02/06/2007, Portsmouth, Dominica
Sunday morning we had an unexpected visitor....the math book. Boat schooling started today which made Spencer and I realize that this wasn't totally going to be a pleasure cruise. Daddy taught me math while Mommy took on the job of Spencer's French and math studies. That didn't last long though because after one math lesson he asked me to be his tutor. After studying all morning, we thought we might get the afternoon off. Boy were we wrong! After a quick lunch we began to scrub the decks and polish the metal on the boat. I guess we're going to have to do chores on the boat just like we did at home...That night it was rolling so much that at 3 A.M. Mom and Dad got up to romantically put the stern anchor out. At breakfast we decided that we were going to make the passage to Les Saintes today so we wouldn't have to sleep with such large swells. As soon as we got our laundry back ($20 US washed and dried) we were off. Reflecting back on Dominica: we loved the Indian River, the guided hikes, and Fort Shirley; constant very light rain showers; very delicious fruits!
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02/04/2007, Anse De Colombier, St. Barths
An island of a different sort. Much to our surprise (sans Cath), we've really enjoyed St. Barths. Before 1950, less than 600 people lived in St. Barths. Under the visionary guidance of Remy de Haenen St. Barths transformed itself from a sleepy island to the most chic- of-the-chic in the Caribbean. The emphasis is high end international tourism. While the island is distinctly French (its origins lie in Brittany), English is widely spoken. The main port of Gustavia is well known and something to see, but a little bizarre because of the extreme wealth circulating about. We did enjoy it, though I couldn't spend more than an afternoon gawking. Less known is St. Barths other side, which we saw through Anse De Colombier. St. Barths is the most environmentally conscience Caribbean island as seen in everything from its protected waters, to its recycling program, to the surcharge for biodegradable grocery sacks. (Plastic is a huge pollution problem in the Caribbean: especially plastic grocery bags and water bottles.)
A lot of construction and booming, but still some places to get away from it all. There is hardly a structure visible from Anse De Columbier, but a wonderful hiking trail along the edge of the windward coast leads to a small community that supports a number of vacation villas. A two hour hike yields our baguettes for the day! The water is as clear as we've ever seen and turtles abound in the anchorage (a nesting site for green turtles.) Gustavia was viciously rolling - worst yet for us. Anse De Colombier is much better, but the wind has picked up to a steady 25 kts, gusting every which direction, and sending boats all over the anchorage. Still, we can sleep through the wind easier than a bad case of the rolls. Les Saintes is still our favorite, and we still miss the fruits of Dominica, but St. Barts has climbed near the top of our list in a surprise showing.
Soon we'll be heading back to the French St. Martin (Oyster Pond) and parking while we visit with Bill's parents.
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02/03/2007, Portsmouth, Dominica
Friday night was music non-stop in the bay. This is preparation for the carnival (around Feb. 19). Though this music was nice for a while, it kept us up longer than we would have hoped it would. This morning, after the daily rain showers subsided, we went to the weekly local market to buy local vegetables. Those showers create incredible rainbows and make for the lush vegetation all over. At some point we will put all our pictures in the photo gallery once we find a cheap wifi place. So far, it's $5 US an hour.
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02/03/2007, Portsmouth, Dominica
Thursday, we went back to Norska for lunch to get ready for our Indian River scheduled trip. Spencer, graciously offered Cath a free tour of Portmouth. The trick was to hook yourself (the base of his thumb) with a rusty fish hook. Bill, having visions of the long line hook scene in The Perfect Storm, immediatly called the closest Seabird boat boy (Jeffrey) for a quick trip to urgent care where the smarter-than-Spencer hook got extracted making his palm grow three sizes too big. After trips to 3 pharmacies, we got the antibiotics perscription filled for a meager Eastern Caribbean $15 (aprx. $6 US). This makes you wonder what's going on with the pharma industry in the US. The urgent care was a way from the water front, so the whole event gave Cath a wonderful (and free!) sight-seeing trip with a local guide. Thanks Spencer, but next time, I'd rather pay! This incident gave us a full appreciation for the services rendered by boat boys. They have arranged our Indian River trip ($15 US per person), showed us the customs location, took us to the emergency room, proposed to pick up trash and do our laundry. Christian comes on his surf board everyday to sell fresh local fruit - grapefruit, bananas, passion fruit, and papaya. Dominica is fascinating! Very poor, yet smartly organized for tourism. Locals are very respectful and helpful to visitors. The Indian River trip, rescheduled Friday morning, was as magical as we read. Dede (our guide) claimed to have taken Johnny Depp on his boat during the filming of Pirates of the Caribbean 2. The treehouse that was built for the movie (where the 'witch' lives) has since been removed. Friday afternoon we went by dinghy to the cruise ship dock to visit Ft. Shirley in the Cabrits National Park. This is so worth the entry fee ($5 EC)! And we got the park, museum, and trails all to ourselves!! The area is being restored, and looks like a cruise ship day stop with informative signs everywhere. It gives you a glimpse of what Dominica is likely to become if tourism takes over. Spencer pretended to be an 18 century soldier defending his bay by climbing every cannon he could find. Shelby was counting crab claws left on the trail (don't know how they got there).
