To Dominica and beyond...

We had such a fabulous time in The Saintes, Guadeloupe, that we felt hard pressed to leave. Our friends, Richard and Laila on Nebula finally caught up with us and we had a terrific reunion beach party and dinner aboard A2C the night they arrived from Guadeloupe. It was, indeed, good to be us, once more! Before their arrival, we enjoyed a couple of nice days in the main harbor of the Saintes, Terre des haut. This thoroughly French village really caught our attention and if it weren't for the ever present roll in the harbor, we might still be there. Fortunately, the roll drove us out of the main harbor and into a beautiful anchorage just around the bay from our original spot and we found a nearly deserted spot with some of the most beautiful beaches of our trip. There, we would spend our days snorkeling and our evenings on the trampoline, watching shooting stars above, before sliding into bed. It has quickly become our second favorite place after Antigua.

Although we really loved the anchorage, and even with Laila and Richard back in the fold, we knew we needed to put some water under our boat and begin to move south soon. So after our "welcome back to the group party, Windfreak and Allergic to Cities, yanked the anchor up the next morning and sailed off to the next island, Dominica. Not to be confused with the Dominican Republic, Dominica is a rain-forested island of significant beauty. Most recently those of you whom have seen the Pirates of the Caribbean II and III movies, will recognize this island as the location for that filming. We arrived after a 6 hour sail across open water in near perfect conditions, to the port of Portsmouth. This was originally designated to be the capital city of the island, but due to early outbreaks of Malaria and Dengue fever, from the nearby swampy areas, the capital was moved south to another port, Roseau. These problems have all but disappeared and today, this port is an active eco-tourism destination.

We took advantage of the tourism offerings one morning and went with a local guide in his small rowboat up the swampy river into the mangrove area. We saw many large iguanas and fish, and he was hoping that along with it being a good iguana day, that it would also be a good snake day. We kind of looked at each other in a bit of shock as he explained that this area was the natural habitat to Boa Constrictors as well as several other exotic vipers. We didn't get to see any snakes but non-the-less, had a fabulous experience on the river with this guide. Incidentally, some time ago, the country realized that tourism was to be a big part of the countries economy, they set out to certify guides to be able to offer qualified tours with expert guides. Our guy, Albert, was on of the first to pass the certification, and his knowledge was in depth and very complete in all details. He could describe, at length, the various flora, and fish species we would see and easily answered our more scientific queries. Yet his formal education was clearly not likely to be beyond what we call grade school. He rowed the boat up the river several miles, as to not disturb the beautiful natural habitat of the jungle, and for this was paid the equivalent of about $20/US.

We moved on down the coast to our next stop, Roseau, the next morning and found the anchorage to be, unfortunately, as rolly as the last. We were met, as we entered the mooring field, by a small, colorfully painted fishing-style boat, manned by a guy who introduced himself as Dexter. We found that once we got to this island, "boat boys", as they are referred to, make their living "helping cruisers, with chores like mooring, fruit sales, garbage disposal, and arranging for tours, taxis, and rental cars, and such. It is quite a contest, between them, to see whom each boat would select to be their helper. Somewhat pesky, but not threatening at the least. We're told, this will be the way it is the rest of the way down island.

After we hooked up to the ball, a necessity at this anchorage, we headed into town to have a look around. This, being the capital city, was supposed to have some nice shops and things to see. We didn't find a lot of nice stores, although we did find a descent grocery, and we did find a really good outdoor farmer's market. There were many vendors with a wide variety of fruits and vegetables, many of which are so foreign to us. Lots of rooty looking things which we only could imagine were to be boiled and served like a potato. One vendor lady was particularly helpful in describing what each thing was and how to prepare them. We nodded and said "thanks" but couldn't force ourselves to buy any of them. Probably our loss.

