of our choice is closed, the prices have gone up, Darwin is not allowed, people are not friendly, many items on the menu are not available, a surprise tax or mandatory tip is added or the bill is wrong.

On Christmas Day, we tried our luck in St. Pierre, Martinique. The only restaurant that looked alive closed at 3 pm and was pretty expensive. Dinner (packaged stuffing, eggplant and slices of lunch meat ham) on Irie was tasty and cheap and I did leave the dishes until the next morning. Not too bad.

On New Year’s Eve, we were serious about eating out and decided to go to Big Papa’s near our anchorage in Prince Rupert Bay, Dominica. The town of Portsmouth doesn’t have much to offer and we were pleased by the atmosphere of this restaurant and by our meeting with Big Papa himself, about five months ago. We started off with a few Happy Hour drinks. The Big Papa rum punch was half price, we were told, so we would get two for EC$ 10 (US$ 4). Two small plastic cups with a yellow liquid showed up and we enjoyed the taste of it, but wondered about the size. It’s a common trick here. They offer a drink for Happy Hour, but reduce the size with the price…

When I asked about the size of the drink, one of the waitresses admitted that the normal rum punches came in a bigger “real” glass. But, it was New Year’s Eve and we were trying to have a good time, so I ordered another Big Papa rum punch, the only thing that seemed to be on special. Mark ordered a local (Kubuli) beer. My ordered drink was orange this time and tasted different than the previous one, not as good, and I inquired. Now, this was the Big Papa rum punch and the previous one was a normal rum punch. OK. Well, then I wanted my second part of the order to be a normal one! This appeared to be the only option, because one of the women declared there was no Big Papa rum punch available. One of the waitresses was leaving, there was some confusion, I made sure they realized that this drink was the second part of my “two for one” rum punch and got another beer for Mark, while wondering what they would charge for my two different punches in the same order.

After three drinks each (three 2 for 1 rum punches for me and one 2 for 1 rum punch and two beers for Mark), we decided to swallow hard about the unfriendliness and incapability of the staff and go for a Big Papa Hamburger. It was New Year’s Eve after all! When we ordered, the waitress announced that they didn’t do the snack menu in the evening, so we gave in and asked for the bill. Big Papa recognized us (or was it Darwin?) from our last visit and we had a friendly chat. He wouldn’t make us burgers, though, a “cook’s nightmare”, apparently. Not sure why, apart from this being a good way to make more money by “forcing” you to order a more expensive meal. Not us…

We were a little hyped up by now and sure anticipated the bill to be wrong. The drinks should cost EC$ 30 (US$ 12). How bad would it be? Bad! We owed Big Papa’s EC$ 60. Twice the price! They charged EC$ 10 for every single tiny rum punch and EC$ 10 for every beer, which has a fixed price of EC$ 5. Mmmm… After some questioning, the mistake about the beer was obvious, but some more arguments later, the Big Papa rum punch (of which I had 1 instead of 2) appeared to be EC$ 15 during happy hour (????) at which point we gave in and paid the EC$ 35. We’ve learned to sacrifice small amounts of money for everybody’s peace and just never go back. Needless to say, no tip was given and we were very happy about not purchasing a meal there that night.

On Irie, some cheap champagne, a delicious spaghetti carbonara and Belgian chocolates for dessert pleased our tummies and our moods. Once again, we were better off having our dinner at home, but that evening we had realized it in time!

Last year, Mark, Darwin and I thought about the recent loss of Kali and wept ourselves asleep on the trampoline, to be woken up by fireworks at midnight, in Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas (USVI). This year we didn’t make January 1^st at all, until the next morning. We tried to stay up for a few hours, but were sound asleep by 10:30 pm! New Year’s Eve was pretty much a day like any other day.

Dominica: Land of Water

Of all the non- (Caribbean) sailors I know, few, if any, people know about Dominica, let alone where it is located. Before we started sailing, I had seen the little island in my pocket atlas and kind of knew where it was, but, other than that, this tiny country didn’t mean anything to me. It wasn’t until I hitched a ride in the British Virgin Islands with Emily, that a picture of Dominica started to form in my head. Our friendly driver was a Dominican guy who talked about his island, “the Nature Island”, and its many rivers. Later, in St. Martin, I met another Dominican who got me interested in his country. We started asking other cruisers about this destination in the Leeward Islands of the Caribbean and almost everybody loved the place and raved about the friendly people. But, you had to rent a car to really appreciate it…

On our way South to Grenada, Dominica was the one country where we really wanted to spend some time and apparently, some money. After laying low in Guadeloupe for a few days, we arrived in Prince Rupert Bay, where checking in was easy. We had obtained a permit for Darwin in advance via email and we were all allowed to stay for two weeks, before having to go to immigration. Our friends from Aeolus (Charlie, Nathalie and their five year old son Keenan) were anchored in the bay and catching up with them was great. We spent a few fun evenings and fresh fish dinners together (thank you, Charlie!) and met another nice couple through them.

We wanted to get to Dominica, before the weather turned on us. Three tropical waves (the first stage of a possible hurricane) were about to pass within a week. So, from the moment we were settled in Portsmouth, where Prince Rupert Bay is located, it rained. And it rained. Each time we made an attempt to shore, we got soaking wet. We went through sets of clothes like we owned whole wardrobes and nothing dried. We didn’t even realize the size of Dominica’s mountains, until it cleared up some, days later. But only for a few minutes at the time and we never saw the mountain tops.

