Mar 1
Yesterday there were two cruise ships in Roseau, Explorer of the Seas and Ocean Village II. This morning, just as I was getting up, another one, Ocean Village, was pulling up to the dock. Most of the passengers are probably still asleep and will wake up to find a new country out their windows.
We are moving north today to Portsmouth, Dominica. It's only twenty miles, so we don't need to be underway at the crack of dawn. I hosted the Coconut Telegraph today and we got underway as soon as I was done at 08:30. As we dropped our mooring and headed north, we passed pretty close to Ocean Village. The security zone around cruise ships is fifteen hundred feet. We were probably more like six or seven hundred feet away as we passed. In the States, we would have had the Coast Guard on us before we got anywhere near that close, but it doesn't raise an eyebrow out here.
Our course is almost due north. Initially there was no wind at all, but once we were a little north of Roseau, it started to blow from the northeast at about seven knots. I thought I'd unfurl the foresail and see if we picked up a little speed. The sail hadn't been out a minute when the wind shifted to directly from the north. We waited a few minutes to see if it was going to come back northeast or even go northwest, but it stayed north, so we furled the sail. I called Seabbatical, who was a few hundred feet off our port side, on the radio and told them there was no extra charge for the entertainment. Mike laughed and said he had been just about to unfurl his sail when he saw mind backwind. He thanked me for saving him the trouble. A mile or so further north, the wind moved to northwest at about ten knots. We waited this time until it stayed there for a few minutes, and then unfurled the sail again. This time the wind held, and we had a nice motorsail up the coast at about seven knots. We knew that sooner or later the wind would shift back to the northeast or east. When we were about two miles from the point where we would turn into Prince Rupert Bay, we could tell from the water that there was a definite wind shift line ahead. Another clue was the sailboat coming at us on a port tack, and we were on a port tack. That means the wind was opposite where he was. If we weren't almost to our destination we would have prepared to tack the sail when we hit the shift. Instead, we just furled the sail and motored the rest of the way in. As we cleared the point and had Prince Rupert Bay in front of us, the wind picked up to over twenty knots. This wasn't forecast. I'm guessing that somehow the winds near the end of the island get funneled down the valley at the head of the bay.
I tried hailing Martin, a.k.a. Providence, on the VHF. He is the boat boy we dealt with last time we were here. The boat boys here are the smartest in the Caribbean, because they have banded together to form an organization that works together instead of always fighting each other for the business. Martin didn't answer the radio, which didn't surprise me since it was Sunday morning. I know he is a religious guy and is probably at church. Knowing that all the guys are good and courteous, we decided to just wait for the first one to greet us. Cobra was the only one who came out and welcomed us to Dominica. We told him we would like to pick up a mooring. He told us to keep going and he would catch us. Then he went back to Seabbatical and told them the same. Prince Rupert Bay is quite large, and by the time we got to the moorings, Cobra was there standing on the bow of his boat with the mooring pennant in his hand. We got secure and thanked him. One of the more professional things they do is that instead of the boat boys randomly taking the mooring fees, one guy comes around in the evening collecting, and actually gives you a receipt.
The guy who came around a little later to collect was Eddison. We had dealt with him last time we were here. He is very polite and welcomed us to Dominica again. He remembered us from two years ago, and wasn't just bluffing, as he remembered that we were with a large group of boats traveling together. Eddison told us about the Sunday night barbeque that is held each week at Big Papa's restaurant which is on the beach right in front of us. The deal is for $50EC (about $20 USD) you get an all you can eat chicken or fish meal, and all you can drink rum punch. We bought tickets from him and Seabbatical did too. The event is a fund raising effort by the boat boys association to help fund the nighttime security patrols.
Mike & I went to check us in to Dominica. Technically, we should have checked in yesterday in Roseau, but Customs is nowhere near the mooring balls, so you have to take a bus or pay a boat boy to take you. We never went ashore, so we just flew our Q flags and moved on. Not wanting to press our luck, we thought we better check in today rather than wait until Monday, even though it will cost us extra for overtime, being Sunday. The Customs dock is way across the bay, and I only had a tiny bit of fuel left, so we stopped first at the Indian River entrance, where there is a dinghy dock and a gas station. Since we were here two years ago an old freighter has been put aground sideways across the mouth of the river making a breakwater. You come in astern of the wreck into a nice basin where the dinghy dock is. This will keep this dock usable even when there is a swell in the bay. We walked to the gas station and filled the three gallon tank. With the worry of running out of gas gone, we proceeded to the main commercial dock where Customs is. We tied up and found Customs, but a security guard told us the guy just left to get something to eat. She said he would be back soon though. We walked over to a tree where we could stand in the shade and waited. After about fifteen minutes a car pulled in from the other side of the building and a guy in shorts and a polo shirt got out. Without us saying anything, he waved to us to come in. We followed him as he unlocked the office and put his food down. We thought it was funny how the two white guys with papers in their hands stood out as cruisers needing to check in. The check in process is easy here. You fill out a form for the boat and a form for the crew. It costs $20 EC, plus $50 EC for the overtime on the weekend. But in one stop, you are checked in and out as long as you are staying no more than two weeks. After Customs, we stopped at the main town dock to drop off some garbage. There was a little bitty local bar right at the dock, so we decided to grab a cold beer. The beer wasn't that cold, so we only had one and went back to the boats.
