01/04/14
15 34 90'N 061 27 80'W
We had a good sail to Dominica though the wind was a bit erratic direction wise in the lee of the island probably caused by the mountainous terrain. The last couple of hours were spent motoring to charge the batteries and top up the water tank.
Arriving at about 5:00pm we were met by Albert in his boat with a "welcome to Dominica" and I thought that we were in for the hard sell but he told us where the best place to anchor was and said that he would catch up with us the following day, to see if we wanted to take any trips. After anchoring in 5 meters and diving to check we were all secure I headed off to clear in. At the clearance office I was presented with the usual form to fill in, I am getting used to this now but when they ask questions like "do you have any animals on board" and "are there firearms on board" I am really tempted for security to put something like the following:- We have a Ruger 9mm semi auto, Berreta 92 , 10 gauge auto shot gun loaded with double 0, a large dog called butch and a fierce cat called psycho. I Have refrained from this so far but I can imagine shady people going over the forms and saying "we have got one here ,no arms on board no animals, both over 80 with $3000 US on board, we must pay them a 3:00am visit"! I am sure I have an over active imagination as the process was painless cheap at $10 EC. The lady was friendly courteous and explained that we had cleared in and out and we did not need to visit again to clear out as long as we did not exceed the two weeks , brilliant I hope this can be adopted by other islands.
True to his word Albert arrived and outlined the many attractions on the island and we decided that we would take the Indian River trip at 7:00 am the following morning as this was the best time when it was still cool and clear.
Outboards are not allowed on the Indian River so Albert rowed with an endless commentary of the wildlife and plants it was fantastic. The experience was straight out of a movie scene and several have been filmed on the river, the pirates of the Caribbean being one, as this was the home of the witch. Every island that we visit seems to have had some connection with pirates of the Caribbean and I am just waiting for someone to say "welcome to our island, no films involving pirates have been filmed here and Mylene Class has not attended an opening here either"
Taking photographs was hard as the light was low and I was pushing 1600 iso, the sun coming through the trees suggested a polarising filter but this reduced the light even further so I apologise in advance for the photographs.
At the end of the river there is a bar and we sat down to a coffee, and it was a great feeling to be in a tropical rain forest having a coffee to the urgent competing sounds of the wildlife when I would have been on my second coffee sat at my desk in a previous life.
There are negative aspects too-
As there seems to be no official garbage collection it tends to get burned in a disorganised way up and down the beach so some days you get the aroma of burning plastic all day. These people are trying to keep the area clean but it would help if they had a small incineration system with set times for burning.
Load music until 6:00am does not aid restful sleep.
The positives far outweigh the above they have organised a security patrol and we feel safe here, a change from times past when security was a real issue. The people are very friendly and the town not overly run with tourist establishments.
Shopping was interesting today went round the local market stalls and the supermarkets in search of fresh fruit and fresh milk, I can stand coffee with UHT but I must have fresh milk for my tea and we have been without now for nearly a month. I asked Albert about this and he explained that you get fresh milk from a cow and there were not many on the island! Oh Right!
We are used to getting people coming up to us in the street and asking whether we want this or that, so when a chap said "do you want some limes" we said yes although the price was high at $15 EC for 12 we had not had them on the market stalls. The vendor dropped his bag and said that he would be back in 5 minutes, 15 minutes later we were wondering if we should just go but we had this guy's bag. After 20 minutes he turned up ,furtively tipped the limes into our bag and exclaimed that we should pay him another 5EC as the limes were not his and hard to get. I was aghast that this guy had the front to ask us for extra money as he had difficulty stealing the limes. I did not give him the extra and we went on our way. I found out when we got on the boat that we were 5 limes short, laughing we made a half hearted promise not to get caught out again.
As with all anchorages I have to go snorkelling around the boats to see what treasure awaits, I was not disappointed by this anchorage! Finding a Dominica courtesy flag, a pair of sunglasses, a top set of dentures, a nice piece of rope but no cuddly toy.
Today we are going to walk to the Syndicate waterfall which is quite a way, it turned out that we had a 5 mile walk before we started off the main highway then we had a 1700 foot climb in soaring temperatures, periodically drenched with liquid sunshine(rain). We stayed wet all day either with sweat or rain but it was a real experience to walk up unto this tropical paradise. We even managed to locate a mountain chicken, which is actually a large frog, we could not see it in the undergrowth but heard it.
The falls were impressive and as this was part of the water supply for a local village so we filled our water bottles, having consumed a litre and a half each in a little over three hours. The views were fantastic though always a little hazy. We were glad to be going downhill for a change and slightly relieved to be back on the main road. We flagged down a local Taxi/Bus, everybody was tired and I thought that whatever price this bus driver quotes we are going to have to pay as desperation was beginning to show in the walking party. We got back to Prince Rupert Bay and the charge was $12 EC for all of us, about 80 pence each. On the way back we found a supermarket selling fresh milk so I can get my tea fix.
We are off to a beach barbecue tonight in support of PAYS which runs the security in the anchorage and then we are off to Guadeloupe.
The beach barbecue was good and the rum punches endless. Low and behold a dude came up to me and said " I recognise you from somewhere" ,I was able to look him in the eye and say "yes, you still owe me five limes". So if Hamilton asks you whether you want anything then just be wary!