On the third day of grayness, Darwin, Mark and I bit the bullet and went to shore for a walk in Cabrits National Park with its restored fort and rainforest. It felt great to finally explore the country a bit, do some exercise and get soaked once again, prepared this time. Free showers, every day! And, if, for some reason you managed to escape all the rain, there was a cold shower (read: tube coming out of the wall) on the beach. In Dominica, you can visit a different river every day of the year! I started to see why and I wouldn’t be surprised even more appear with every rain storm.

Portsmouth is a decent size town with buildings spread out over and along a few parallel streets. Once a week there is a fresh fruit and vegetable market, but other than that, you have to find your food in small “convenient” stores with barely any fresh produce. The bread was nothing compared to the French islands, so I started baking our own bread again. We basically ate whatever we could find in our cabinet, the little that was left in our fridge from St. Martin and what we found in the stalls in town. Mangoes were present in abundance across from the beach. Free water was also available from spigots along the main street. Everybody we met was very friendly and even Darwin got friendly looks and stares.

The whole island is covered with rainforest (what’s in a name?), bush, greenery and fruit trees, as we came to confirm the day we rented a car. We drove along lush hills and through banana plantations, followed a long rough road by car to end up on top of a mountain with no idea where to find the trail we were looking for. The main resource in Dominica is tourism and they did a hell of a job assuring tourists to hire guides. It is very hard to find trail heads or do a hike yourself, so we were not going to do too much effort figuring this one out ourselves.

Since we already got a delayed start (people show up on island time) and we planned to see and do a lot this one day, we decided to turn back to the main road. We drove along beaches, through many small villages, Carib territory (one of the few places were these aboriginal people still live) and basically half of the island, skipping many attractions and “Pirates of the Caribbean” film sites. Lunch was had during a rainstorm in a local shack selling fried chicken and buns.

In the afternoon, we tried to explore the other half of the island, skirting the capital since we would stop here on our way south, but glamorously failed. There is just too much to see and do in this country full of wilderness, rivers, pools, waterfalls and trails. It also appeared bigger than we thought and the roads are slow and winding.

We did manage to stop at two of the tourist highlights. The walk to Emerald Pools was an easy one and Darwin was allowed to come, but not to swim. The entrance fee for every National Park is $5 per person, but a week pass costs $12 and gives you more flexibility. Once we reached the beautiful pool with a nice waterfall, the rain started again. I’m sure the colors are even more spectacular when it’s sunny out, but hey, it’s the rainy season and we have to deal with it. Mark was brave enough to take a dip in the freezing waters, but I kept Darwin company on the “dry”.

Our other stop was at Trafalgar Falls, two pretty, fairly big waterfalls that plunge into a rough river. Well, when we were there, the river was rough, not surprising with all the recent downpours. Swimming was too dangerous, because all the little pools were rushing with water. Along the trail, we did dip our toes in a small stream, only to discover that the water was actually warm! Dominica does have a few hot springs and people have turned them into spas. We didn’t have time to investigate that further, this time... The good thing about the low season is that the crowds are absent and we had most places to ourselves. We also could convince the park officials to let us take Darwin on the trails.

The area in the mountains around Roseau, Dominica’s capital, has quite a few sights, but we had to turn back to Portsmouth before darkness set in. Also, Mark was very tired of the hours of driving. I couldn’t take over, because you need to purchase a temporary Dominican driver’s license which allows you to drive a (rental) car here and we were only willing to spend that extra $12 once. Renting the car cost us $70 and adding the half a tank of fuel we used, this day trip made us over $100 poorer, just for the car. But, it is truly the only way to get a good feel of the country, the interior, the sights, the undisturbed nature and the absence of tourism. It was money well spent.

The bad weather with all the tropical waves made us realize hurricanes are on their way and sooner or later one of these waves would turn into one. We had/have to keep moving. Before leaving Dominica we made one more stop in its capital. The anchorage off Roseau is very deep and scattered with reefs, so we picked up a mooring ball for the night. After another funky sail of a lot of wind/no wind, it was a treat not having to deal with setting the anchor. It was very hot, no rain in sight. After lunch, we took Darwin for a refreshing swim and took off into town without him. The walk along the few historical buildings and churches didn’t take very long, so we had to fill our time until happy hour at the Fort Young Hotel with something else.

During our exploration of the center, we had stumbled across the Ruins Bar and found it very suitable for a drink. An array of bush rums “decorated” the bar and the many different flavors all sounded tempting. Bush rum is island-made rum, locally enhanced with spices, fruit or anything else. I tried some fruit flavor I didn’t know and can’t remember, while Mark asked for the specialty and received the rastaman’s tri-color. It had to be called Irie! But, it wasn’t. We chatted some with the bar tender and really got a hang for this stuff. He let us try a few more flavors, so we had to order another drink. Since it still wasn’t 6 pm after this experience, we consulted the shade of the botanical garden to moderate our buzz.

A team of women had cricket practice and I am sorry to declare that I still have no idea how this game is played or what the rules are, even after watching for an hour, but it was a good break from the heat and the hustle and bustle of town. Even more: it was time for happy hour in the fancy hotel by now! On Fridays they have a special going of $2 drinks and $8 dinners and, did we enjoy that spoil! It had been a while since Mark and I went out for either drinks or dinner and the biggest treat of the day was an unused bucket of salt water (no dishes!) and enough food left on the boat to last us another day!