We dinghy-pooled with Seabbatical to Big Papa's dinghy dock, since there is limited space there. We went a little early to be sure we could get parking space. We ran into Chris & Kelly from Verna Breeze there and they joined us for the evening. We last saw them in Martinique just as we got there. At 19:00 the food was ready and we were the first in line. The food was good and there was plenty of it. The run punch was good also, and there was too much of it. At least we had too much. There was no problem getting home, but in the morning both of us knew we had been over-served.
GPS N 15-34.797 W 061-27.744 Nautical miles traveled today 20. Total miles 9826.
Mar 2
It keeps raining everywhere we go. We have had off and on showers everyday for a couple of weeks it seems. We have given up trying to go to bed with the forward hatch open, as I will just have to jump up in the middle of the night to close it. We are able to usually keep the hatch at the head of the bed open since I installed the little gutter above it.
When we awoke, we found a cruise ship in the process of docking here. We knew they called the large dock on the north side of the bay a cruise ship dock, but we had never seen it used before. Of course, on our way south two years ago, we were late in the season and the cruise ships were gone. Portsmouth is not your typical cruise ship town. There are no shops for the passengers. I think the attraction has got to be hiking Fort Shirley, which is where the dock is, or taking bus tours. Because the cruise ship is here, we cannot get water today. When there is no cruise ship at the dock, you can get fuel or water at the dock, or land your dinghy there to hike The Cabrits. But when a cruise ship is in, it's off limits.
Speaking of hiking the Cabrits, that's what I am going to do today. Mike & Lynn from Seabbatical and Bobby & Leslie from Grannia invited us to join them hiking around the old fort ruins. Barb still has fresh memories of the "easy" hike we did in Martinique a couple weeks ago, so she elected to stay on the boat. Bobby & Leslie picked the three of us up in their dinghy and we went to the dinghy dock at The Purple Turtle restaurant. Since we can't go to the cruise ship dock, we will have to walk the half mile or so around the bay to the national park entrance. The Cabrits National Park consists of Fort Shirley, which has been restored around the main building and parade grounds. The park also encompasses East Cabrit and West Cabrit, which are twin peaks. Peaks may be an exaggeration as they aren't that high. From the welcome center and small museum at the base, we started climbing up the nice stone path. Before getting to the restored part of Fort Shirley, we turned on a path that took us up East Cabrit. We first came to the remains of the Commandant's Quarters. This was a huge two-story stone and brick house. The roof is long gone, but the walls are largely intact. In one place a tree has completely engulfed a corner of the stone structure. We found two rooms that looked like they were probably ammunition storage. One of them had a large pile of one inch steel balls in it. This must have been shot for a large gun. We continued up the hill from here. We found another large structure that had been the main powder magazine and munitions storage. At the top of East Cabrit, we had a beautiful view of the harbor below and Guadeloupe twenty miles to the north. From here we took a path that is not on the map and found the remains of the officers quarters. This was another large building with several outbuildings. All was being overtaken by the growth of the forest around it. There was a wall here facing the ocean with several cannons laying on the ground where they used to protect the battery. Being here today, you can't see the ocean at all since the forest has grown up around it. From the officers quarters it was up a steep stone staircase to a road that ran along the edge of West Cabrit. We walked this for a bit and then turned around and followed it back to the restored part of Fort Shirley. After getting a few pictures here, we walked back down the road to the visitors center. We had a snack and a couple of beers at the snack bar and then walked back to the dinghy. It really wasn't that bad of a hike, but I was sure glad that this time I wore my sneakers instead of Crocs.
We had managed to make the four hour hike without getting rained on other than a few sprinkles. Once I was back on the boat, the showers came more frequently through the evening. We had a nice dinner aboard. I actually paid for wireless internet access for a day, so instead of going to bed early, I was getting my money's worth by surfing the net until almost 23:00.
GPS N 15-34.797 W 061-27.744 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9826.
Mar 3
We had a visit this morning from Carl on Delia Grace. He saw our Texas flag and came over. He's not from Texas, but said he used to cruise with a couple from Texas and they were nice, so he figured we'd be nice. They had gotten in the evening before, so he asked us several questions about where to check in etc. This is the first year for him and his wife in the Caribbean, but they are going to be putting the boat on the hard in Antigua soon and going back to make more money as we are.
