Dominica – A Garden of Eden ….. June & Nov 2014

Portsmouth,  Dominica – 15 34N  61 27W

 

A Slightly Cryptic Blog Posting

It’s November and we have just had a quick overnight stopover in Portsmouth, Dominica.  We only stayed a night as we explored Dominica extensively on our way south in summer, but when I looked back to see what I had published I found the following posting (half finished) still in the drafts folder.  So for now I am slotting it in here as we travel north then I shall “re-post” it in its rightful place.

Back in June ….. Heading South

I have been harping on and complaining about our bashes to windward all season, 6 months of sailing hard on the wind sometimes in very messy seas has made the sailing unappealing, uncomfortable and at times very wet (in my opinion!!)  So it is with much relief and joy that I can finally report that for our sail from Les Saintes, Guadeloupe to Portsmouth, Dominica the sheets were eased all day and we sailed a close reach  – not down wind yet, but it was a very welcome step in the right direction!

 

Prince Rupert Bay in Portsmouth sits at the top of Dominica.  The bay is guarded by Fort Shirley, built by the  British to fight French invasions, of which it seems there were plenty.  The fort area is now a National Park with some great hiking trails around the headland.

 

It is close to the anchorage so along with Truant III, Little Wing and El Lobo we set off for an afternoon of exploration in the National Park.  The hiking was interesting and the trails well shaded, the views from the top were magnificent and the barracks and other buildings have been restored.  And then there were the mango trees, fallen mangoes lay everywhere and I came back with my daypack bulging at the seams, they are just delicious and those that can’t be eaten now will end up in a huge batch of mango chutney, yummy

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Up The Creek With A Paddle

We did a morning tour up the Indian River with our guide Martin (Providence Tours), it was a dawn departure, the best time of course to see the birds and enjoy the cooler part of the day. 
Martin was excellent, his ability to spot wildlife was incredible, and his knowledge of the local flora and fauna was endless.  We saw countless birds as he quietly paddled us up the Indian River,  the extensive root systems of the Bloodwood trees clawed their way along the rivers edge and vines hung down overhead, it was all very special in the early morning light.

How They Look Before They Get To the Supermarket!!!

 

We tied up the canoe and set off ashore through the jungle for an informative walk, here are the fruits of the forest.

 

Above: Regular Pineapple, Cocoa Pod – inside are the cocoa beans, and Pink Pineapple                        Below: ?forgotten? and Red Bananas .. see the banana flower at the steam bottom, and bird spotting

Above: Vanilla Pods clinging to Cocoa Tree, Passionfruit Vines & delicate Passionfruit flower            Below:  Jumbo Passionfruit, Cinnamon bark & Cashew Nuts and red or yellow Pod/Fruit

Above:  Starfruit & Apricots (not like apricots we know but tasted the same, hard shell )                          Below:  Local Man balancing his load, Cherries & Castor Oil pods

We visited a local farmer who also just happened to have a rum shack, rum and coconut milk before our morning coffee – not something we normally do but I would have to say it went down very well!!

 

 

Then A Full Day Island Tour

 

The following day we again engaged the services of Martin and we went off on a full day tour of the northern part of Dominica.  This part of the island was very diverse, we drove high up into the cloud forest where we were colder than we had been in months.  We saw bubbling sulphur pools reminiscent of New Zealand, complete with silver ferns (see the photo below of the imprint on Martins arm).

 

We did another nature trail discovering more fruits, flora and fauna of the forest. passed cultivated gardens etched into the sides of steep hills and then we came winding our way back down to sea level on the north east coast and visited a couple of pretty coves sheltered by outlying reefs, stopping at one for a well deserved lunch break.

Then we carried on discovering landscapes that reminded us of the Canary Islands, a bald outcrop of rich red soil sculptured over the millenniums by endless wind and waves, it stood stark and out of place on this lush tropical palm fringed coastline.
 

 

We had an excellent stay in Portsmouth and our two tours were excellent, Martin was an exceptional guide which makes all the difference.  It is a wild and widely undiscovered island with friendly locals, stunning scenery and millions of juicy mangoes!

Southern Dominica Still to Explore

The Spicey Green Island of Grenada ….. February 2012

14 – 27 February 2012

We might have been behind Cuttyhunk on the race from Carriacou down to Grenada but we all shared the prize of a bottle of rum in true kiwi style.  Our stopover here in Prickly Bay on the southern coast of Grenada seems to have been one big social whirlwind.  Never before, well possibly back in Musket Cove, Fiji (our first stop after leaving Auckland in May 2004), have we had 5 New Zealand yachts in one anchorage.  We are the A, B’s & C’s of Kiwi cruisers, Awaroa with John & Helen, Balvenie with Mark & Amanda, Bandit with David & Brenda, Cuttyhunk with Chris & Irene and Chinook Wind with Dick & Ann - now where else in the world would you find that but in a little bay in Grenada in the Southern Caribbean.