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02/01/2007, Portsmouth, Dominica
A quick post to let everyone know we survived our first passage :) Quite an adventure. We started at 6am from St Pierre with hardly any wind until we arrived by the tip of the island where we got slammed with a squall and higher than expected waves. Dinghy tried to leave us but we caught it red handed and tied it back up. Shelby was singing pretty much the whole time but Spencer got queasy (very rare for him). I cheated by taking motion sickness meds (stugeron - which unlike dramamine - keeps you awake). After those intense moments where we thought about turning back, we enjoyed a 7 knot sail across to Dominica for about 3 hours, then 4 more hours on the lee of the island with shifting winds. We arrived in North Dominica around 3pm and got greeted by the boat boys. We made arrangements to go see the Indian River this afternoon (the one filmed in Pirates of the Caribbean II) and some hiking tomorrow. Looks like we will be staying here until early next week unless the weather forecast changes.
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01/29/2007, St Anne, Martinique
After checking out of the residence (and hearing horror stories from the owners who lived 20 yrs on a boat with their children), we had a very nice lunch at Ti Toques and watched the yole race finish. We left Le Marin and motored off to St Anne for a quiet and breezy night. Shelby dove the anchor (holding was great and water at a perfect temperature). Simple dinner (avocado, bloody steak and local very sweet pineapple) Spencer scared the pee out of Bill last night when he went to the bathroom outside (a big no-no), and we thought we were boarded by strangers (after all the warnings from the residence owners). I am typing this post from the St Anne internet cafe, having a harder time than Shelby adapting to the French AZERTY keyboard. After lunch we will have a long sail to Grande Anse d'Arlet, see how my mom does under sail. She leaves tomorrow for Paris. One funny thing about Martinique is the Xmas signs and Santa Claus stay on until now.
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01/27/2007, Fort-de-France
Sorry no picture today.... We were all ready to set off for our last exploration day (before we return the car) except we could not find the camera...we looked and looked until we realized that the way we found our backpacks in the car the day before after a short hike was more than the result of poor organization of our part. Our car had been searched by others and the camera was a casualty of the event. The silver lining was that Fort-de-France was today's destination, one of the most provisioned cities in the Caribbean (called "the Paris of the cara�bes"). After coughing up the cost of a decent digital camera (mucho ouch here), we went ahead with our plans and enjoyed the market with its wonderful spices. We learned the hard way that Fort-de-France pretty much shuts down after 2pm on Saturday and given our late departure after the camera search, all stores were closed when we were done with lunch. Nevertheless we did see the Napol�on's empress statue with her head cut off (by vandalism from those who despite the fact that her husband re-instituted slavery), as well as some amazing architecture. We took my mom to the Jardins de Balata, a botanical garden where cr�ole wedding pictures were being taken - Shelby decided on the spot that's where she will get married and Spencer left with a hummingbird skillfully made out of bamboo by local kids. Tomorrow we are returning the car and departing from the much enjoyed r�sidence to move in Norska. End of vacation-style....on to adventure-style.
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01/26/2007
On this day of heat and sun we went to the beach to have some fun. Actually, we split up in the morning. Papa went to the boat, Shelby stayed at the residence and boldly faced the laundry monsters with her bare hands, like Theseus and the Minotaur without the string, while I went with mom and mamy to the market. Mamy got some fruit, while mom and I went provisioning at "Leader Price" to get stuff that didn't need refrigeration. We all met back at the residence for lunch, and then went to the beach to windsurf, except there wasn't enough wind to do so. A really nice person showed me how to find lambi, or conch. I valiantly went gallivanting into the water in search of lambi. I luckily found one, and I made a little sand fort with a pool of water so it would not run away, while I went after some more. But, in my absence, the evil tribal natives of the Garolagita tribe kidnapped it and roasted it alive! Well, not exactly. But someone did steal it from its little fort. But I got some icecream and I felt better. We then proceeded to hike up a little trail to the giant asparagus plant thing, and then we hiked down it (a lot of people forget to say that part). After a little watch-Shelby-drive-the-car humor we went back to the residence and mom and papa went to get dinner while we ate ours, so they got home and got to eat dinner after. Ooooooohh, and also, papa got these really cool high power binoculars, and you watch people like a mile away. In addition to that, he made us drink rum. No, wait. Actually, he made us drink the rum after he showed us the binoculars, which he did before the rum part. This rum is giving me a headache.......
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