The rain continues. It isn't a steady rain, just off and on light showers enough to keep you from being able to leave any windows open long. About 10:00, Mike & Lynn came over to MoonSail to be extra hands docking as we go get water. We tied our dinghy to our mooring so nobody takes it while we are gone. The fuel and water dock here is at the cruise ship dock, and it is a pretty high concrete dock, with large tires tied to it. The tires are wrapped with rope, so there shouldn't be a problem getting any black marks on the boat. The problem is how high the dock is. The wind was blowing quite hard from south of east. If we go on the outside of the dock, we will be pinned against it. If we go on the inside, we will blow off. Inside would probably be better, but we didn't see anybody on shore to take lines, and as high as the dock is, climbing up fast enough to secure a line would be tough. So we opted for the outside. As we circled by to assess the dock, a park security guy started down the dock to take our lines. The trick was to hit two tires, one near the bow and one near the stern. The tires were about thirty-five feet apart, and the boat is only thirty-eight feet long, so we had to time the approach right or the bow would blow under the dock. We were about twenty feet off the dock, parallel to it and just let the wind blow us slowly to it. I kept gently using the throttle to keep us lined up with the two tires. We hit the tires perfectly and Mike threw the bow line to the guard. The guard wasn't real quick about securing the line, so we drifted back a little until the bow was no longer on the tire and was pivoting under the dock. Mike held us off and we let the boat drop back so the rear tire was now amidships. We got lines secure fore and aft, and we were ok. The guard passed down the hose and I filled the tanks. Of course a rain shower came through while I was doing that, so I got a little wet. While we were there, our friends Bob & Sally from Mariche VII came on the inside of the dock. The guard helped them but then disappeared when the rain started. When our tanks were full, I climbed up on the dock and passed the hose over to Bob. By now the rain had stopped, so the guard came back out. I paid him and told him how I wanted to handle our departure. I had him first release the stern line which let the stern drift out and the bow come close to going under the dock again. Then quickly he released the bow line and tossed it to us as I did a full throttle reverse away from the dock. We motored back to our mooring and got re-secured. It was good having the extra hands aboard.
It was lunchtime when we got back on the mooring, so we dinghied in to The Purple Turtle. We had heard they had good burgers. We found Bobby & Leslie from Grannia there and joined them. We ordered four cheeseburgers and beers. When the cheeseburgers arrived, we found out that fries were not included, so we ordered fires which came out about the time we were finishing our burgers. The burgers were pretty good.
We went back to the boat for the afternoon and stayed there for the rest of the day. I worked on my writings and Barb read.
GPS N 15-34.797 W 061-27.744 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9826.
Mar 4
After the morning nets, Mike and I went to shore to see about reserving a rental car. The rental place is right across the street from the dock at the mouth of the Indian River. We tied up to the dock at the mouth of the river and walked over. We reserved a four door Suzuki Escudo like the one I used to drive in Grenada. With that done, we moved the dinghy to the main town dock to go to the police station so I could get a local license. It took a little bit to accomplish that since the one officer behind the counter that we had to deal with also had to keep answering the phone. There was a lot more activity in town today than last time we were in, so after the license was done, we walked further down the street looking for a cold beer. We found a cute little colorful place right on the water and walked in. There was a Guinness poster on the wall, but the little old lady who ran the place said they didn't serve beer. We went a little further down the street and found The Flag Bar. It was so named because the front glass window had a Dominican flag for a curtain. This was a tiny place with two tables inside and one out on the sidewalk. We took our beers and sat outside and watched the world go by for a little bit. When we were done, we went in from the waterfront street a block and walked back along the second street. We found a laundry service that may be needed while we are here. We got back to the dock and headed back to the boats.
I spent the afternoon writing. About 16:00, we picked up Mike & Lynn and dinghied in to Big Papa's for a couple of drinks. While there, we ran into Chris from Verna Breeze, and Carl from Delia Grace. There was also a couple there from a Texas sport fishing boat named Song of Grace. We have seen them in several anchorages but never said hi. We introduced ourselves and found that they aren't really Texans. He retired from California, and bought the boat in Florida. For whatever reason, their official address is now Montgomery, Texas, and they fly a Texas flag. We had several drinks and then went back to the boats for dinner.
GPS N 15-34.797 W 061-27.744 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9826.
Mar 5
Both Seabbatical and us need to get laundry done. We knew that Grannia had gotten theirs done through the boat boy Martin on Providence for $35EC/load. We called Martin on the radio and he said that the dryer had broken where he gets it done. He suggested we try one of the other boat boys. We hailed Eddison and he said he could arrange to get it done. When we pressed him for a price up front, he finally said $70EC/load. That is way too much, so we told him never mind. We'll have to find an alternate plan.