We returned early to our boat for the night as David and Vicky had arranged for a rental car the next day so we all could travel around the inner-island and see some of the spectacular natural sights. That night we decided it must be the national law for everyone on the island to own at least one mangy looking dog and then to tether them on a short leash outside their homes where they would be encouraged to howl and bark unmercifully, all night. Then, if the owner were to try to quiet the mutt, they would be subject to additional fines and be forced to wear a bight bright yellow smiley face t-shirt as an additional penalty, for trying to be nice to the boating community. Sarcasm aside, we didn't get a lot of sleep that night.

We arrived ashore the next morning, however, ready to explore the island. Dominica is a very rugged island with mountains raising up to 5,ooo ft. from the ocean.They are all lush with vegetation and beautiful assorted plant life. Since David rented the car, it was, fortunately, his responsibility to do the driving. They drive British style on Dominica, opposite side to American traffic, and mostly was over any reasonable speed around mostly blind corners, up and down treacherous hillsides. The habit is to honk the horn when approaching a blind curve and hope someone coming the other direction hears you coming. Most of the roads are badly pot-holed so they are very rough and driving involves lots of swerving around on the roadway. We did, however, envoy a fun day traveling about the island, stopping at a couple of notable waterfalls for a relaxing cool-down.

Everywhere we drove we found fruit trees growing along side the roads. Mangoes, Papayas, breadfruit, grapefruits, bananas, plantains, and more were everywhere. Tempting as it was we didn't stop to help ourselves as we figured these were probably owned and tended to by some local farmers. We returned to our boat dock after stopping at the grocery for a few provisions, and made it out to the boat just in time for another glorious Caribbean sunset. They decided to stay another day and enjoy more of the island in the rental car, but we had decided to move on the next day to Martinique. That night all of the dogs must have been holding a convention on the other side of the island so we got a good nights sleep.

We left Dominica around 7:30AM Friday and raised the sails about a mile out into the bay. The winds were to be at a good angle and a reasonable speed so we planned on having a nice day of sailing. We were not to be disappointed. Although we saw a few gusts over 2okts,; the winds stayed consistent and we made terrific time in our Manta 42. At times we had her up over 8.5kts which is moving right along. Because of speeds like this, we made the 35 mile passage in great time and arrived at the island of Martinique around 1:00.

Geographically similar to Dominica, Martinique is a larger island, with a greater population. The cruisers guide says it this way: "When you've had enough of deserted beaches and raw nature, Martinique is the place for a breath of civilization." It is VERY French and the towns are scrubbed clean and offers almost anything a cruising boater might need in the way of repairs or mechanical services. The shops are European and the restaurants are frequent and breathe wonderful aromas out onto the walkways.

The town we arrived at is called St. Pierre, and, like many of the island towns, has a notable history. Empress Josephine was born here and Napoleon spend much of France's naval wealth here, trying to protect the island from the superior English Navy. More notable is the historic eruption of Mt. Pele in 1902. This volcano nearly wiped out the entire population of the city of St. Pierre, except for two survivors. One was a prisoner in the local jail who survived due to the thickness of his cell walls and later became pardoned and traveled with the Barnum and Bailey circus, in the freak show.

When we went ashore to check in with customs, we found the typical French laid back system and were not able to find anyone able to do the paperwork. The customs office was closed and a note directed us to the internet café where we were told we could check in. The café was also closed, so we must go back in this morning and try again. It is quite comical to compare the systems between some islands and others. The British islands are very strict and official about customs, while the French ones, seem to almost care less.

We shopped a bit and had a humorous time trying to explain to the pharmacy what we wanted. They spoke only French and our French is very lacking. We finally were able to communicate well enough and purchased some Echinacea liquid for our fiend David, who is suffering from a upper chest cold. We also sat at a sidewalk café at happy hour and enjoyed a couple of the local beers. Not bad beer for French stuff, I might add.

Today, David and Vicky and Richard and Laila are expected to arrive here from Dominica. We're not sure if we'll still be in this anchorage, yet, at we would really like to move on down the island to find something less "city-like". After all, you know we really are allergic to cities! We may have to wait to reconnect with them further on down the island.