- cheap provisioning
- friendly locals with no ulterior motive, treat you as one of their own
- beautiful island for nature lovers
- water is in abundance, taps for all to use on the road side
- loads of things to do
- not ruined by tourism...yet
Walking down the
coastal road from where we left the dinghy in Roseau, Dominica (the
capital) we headed for customs at the ferry terminal, just over a
mile walk away. The road took us through a poor part of town where
kids wore rags and old people stared at us through the window, flies
surrounding them. Despite the poverty, these people looked so happy,
waving at us and making a point of saying hi as we walked past.
Unfortunately from previous experience when the locals make a point
of saying hi in the back of your mind you are thinking...what are
they going to sell us now, always thinking they have an ulterior
motive. Not the Dominicans, without exception these people are happy,
content with life and eager to welcome visitors to their land to show
it off...no strings attached.
Trudging along the
road we get a whiff of freshly baked bread, following our nose we
enter a run down shack and see loads of different breads on display.
Choosing 6 wholemeal buns we were pleasantly surprised to find it
cost only EC$2, the equivalent of 50p!!
Moving quicker now
in case customs closes at 4pm we route march to the ferry terminal
and after 2 mins we have been cleared in AND out of the country as
long as we leave after 2 weeks. If we wish to stay longer then we
just need to re-visit customs and extend our stay, all for a meagre
sum of EC$60 /£15 (unknown to us we had been charged overtime and it
should have been EC$10 for 2 people). Our other expense in Roseau was
a mooring ball as the anchorage had nowhere under 40ft to anchor and
we didn't have enough chain to abide by our 5:1 ratio rule. The
mooring ball is meant to be US$10 /night but as we were going on a
tour with the boat boy that managed the moorings the next day, we got
the second night for free.
The chore of
customs out of the way we started to take in our surroundings and
headed for the fruit market located at the end of the ferry dock. As
we turned the corner we were greeted with table after table of of
brightly coloured fruit and veg under equally bright awnings.
Comparing the scene to the Saturday market in Grenada, this was even
better, so much variety and so many vendors to choose from, all
brimming with produce. We chose a huge bunch of spinach, turmeric,
cloves, 2 papayas, bag of ginger, bag of chillis, hand of bananas,
green beans and this haul amounted to £3.50 /EC$14!! What an
absolute bargain and everything was so fresh and locally grown.
Returning to Orion
via the coastal road we saw a local fisherman come in with his catch
of fish, put the bucket down and blow the conch shell. This action
signals the arrival of fish for sale and within seconds the locals
emerged from their houses to take a look what was on offer. Only a
mouthful each, we gave it a miss but what a brilliant scene to
witness. Later in the week we had the opportunity to try blowing the
conch and wow these locals make it look easy. Similar to a trumpet
the knack is to wet your lips and blow making your lips vibrate
against the hole in the shell. None of us managed to make a loud
foghorn noise necessary to attract attention, the most we would have
done is upset the resident crabs on the beach!
Day 2 in Dominica
we opted to go on an island tour for US$35 each. This included going
to Titou Gorge, Trafalgar Falls, a place for lunch (food and drink
not included just the taxi) and Botanical Gardens and well worth
doing.
Getting picked up
from dinghy dock at 9am we picked up 4 other people – 2 canadians
and 2 americans and long time cruisers, first stop Titou Gorge. A
short walk to the gorge that can be done in flop flops and takes you
on a forest trail, we arrive at a pool and quickly change into our
swimming stuff. The water was frrrreezing but apparently it makes you
ten years younger so I now resemble a 15 year old and Dylan has a
full head of hair (I joke). Swimming 250 metres against the apparent
current and steep sides of a gorge, we rounded the corner to find a
waterfall. How refreshing to be the only people in this gorge
surveying the gorgeous scene as the light stream throughs an opening
high above us, the water is fresh as can be and visibility 100%.
Tearing ourselves away from FRESH water, we dry off and head to
Trafalgar Falls. Sure there is water, hot springs and waterfalls
everywhere on this island with it having 365 rivers (one for every
day they tell us) but this particular waterfall is special. After a
moderate forest walk and scrambling over boulders you arrive at an
impressive waterfall made even more so by the choice in water
temperature. On one side of the narrow valley there are hot water
pools like jacuzzis, tinged yellow by the sulphur, steam rising up.
Then when that gets too hot, you can nip across to the other side of
the valley and sink into the cold water! With no other tour groups or
even locals around, we had the waterfall and valley to ourselves.
Curried goat was the dish of the day for lunch and after a walk
around the botanical gardens we were back on Orion around 4pm.
After only 2 days
at Roseau we moved up the coast to Portsmouth and the lovely little
bay of Prince Rupert. Our friends from Kadoona were already there and
arranged a bunch of activities for us to do.
On the Saturday, we all went on a hike
to do segment 14 of the Wakabuki Trail. 7 miles from Capauchin to
Portsmouth harbour. In tow were Dylan and I, Terry (off Libertine),
Ian and Laani (Kadoona). Hike was great. We clambered up and down
hills, along the rocky beach and through swamps. Saw a variety of
creatures along the way. We stopped at almost every rum shack we
encountered for an obligatory beer.
We discovered a few mangos and some
wild lemongrass along the way which we happily hoarded for later.
Stopped at a lovely little beach
for lunch and a swim and tried our hand at blowing a conch. We all
sucked and left it to the more experienced local.
The
next day was a tour up the Indian River with Andrew the tour
guide. It cost us $40 EC each (£10) and was great value (there was
also the $5USD charge for access to the park)
Andrew rowed a group of 8 of us up the
river where we saw a variety of flora and fauna. Ian and Laani were
with us as they had arranged it (with Single hander Terry – off
Libertine) a couple from Sweden (Pontus and Melee off Tau Tau).
The mangroves looked like something out
of the Folk of the Faraway tree.
We stopped at a quaint little bar where
we disembarked on a long walk through a plantation.
The guide listed out all the fruits and
we tried a variety of locally growing natural fruits. Including
sucking the sour (but nice) fruit around the Cocoa bean. We could
have taken the sucked beans home, dried them out and then grated them
into Cocoa (but the thought of lugging semi sucked seeds around all
day put us off)
We cut cinnamon off a living tree and
it smells even more potent than the ground up powder or bark you buy
in the shops. We also picked bay leaves straight off the tree. We
stopped at a Rum Shack and sampled a glass of Coconut Punch (Rum) and
it was fantastic. (so much so we later bought a bottle in Portsmouth)
We continued on our walk to a hot
spring and along the way picked a bunch of “gwenjob” seeds that
are used in a lot of island jewellery (as they look like white
beads). We now have a necklace made of them.We lazed about in the hot
spring for a while.
Walked back to the boat we stopped at
the first rum shack and sampled a Peanut Rum punch. Nice, but a
little too sweet for our taste.
Later that night was the infamous BBQ
put on by the Boat Boys in Prince Rupert Bay to fund the security
patrols etc. Even the Minister of Tourism was in attendance and made
a little speech to the yachties to thank them for their patronage.
Food was good and Dylan had 3 helpings
of Chicken. $50 EC (£12) for all you can eat buffet and rum punch.
What a deal!
Chatted
to a couple who send Poodle semen to Sweden to fund their adventures
on their yacht. We did not go into details...
Last
few days have been spent relaxing and getting a few groceries as food
stuffs is generally cheaper here than else where up islands. Water is
free from the many taps in the road, so we filled the tanks with a
few trips ashore. If we had gone along side, we could have had
unlimited water for £4. Land of a lot of water this place.
We will be back!
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