As soon as the Coconut Telegraph was over, we loaded up in our dinghy and went to get our car. We did the paperwork and paid for two days of rental and were off by 09:00. We headed north out of Portsmouth and took the Northern Link Road across the northern tip of the island. In hindsight, we should have taken the next road south of that, but we had a beautiful ride anyway. All the roads in Dominica are quite bumpy. Most have numerous potholes you have to try and avoid. The Northern Link Road was fairly narrow, so every time you passed a car it was exciting. Fortunately, there was very little traffic. We went high in the mountains on the north end of the island and then started descending to the east coast. The road got narrower in places and had numerous hairpin turns to negotiate. Once we were within a few miles of the intersection with the road that we probably should have taken, we came to a sign that said road closed. We had already been underway for an hour, so the idea of having to go all the way back to Portsmouth and take the other road didn't thrill us. We passed the sign and continued down the road. After a bit the pavement ended and the road became newly graded dirt. It was obvious that they were doing a major widening and reconstruction of the road. We stopped at one point and could hear the heavy equipment working above us after the next switchback. We turned around and went back into the last little village we had passed through, where the closed sign had been. We found a half dozen men on a corner and asked them if there was an alternate way to get to Calibishie which is the town where the two roads meet. They told us no, but they said we could pass through the construction zone. Armed with that information, we went back where we had tried once. As we got to the dirt part, we found a guy fueling a big piece of equipment. We stopped and asked him if we could get through. He said yes, so we pressed on. We got to where we heard the equipment, and rounded the bend. There was a big scraper and a packing machine smoothing the newly graded dirt. They were no problem to pass and we thought we were home free. About a half mile further though, we came to more equipment. Here we found a big tracked excavator leveling large chunks of rock and dirt to make the new roadbed. He had been scraping away at the side of the mountain to make the road wider, and then he roughly smoothed out the scrapings to form the road. We could not pass because a) there were large rocks on the way that I didn't think we would clear, and b) I didn't know if he saw us and I didn't want him to swing his bucket around and smack us. We stopped and waited for about ten minutes while he kept scraping and smoothing and packing the dirt and rocks. He never seemed to look up and acknowledge us, but he knew we were there. When he had a fairly negotiable surface, he stopped and blew his horn for us to pass. We gave him a big wave and carried on. We came down to the coast and the town of Calibishie. We spotted a sign for a tourist center, so we stopped. The girls went inside while Mike and I watched the kids at the primary school next door. We commented how no matter what time of day, you never seem to see and organized classroom work going on in the local schools. The kids are always outside playing, and even when you see them in a classroom, it sounds like they are all chattering and not getting a lesson. Maybe it's just our timing.
We are specifically looking for Kalinago Barana Aute, which is the Carib Cultural Village by the Sea. Two years ago when we were here, our tour guide took us here, but a few of the people on the bus balked at paying an extra admission fee when they had already paid for a tour, so we didn't take the tour of the village. Mike & Lynn had not been here before, so we wanted to see it this time. South of Marigot, we had a choice to make on which of two roads to take. We saw a sign for the village, but it wasn't clear from it which way to go. So, we went the wrong way. This detour took us about ten miles south to where we then turned back north on the road we should have been on. The good news about this detour was that it took us by the Islet View Restaurant. This is where we had lunch two years ago on our tour and first met Steve & Lili from Liward, and it was very good. I didn't remember exactly where it was, but I recognized it as soon as we saw it. We went in and got a table on the back porch with a great view. The back porch was under construction when we were here two years ago. The lady running the place came over and told us our choices were chicken, fish, or pork chops. We all chose the fish which was mahi mahi. We enjoyed a cold beer while we waited for our meals. When the meals came, it was just like before in that the main course was accompanied by lots of sides. There was grated christophine, black peas, rice, pumpkin, green salad, macaroni and cheese, breadfruit, plantains, and banana. It was all very good. After we were all done, a desert plate was brought out that is part of the meal. It had orange quarters, sugar cane sticks, sugar apple quarters, and a sweet bread. The bar here has dozens of rums that are flavored here. It's common for bars to buy quantities of the white local rum and then add spices and fruits to flavor it. This place has about the largest collection I've seen. It was tempting to sample a few of the rums, but we still have a lot of driving to do, so we refrained.