The social engagements began the night of our arrival, we had caught up again with Bandit and they had booked a table ashore at the local cruisers hangout De Big Fish for their live music night. The table of 6 quickly turned into 13 with more and more boats we knew popping up, more hellos, more salty seadog stories were told, we heard all about the fish that got away, the best anchorages – all the usual cruiser yarns, but we fitted in time for a few dances, it was, after all, Valentines Day!

We have filled our days here easily.  Grenada is a beautiful lush green island covering 133 square miles. Much of it very hilly with dense tropical rain forest. The hundred thousand or so locals live mainly on wooden pole houses, perched on the side of hills and in valleys, there isn’t much flat land here so the houses are dotted everywhere in amongst the bush.

We spent a full day on an island tour.  11 of us set out at 9.30am in a minibus with driver and explored the island, and gosh there was lots to see.  We took in the gated “Beverley Hills” type suburb where the expat community live in their large houses overlooking many of the small bays on the southern coast.  Certainly a different lifestyle to many of the locals but it all seems to mingle ok.

We headed north past the main town of St George’s on the east coast, just one cruise ship docked….a quiet day.  We stopped at a small spice garden, Grenada is known as the spice island and it seems they can grow anything here (except an abundance of fresh green vegetables - maybe they just don’t like their greens!!)  All manner of plants grow side by side, coco, bananas, pawpaw, guava, turmeric, nutmeg, plantain, jackfruit, breadfruit, citrus, sugarcane, taro, passionfruit and many many more.  The different sizes and shapes of trees work well together, the larger ones providing a canopy and shelter for the smaller. 

However on September 7th 2004 no amount of shelter could save Grenada’s main export crops of coco and nutmeg, or 90% of its buildings.  Hurricane Ivan struck with tremendous force and ripped through the small island, leaving a lasting path of destruction.  It has taken time but Grenada does seem to have bounced back as best they can. The nutmeg, coco and banana export businesses were devastated – replanting and rebuilding takes time and most say it will never return to pre hurricane levels but they sure seem to be making a huge effort to get the economy going again.  

We visited the Nutmeg Factory, where all the nutmeg is dried, sorted, graded and bagged up for exporting. They now export less than a quarter of the volume of nutmeg post ‘Ivan’.  There was no automated machinery in the factory, labour is cheap, everything is done manually.  After the nutmeg factory we headed for the hills to enjoy the cooler air and a chance for the braver of us to cool off in some crystal clear waterfalls.  Then it was time to take in some of Grenada’s history.  We stopped at the northern town of Sauteurs for an excellent lunch in a local restaurant with an amazing view, then a walk up the hill to the local church and cemetery.  At the end of the cemetery perched on the edge of a high cliff is a memorial  named Carib’s Leap . A reminder of a terrible event that took place back in 1651.  The local Carib families leaped from the cliff to their certain deaths 130 feet below rather than be taken as slaves by the invading French. A grim piece of history and another fine example of man’s inhumanity to his fellow man. We don’t seem to be learning do we !!!.  

It was mid afternoon and still so much to see on this little island.  We went barrelling down the runway at the old airport, whizzing past a couple of wrecked Cuban planes, left over from the 1979 Revolution – quite a chequered history for such a small island.  Then it was time for a sweetener, the Chocolate Factory. Our tour guide was outstanding, very informative and lots of fun.  He explained several of the local fruits (photo above) and how you prepare them, opened a coco pod for us and had us all trying the thick creamy substance that covers the coco beans, we saw the beans draining and then had the pleasure of walking backwards and forwards over the drying coco beans in the sun to turn them over and loosen the shells.  But the best was saved till last, Hot Chocolate and Pure Grenada Chocolate tasting – yummy!!!  We missed the video on the making of the chocolate process (housed in a different location) so we could get to our next stop of the Rum Factory before closing time, but alas there was to be no rum tasting today, despite a valiant effort we were too late. 

We meandered back down the island, stopping at Great Etang Lake on one of the highest peaks, then we weaved our weary way back to Prickly Bay arriving not long before dark.  It had been a long hot day and there was nothing for it but to relax at De Big Fish Cafe for a couple of refreshments.

The evenings have been busy with regular live entertainment ashore in the shacky beach bars. Anything from solo sax players to rock bands to steel drums bands, all providing great music. Our friends Phil and Monica on their lovely catamaran Miss Molly hosted a crowd of us for  our own music night, great fun!  Musicians missing from the photo below were Chris from Indy Plus on lead guitar and vocals, his wife Sue on pennywhistle and their twin boys on percussion.

However life on a cruising yacht is not all bikinis and martinis and in between all the fun there are always the ongoing “boat jobs”. Skipper spends many hours on the blue jobs….oil changes, filter changes, ferrying fuel, servicing the watermaker…… the list never ends. Meanwhile the pink jobs are equally demanding with the deployment of the sewing machine to whip up national courtesy flags for Venezuela, Bonaire, Curacao, Aruba, Colombia, Honduras and Guatemala in preparation for the next few months cruising itinerary.  I am now an ace at cutting out stars and sewing them on - imagine my distress when I realised I had sewn 14 stars on the Venezuelan flag upside down. Bugger!!  More fishing lines have been rigged in the hope that we might catch dinner every now and again, the food lockers are bulging at the seams again and the fridge is stocked full of fresh produce.

