Adventures with David & Gail

It’s always something! – Dominica (Dom’-n-i-ka) was discovered by Columbus on a Sunday and he had just run out of saints, even the minor ones. So he just named it Sunday. Go figure. It should be called something much more exciting and descriptive. It is a real gem and has been a pleasure to hang out here although some of sites were less than advertised.

However, things can change fast. As we reported in our last blog, our friends Scott and Barbara finally caught up with us in The Saintes. After a couple of days there, we left together on Thursday morning for the 18 mile trip south to Dominica and had a great sail. Close reach with 15-20 knots and 4-5 foot seas. We didn’t have to tack one time. We pulled into Prince Rupert Bay and the town of Portsmouth on the northwest corner of the island. It’s a beautiful, wide bay and well protected.

We had been reading in the cruising guide about the PAYS (Portsmouth Association of Yacht Security and Services) group and the “boat boys”, men really, who have organized to help cruisers with moorings, security, tours, laundry and trash, and such. So we expected someone to greet us as we rounded the point into the harbor. Sure enough here came Lawrence “of Arabia” to greet us and help get WD and Rula Bula moored. We then made arrangements for him to pick us up around 2:00 to go to customs.

However, when 2:00 came, Scott was having stomach cramps and decided to stay on the boat while the rest of us went in and cleared. He was worse when we got back and finally decided to go into the local clinic late Thursday afternoon. The clinic decided that his problem was beyond their expertise and he should go to the hospital in Roseau, the capitol, which is 18 miles south of Portsmouth. They called an ambulance and he got there late in the evening. It was diagnosed the next day as possible appendicitis but with a question mark. They scheduled surgery to remove his appendix but in the end it turned out to be a complication from a previous abdominal surgery that was basically squeezing his intestines and a portion was removed to relieve a blockage. He was in the hospital for a week and is now recuperating at the Fort Young Hotel before catching a flight to Miami next week.

Needless to say, they will not be going south with us but back north to Miami to recuperate. The owner of Rula Bula was already planning to come and is due here within a few days. We have been watching the boat, helping transport Barb to and fro by dinghy, fixing dinners and basically being here for her. It is unfortunate that they are missing a wonderful island experience. It would have been really fun to explore with them.
The boat boys’ specialty is the Indian River Boat tour and we arranged a tour with Lawrence. The mouth of the river is off the Portsmouth Bay and goes a couple of miles into the rain forest. No motors are allowed on the river so Lawrence rowed us but had it easy since there were just the two of us with him. During the season there can be up to 12 people in a boat and multiple boats on the river. Lawrence explained the flora and fauna as he rowed us up the river. The bloodwood trees are amazing with their mangled roots twisting into wavy designs. We saw a number of land crabs, fresh water mullets, some hummingbirds, and a pair of blue backed herons. Lawrence also pointed out an area of the river that was used during the filming of the second Pirates of the Caribbean movie.

The next day, we arranged with the taxi/tour driver, Sam, who is taking Barb to the hospital every day, to take us on a day tour after dropping her off. The drive down to Roseau was in itself a tour especially around Layou where a freak of nature dammed up the Layou River into a miracle lake, only to have an earthquake break loose the dam years later and flood the town on the coast with water, rock and gravel. This happened a few years ago they are still dredging away the sand.

Then after a quick drive around Roseau to the Morne Bruce overlook and the Botanical Garden, where a Baobab tree fell on a school bus during Hurricane David in 1979, we drove up the Roseau River valley to a natural fresh water lake which now is being used to supply water downhill by huge pipes to a Hydroelectric power plant. It was up in the clouds and a very interesting place to stop and walk around. Then back down to the town of Trafalgar and the Trafalgar falls and hot water springs. We could not go to the falls but had a quick swim in the pools of the warm water where is comes from the rocks and merges with the water from the falls.

Now it was time for lunch and Sam took us to his favorite place, the River Rock Café, just above the river coming down from Trafalgar falls. We had shrimp and goat curry with breadfruit, dasheen, yams, plantain and rice. The breadfruit and dasheen were pretty bland unless you dipped them in the curry sauce. Otherwise, you could use them for paste! But they are a staple of the islands so someone likes them.

After lunch it was a trip south to Scott’s Head which is the southernmost point on Dominica and a spit of land sticking out between the Atlantic and the Caribbean Oceans. The drive down again gave many vistas of the island which were pretty breathtaking. The actual area of Scott’s Head looks very quaint from a distance but a closer look show the area to be poor and not very attractive.

Finally, back toward Roseau, we stopped for a snorkel at the Champagne Waters, an area where gasses are given off through the seabed and the water looks almost carbonated. The dive was cool and the sunlight in the water really showed the bubbles. But champagne is wasn’t . A smaller area than we expected so it was a little underwhelming.

We picked up Barb at the hospital and made the trip back to the boats with a quick stop at a big IGA grocery store next to the Ross University Medical School near Portsmouth. The area around the school was built up with new apartments and shops to support the school staff and students.

On Monday, with the owner coming and Scott in the hospital for the duration, we were beginning a plan to go south to Martinique. We decided to stay until Wednesday and still wanted to do some exploring before we left.

First, we did a snorkel trip by dinghy back north of Prince Rupert Bay to the tip of Cabrits Point. The bottom was again rocks and boulders but we had a fantastic time. It made the Champagne waters look even less impressive. Small critters that Gail like to see such as lettuce leaf slugs, little crabs tucked under the sea urchins, three different little eels, a scorpion fish, a peacock flounder, and schools of other stuff all around. It made the afternoon well worth the trip.

And then finally, we got a taxi/tour guide, Mack, to take us to the Syndicate falls and nature trails on Tuesday. This is close to the Portsmouth area and was relatively easy to reach with the car. Then he would drop us off, point the way and we would go for a walk while he waited. It was more remote and the trail less developed than the Trafalgar falls. We still could not go swimming because the water from the falls is used as a public supply down river and they have prohibited use of the falls for any recreation. The nature trail was amazing with all the huge trees. We got cricks in our necks looking up at all the treetops and foliage. (Check the photo gallery). Mack also pointed out much of the local fruit and flora of the area during the trip.

There are many other places and sites to see on Dominica but there was just not enough time. We might have done it different and seen some other areas given different circumstances. Obviously we would have liked to have Barb and Scott with us and thought about them a lot as we went site seeing and snorkeling. But it’s always something.