We confirmed before we left that if we continued on this road we would come to the Carib Village. Sure enough we did. We drove down the narrow road to the very steep parking lot and parked. It was starting to rain again as we got out of the car, as it has been off and on all morning. We walked to the visitors center where we met a guide. We paid our $10 US each and sat down to start the tour with a video. After the video, our guide took us around the trails showing us the recreation of a Carib Village that they have built. We saw the large kabreta, which is where the men gathered to discuss things, smoke, and generally socialize. The women didn't routinely come into the kabreta unless invited by the men for special occasions. This kabreta has it's modern touches, like a concrete floor, but it is built like a real one would have been. The thatched roof was in need of repair, and you could see things growing from the thatching. We continued around the trail and saw a couple of mwinas. These are smaller buildings where the women gathered. The Crayfish River, which is more like a creek, runs through the village. There is a spot where it drops over two small waterfalls, each about thirty feet high and then it runs into the Atlantic. At the end of the tour, when you have circled back to the start, just like any tour you pass by the snack bar and the souvenir shop. The souvenirs here are primarily baskets which are woven on the spot by native women. While Lynn and Barb browsed the baskets, Mike and I had a beer at the snack bar.
Since we found the Carib Village the circuitous way, we now were backtracking as we made our way south and west back towards the west coast. The road follows the valley of the Layou River which empties into the Caribbean on the west side of the island. When we got to the coast, we turned north. This took us past the Castaways Hotel, which has been closed for several years now, but used to be a cool beach hotel. Reportedly, the property has recently been sold and somebody plans to rebuild a hotel on the site. Not far north of Castaways is the little village of Mero. The main road bypasses Mero, but as we passed the turnoff, we saw what appeared to be a new sign for Connie's Mero Beach Bar. The colorful sign got our attention and we turned around and drove into the village. Mero is a typical little fishing village, with one waterfront street lined with homes and businesses that all are tiny shacks and all run together. Near the north end of the town we found Connie's. There was a convenient place to park and we went in and took a table in the sand outside the building. We went to the bar and ordered four beers which we took out to our table. We were twenty feet from the beach, but the entire outdoor area around the bar was sand. There was a white guy who looked quite at home here playing dominoes with two young local kids at an outdoor table. After the game was over, we learned that he was from Toronto and he found this place a few years ago while on a cruise ship vacation. There are three rooms attached to the bar, and for a quite reasonable rate you get a clean room with breakfast and dinner included, and all the seclusion you could want. This would be the place to come if you just want to sit on the beach and read for your entire vacation. We had several beers and watched the sunset.
We headed back north to Portsmouth after the sun had set at Mero. As you approach Portsmouth from the south, the first thing you come to is Ross University, which is a medical school. It's not nearly as large at St. Georges University in Grenada. Near the university though, you find restaurants that cater more to the students tastes. Like pizza. We had heard Perky's Pizza was pretty good, so we stopped. Barb & I ordered a large supreme, and Lynn & Mike ordered a large half pepperoni and half veges. We were disappointed to realize they don't sell beer. What is pizza without beer? We settled for water or soft drinks, and realized later we probably could have gotten beer at the store next door and brought it in. In fifteen minutes, Mike & Lynn's pizza came. We assumed ours would be out in a minute, but watching the staff we didn't see any activity like another was coming. After a few minutes, the three girls behind the counter were having a conversation and kept looking our way. I think they saw that Barb and I weren't eating Mile &Lynn's pizza, and they realized their mistake. One of them came out and apologized and said ours was still in the oven. I think that's about when it went in the oven, because it was at least fifteen more minutes before it came. I think they either forgot ours, or maybe when it came out of the oven one of the girls thought it was for the by-the-slice rack and served some of it. We finally got our pizza about the time Mike & Lynn finished, so they got to watch us as we had watched them. The pizza was ok, but nothing to write home about.
We drove back into town and left the car in the parking lot of the bank right next to the rental place. We dinghied back to the boats to rest up for tomorrow's adventure.
GPS N 15-34.797 W 061-27.744 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9826.
Mar 6
Right after the Coconut Telegraph, we picked Mike & Lynn up and headed to the car. We went into town before heading south to Roseau. In town we drove by the laundry place that Mike and I had found a couple days ago. The girls went in to talk to the lady and found that the price was $2EC/lb. That is way less than the other quotes, so they made sure they heard correctly. We will bring the laundry here tomorrow.
