The Nature Island

Dominca, Leeward Islands

It is said that if Christopher Columbus came back to the Caribbean, the only island he would recognize is Dominica. Dominica is the most unspoiled and natural island we have come across during our travels. It is amazingly lush and fertile. Almost anything can grow on the rugged terrain.

After a short and pleasant sail from the Saintes we arrived in Portsmouth, the second largest town in Dominica. This is the island where Mary’s dream came true. She has always wanted a boat boy and in Dominica, the boat boys met us a couple of miles offshore offering assistance. We selected Martin of “Providence” to assist us and he returned with beautiful fresh flowers for Mary. And since Mary loves to have fresh flowers on the boat, Martin, her new boat boy, was an immediate hit.

We moored just off of Big Papa’s, the weekend place to party in Portsmouth. The music starts late and quits very, very early. After going to bed at normal cruiser time (9:00 pm), we woke up at 1:00 am to the sound of loud music on shore. We decided that it was time to join the party, so we got up and went ashore. We were the only non-locals there, but the locals welcomed us to the party and we hung out and danced until our ears could not take it any more (3:00 am). The party repeated the next night, but we were no shows, catching up on our sleep.

Portsmouth was an excellent harbor to watch sunset and we had two days in a row with green flashes.

Despite a difficult couple of travel days, Larry’s Dad and his wife (Linda) joined us from California. We met them at the airport and took a hair-raising one-hour taxi ride through the rain forest back to Berkeley East. The weather forecast was not looking good for the first part of their stay, so we spent the next few days touring the North end of the island and day sailing out of Portsmouth.

We spent St. Patrick’s day at the Purple Turtle Beach Bar drinking Guinness and the local beer, Kubali.

Martin took us on a beautiful guided tour of the Indian River, the primary means of transport for bananas to the coast prior to the road being built. We also spent a day touring the cold volcano and Calbash.

We continued to experience “unseasonable weather” with more rain than normal. While in Portsmouth we had a couple days with extended rain showers and beautiful rainbows, many times with more than one rainbow stretching across the island. As the swells built up in the harbor, getting from the dinghy to shore got more exciting. In some cases the waves were breaking over the pier, so we have to find alternative docks and time our exits between swells.

With a clear day and steady winds, we took Berkeley East out for a day sail. It was good to see dad back at the helm. We sailed north from Dominica and within 1-1/2 hours we were closing in on the Saintes, which would have been a nice stop, but since we left the dinghy back in Portsmouth, so we turned around and headed back to Domincia.

As the swells moderated, we sailed down the coast of the Dominica to Roseau, the capital. We were greeted by Pancho, another boat boy, who found us a mooring and arranged some more tours. We took a full day and toured the south end of the island, stopping at the Emerald Pools and Trafalgar Falls. We relaxed in the natural pools (hot and cold), enjoyed the waterfalls and sampled the local food and rum punch. Dominica is an amazing island with eight volcanoes (all inactive). There are over 365 rivers and many water falls. While we saw a lot of the island there is more to see and we look forward to returning some day.

The adventure continues when we get to Martinique.