Grenada would prove to be the parting of the ways for the mini kiwi flotilla. Chinook Wind was the first to break ranks and leave a couple of days ago  heading for Panama, and now Awaroa and Cuttyhunk are on their way too , they are stopping in the Venezuelan Islands as we will but then will also be heading towards Panama.  So for now it’s just the 2 kiwi B’s left in Prickly Bay, Bandit and Balvenie.  We will leave when the rain stops!

Chilling out in Carriacou ….. February 2012

08 – 14 February 2012
 We managed to dodge all the squalls around us while enroute from Clifton on Union Island to Hillsborough on Carriacou.   We anchored off the town and main dock in this big bay, there isn’t much of a headland to protect it from the swell but luck was finally with us and the winds were starting to abate, consequently the swells were dropping – at last!   We sat and waited out more downpours before making a run for it ashore in the dinghy, another island, another country, another check in!

After just coming from multi coloured Clifton, Hillsborough was looking somewhat on the drab and shabby side, most of the main street sure could do with a lick of paint to brighten things up but in fairness grey skies and drizzle never makes anywhere look its best.  It was clean though and the locals friendly. We did the rounds of immigration, customs and harbour master to check in.  We almost didn’t do customs, at that point it was raining hard and very dark, the little customs booth had no lighting in it and Skipper didn’t actually see the customs lady sitting at her desk against the dark background and behind the glass window - whoops!!!

We stayed just the one night then moved over to Sandy Island just a mile or so offshore.  It’s a marine reserve and there are several moorings which appeared to be free.  We packed a picnic lunch and dinghied ashore.  It’s a tiny island with the most beautiful soft white sand, just a delight to squish your toes into and even when you sit down it doesn’t stick to you, lovely.  We snorkelled off the eastern point, the coral wasn’t great but it was the best we have seen so far in the Caribbean and there was plenty of fish around.  Unfortunately it was quite choppy so our snorkels kept filling with water, never a good thing.  We tried the other end of the island but it was worse, so sat and enjoyed our picnic lunch on our own little deserted Caribbean island, magic!

We had planned to stay the night but the wind was up to 20 knots again and coming out of the east so the closest protection was over a mile away, it was getting rather bumpy in there.  The protected anchorage of Tyrell Bay was only another couple of miles away so off we went to our next new home. 

Tyrell Bay is a popular spot as it has a “hurricane hole” an almost totally enclosed shallow lagoon surrounded by mangroves.  Although this area was thought to be outside the hurricane belt for many years, Hurricane Ivan dispelled that theory when he ripped through a few years ago, causing major damage to these southern Caribbean Islands, the two boats in the photo must have been causalities  There is not much ashore in Tyrell Bay, part of its beauty, there were no “boat boys” trying to sell us lobster, fish, bread, fruit and veges (at the regular twice market value price – hey but it is delivered!), no loud music at night, not even street lights so it was all starlight and birdsong – just wonderful.

Irene and Chris on Cuttyhunk popped up again so we spent a day with them exploring.  We caught a local minibus into Hillsborough then squashed into another and headed for Windward, a village, not surprisingly on the windward side of the island.  Poor Irene had the pleasure of sitting next to the local nutter, there seems to be one on most of these buses, of course the rest of the locals just ignore them, Irene was way too polite for that and made herself a friend for life! 

Windward is known for its small wooden boat building industry, and I can confirm that there is little else there!  We could hear some hammering going on so asked a local if we could find a boat under construction and gained permission to enter through the Private Property fence and along the beach.  There were 3 boats under construction and we were invited onboard one for a look around.  It is nearing completion and now really only needs the engine to be installed and final touches made.  The gentleman has been building it for the last 18 months in his spare time and will give it to his sons who will use it for tuna fishing, the tuna is sold to the American market, by product caught is sold to the local market.  He was amazed  and impressed that we had all sailed all the way here from New Zealand, don’t think he had received any kiwi visitors before. 

We caught another minibus back to Hillsborough, admiring the lush countryside enroute, as with most of these islands it all seems so green and fertile yet they grow very little produce, seems such a waste. We sniffed out some excellent chicken rotis for lunch at a local cafe just by the town dock, did a little produce provisioning then made our way back to Tyrell Bay, it was a great excursion – the bus ride alone in all these islands has provided much entertainment!

We whiled away a few more days then left with Cuttyhunk to do the day sail south down to Prickly Bay in Grenada.  I was foolish enough to suggest a race, and wagered a bottle of rum, sadly their Farr 44 raceboat slipped through the water just a little quicker than beautiful Balvenie, Skipper always says it’s the two sewing machines we have onboard that slow us down, I say it's all the bottles of rum - they were 2.83 miles ahead at the finish line after 35 miles, a good effort and a great days sailing in relatively flat waters and azure seas – now do we have any of those little airline miniature rum bottles onboard???????