As we started to leave town, we saw a lady with a table on the sidewalk selling fresh bread. We pulled over and got two baguettes so we would have something to snack on if necessary on the ride. We then headed south. Today's goals are to find the place near Canefield Airport that refills propane tanks, find the duty free store in Roseau, and find the two rum distilleries on the island. As we drove south, we passed the first of the rum places, Shillingford Estate. Since it was not even 10:00 yet, we thought we would catch this one on the way back since we will return on this road. We passed the Layou river where we had come from the east side of the island yesterday, and continued south. Soon we were approaching the Canefield Airport. All we know about where the propane place is, is that it is near the airport. Can't be too hard to find right? Well after blindly driving around we stopped to ask. The helpful man in the appliance store explained roughly where the place was, but he pointed out that there was no propane on the island because the ship had not come yet. As with gasoline, there has probably been an unusual demand for propane lately since the French islands have been shut down. So, now we started to look for the Belfast Estate, the other rum place. We know from our Rums of the Eastern Caribbean book, that Belfast does not distill their own rum anymore, but they buy the raw rum and blend it and age it and bottle it. So we hoped for some tasting at least. After a wrong turn and a tour through a pretty nice neighborhood, we found Belfast Estate. But alas, there was no tasting or tour available.
On into Roseau we went. To our delight, there was no cruise ship in town today, making the shops and streets much more pleasant to navigate. We found a parking space right by the cruise ship dock and started to look around. We visited several duty free shops comparing prices on various rums. We found the largest store, which was also closest to where we parked was the cheapest. In the open air market, Mike was hoping to find an old Rasta guy who sells local music CD's. He wasn't where he normally sets up, so Mike asked a lady in the next booth if he still was around. She said yes he just took off today since there was no cruise ship in port. But, she said, he told her to direct anybody that came by to his house which was just a few blocks away. We found the house with a sign on the wall that said for local music ring the bell. We rang the bell and a voice came from the balcony above us. Mike introduced himself and asked if he had any new music from the same artist that he had purchased last year. The man came downstairs and opened the door to let us in. We went in a first floor room that obviously used to be a small restaurant. It was packed with boxes of CD's. Mike told him again what he was looking for and the guy dug through a couple of boxes, eventually pulling out two CD's. Not expecting Mike to buy without hearing, he invited him upstairs to his living room to sample the CD's. Barb and I went back out on the street, while Mike & Lynn went upstairs with the guy. In about twenty minutes Mike & Lyn came out with their new CD's.
While we had been waiting, we were looking at the buildings of Roseau. This city is quite old and seems to have survived without being wiped out by a hurricane or large fire. In many ways it reminded us of the French Quarter in New Orleans, with the balconies and the bare wood buildings. We walked a few blocks to a cute looking bar for a beer. The building was small and had a gift shop on the first floor and a bar on the second. The bar was cute and would hold a few dozen people. We were the only ones there and the proprietor had to put down his magazine to get us our beer. While we were there, a woman came from what looked to be a small kitchen in back and was ranting and raving about something. We couldn't understand her because she was going on in her island patois but she seemed upset. She was talking at the guy who had served us, but he wasn't looking up from his magazine. She went on for a good five minutes with him ignoring her, and then she went back in the kitchen where we could hear her still carrying on.
We decided to have a quick and easy American lunch for a change. We have choices here of KFC or Subway. We chose KFC and walked down there. It was packed with mostly kids juts out of school, but we waited in line and managed to score a table. It was up to KFC standards, unlike the one we visited in St. Lucia. We joked afterwards though about how we complain about all there is to eat in the islands is chicken, and then when we have a choice of American brands, we chose the chicken. Ah well.
The KFC is across the street from the large produce market in Roseau. Unlike some markets that are only open one or two days a week, Roseau's is open everyday. We picked up a few items, although the prices were pretty steep. I'm sure we get the tourist price, especially in a town like this that deals with cruise ships. We walked back towards the car and went to the big duty free store. They are used to dealing with cruise ship people who might buy a bottle or two, not private boats who stock up a case at a time. It was very good that we didn't have a cruise ship crowd here, because we were the only customers. While of course they had the local rums here, what we get at the duty free store is rum that we can't find in the local grocery store. Since the French rums suck, we were out of rum entirely. And we have another French island to go, so we needed to stock up. We got rum from Barbados, Haiti, Cuba, and Jamaica, and three bottles of local product. It took the girl at the counter quite a while to get us checked out because the computer wasn't converting the prices from US to EC properly, but we finally got done. We stashed the rum in the car and then walked a few blocks to a large IGA grocery store. Portsmouth doesn't have a large grocery, so we are picking up a few things while we're here. While Barb was waiting on stuff in the deli, I checked out the liquor isle. On the local run, it was cheaper in the grocery than the duty free store. Glad we didn't buy more than we did of the local brands.
We left Roseau and headed back north. We got to the Shillingford Estate only to find it closed. We drove in right by the waterwheel, but nothing was running and nobody was around. So we are 0 for 2 on our rum sampling quest. Shillingford is just north of Mero, where we stopped at Connie's Beach Bar yesterday, so we backtracked a couple miles and visited Connie's again. We didn't see the Canadian guy today, but Connie remember we had been there yesterday and was pleased that we came back. Barb & Mike had beer, but since we didn't get a rum sample at either rum factory, Lynn & I went for rum punch. We had a couple of rounds before deciding to head north so we would get home before dark.
When we got to Portsmouth, I backed the car down the trail to the dock so we could unload all our stuff. After unloading everything, I moved the car over to the bank parking lot again and locked it up. I returned and we loaded everything in the dinghy. We thought we might have to make two trips, but we got it all in with a little room to spare. The swell in the bay has picked up a little, so as we cleared the end of the freighter/breakwater I tried to time it with a passing wave. My timing wasn't great and both Lynn & Barb got splashed quite a bit as the wave slapped the side of the dinghy. We got back to the boats and unloaded everything. After stowing all the goods, Barb warmed up the leftover pizza we brought home yesterday for dinner.
GPS N 15-34.797 W 061-27.744 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9826.
Mar 7
I am supposed to return the car by 09:00 this morning. We had clarified that they were open Saturday mornings before we lefty, and were assured they were there at 08:00. The swell in the bay has gotten quite large overnight. It is not uncomfortable on the boat because the wind is keeping us so that the swell comes from our stern and not our side. But as I approached the freighter/breakwater, I saw that there were large waves breaking across the entrance every ten or fifteen seconds. I slowed down and tried to time my approach so I could slip between two of the waves. Well, I never should have slowed down. Just as I was rounding the stern of the freighter a wave built up behind me. I twisted the throttle wide open, but it was too late. The wave broke over the side of the dinghy and soaked me. My ass and back were drenched and a few gallons of water were in the dinghy. This was all to the great amusement of two guys standing in the gazebo on the dock. Even though they were having a good laugh at my expense, they were kind enough to come take my line while I got out of the dinghy.
As I walked up to the street, I saw that the car rental place wasn't open yet. So I get to stand around wet and wait. I walked over to the car and waited. While me being wet wasn't the end of the world, it occurred to me that I was going to get the car seat wet. I took the floor mat and put it on the seat so I didn't get the seat wet. It was after 09:00 when the guy finally came and opened the gates. I drove the car over and parked it. The guy apologized and explained that he had gotten a call that another car had been in an accident this morning and he had to deal with that. He checked me in with no problem and I was ready to go. Before I left I chatted with Tim & Linda from Matsu who were there to pick a car up for the day. We hadn't seen them since the Tobago Cays.
I went back to the dinghy and made a much better departure than the arrival had been. My timing was better, and I went fast out the opening into the open water. I stopped at the town dock to drop off the cardboard box we brought the rum home in. Cardboard does not stay on the boat because it's a great place for roach eggs to be hidden. There are usually kids or beggars on the dock who want a handout to take your line. I knew I had about two bucks in change in my pocket and would have been happy to give it to a kid to take the box to the trash so I didn't have to tie up at the rolly dock. But this time nobody was there, so I tied up and jumped out of the dinghy. I had to time my jump with the swell as the dinghy rode back and forth at the dock. I ran up to the trash and left the box, then ran back to the dinghy. I didn't want it beating on the dock more than it had to. I hopped in and untied and quickly backed away. I had left the motor running while I was gone. All in all it worked better than I had feared it would, and I was no wetter.
Mike took Lynn & Barb to town while I was gone to drop off the laundry. They went to the town dock, where Mike dropped them off. The paid a guy with a small cart $6 EC to roll the laundry down the street for them. The lady at the laundry weighed ours, which we figured was three loads and it was thirty-eight pounds. That made it $64 EC. A lot less than $70EC/load that we were quoted by Eddison.
I got back to the boat while Barb was gone, and witnessed a truly stupid thing. There is a large catamaran on the mooring next to us that was there last night. Another large cat had been anchored behind them. As I came back in the dinghy, they had rafted the two cats together on the mooring. I thought surely one of the boat boys would come around and tell them they can't do that, until I saw that one of the boat boys was actually helping them. So now there are two large cats on a mooring designed to hold one boat, and the wind is forecast to be very high tonight and tomorrow. I thought I had seen all the stupid tricks that charterers do, but this one takes the prize. At least they are not in front of me. Delia Grace is behind them. If I were him I'd want to move in case they drag the mooring or break it.
I spent the day writing, while Barb read and napped. At 16:30, it was time to fetch the laundry. We took both dinghies to Big Papa's dock, since the surge was causing the main town dock to be pretty rough. Big Papa's wasn't much better, but the wooden dock was not as cruel to the dinghies as the concrete at the main dock would be. We walked to the laundry, which was a pretty fair hike. The lady had told Barb it didn't matter what time we came because she lived upstairs, but she was still open so it wasn't a problem. We got the laundry and then walked a little further into town so Lynn could take a picture of a neat house built with a lot of shells and stuff. We didn't have our camera (again) so no pictures of that one. We walked back to Big Papa's with the laundry in tow in our roll-behind crate. We stopped at Big Papa's for a couple of beers before taking on the challenge of getting the clean clothes in the dinghies while they surged around at the dock. It really wasn't that hard, since we had big heavy trash bags to put the laundry in to avoid splashing. I got in the dinghy, Barb handed me the bags, I got the dinghy started and was waiting for Barb to get in. One of the boat boys came right up next to us to pick up a passenger and with his boat right next to me, I got splashed and got my ass wet again, in a clean pair of shorts. It's not my day.
We got back to the boat without further incident. Barb had to refold all the clothes so they fit in their appropriate places, but at least we are good now for another month. We had a nice dinner aboard and toasted the fact that we have NO rain today.
GPS N 15-34.797 W 061-27.744 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9826.
Mar 8
Today was an almost rainless day. We had a couple of sprinkles on and off, but nothing serious. We stayed aboard all day except for a brief venture in the dinghy with my glass bottom bucket to look at our mooring. Given the stupid charterers with the two cats on one mooring next to us, I got curious about what was on the bottom end of the moorings. I found that they are sand screws with large shackles connecting the line to the anchor. I feel good about that for our security, but I'm still not convinced putting two large cats on one is a good idea.
Eddison came by to collect more money for our mooring. We have been here a week already, and that's what we paid for. We asked him if we could wait and pay him tomorrow after we have a chance to talk to the weather guy. Then we would know if we were staying only a day or two more or a week more. He said that was no problem. He asked if we were coming to the Sunday barbeque tonight, and we said no we were having guests over. Even though we enjoyed the barbeque last Sunday, we don't need it two weeks in a row, and besides, the swell is making the dinghy dock pretty bouncy.
In the late afternoon, Mike & Lynn came over to play Rummikub and have dinner with us. They got here about 16:00 and we played Rummikub until dark. Barb has spaghetti sauce simmering the whole time, and Lynn had brought a salad. Once it was dark, we ate and then chatted and listened to Texas music that they hadn't heard before until almost midnight.
GPS N 15-34.797 W 061-27.744 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9826.
Mar 9
I was up at 07:00 to listen to Chris Parker the weather guy on the SSB. He has been off the air for a week, and the guy who fills in for him is impossible to hear, and when you do hear him, he doesn't do as good a job as Chris, so I just quit listening. The forecasts that I have been downloading don't look good for us moving north anytime soon, and I wanted to talk to Chris to confirm my assessment. After listening to his forecast, it sounded like I was right. Before I could call in to him, another boat here in the harbor did and asked exactly the question I was going to. The answer was basically "enjoy Dominica for another week". I'm glad we aren't under any kind of deadline. There is another boat we have met here who does have a deadline of next week to get to Antigua and haul out and fly home. They will probably have to go Wednesday this week, which is the "least bad" day for the next week. We aren't in enough of a hurry to be uncomfortable getting there, so we'll stay. So far, we have had wind out of the north but not too strong, and it has been cool by our standards, about seventy-five degrees, but the north swell has not bothered us on the boat at all. It makes landing the dinghy anywhere a little dicey, but we can work with that. At least we aren't rolling from side to side in the big boat. Hopefully the predicted swell for the end of the week won't be any worse than the one that just passed. This is all due to a couple of bad storms that have moved off the US into the Atlantic. The first one sent a cold front all the way through here, which is virtually unheard of, and the second is further north, but it will be sending the big waves from the north. When Eddison came by later we paid him for another week on the mooring.
We spent the whole day aboard reading and relaxing. Late in the afternoon, Mike & Lynn came over for a sundowner and we chatted about our plans for the next week. We may rent a car again and do some further touring of the south end of the island that we didn't get to last week. For dinner Barb boiled up some pasta and warmed the leftover sauce from last night. After dark, we got a new neighbor in the anchorage. Maltese Falcon anchored about a thousand feet behind us. We knew it was them even in the dark, because there was a nearly full moon coming and going with the clouds, and the boat has such a distinctive look to it. Once they dropped the anchor, they switched off their running lights and turned on lights that illuminate the masts, removing any doubt it was them.
GPS N 15-34.797 W 061-27.744 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9826.
Mar 10
Nothing changed with the weather report this morning. The boat that asked for a forecast from here to Guadeloupe yesterday asked again today and got the same answer. It's funny how occasionally you can tell the people hope that if they ask the same question day after day they will get a different answer.
Maltese Falcon left this morning. When we first noticed, they had just weighed anchor and were beginning to deploy the sails. We have seen the boat several times, but never with it's sails out. What ends up looking like three large sails is actually made up of thirty individual sails. They furl into the mast and are pulled out from each side. Of course there was no struggling with lines by the crew. The whole thing is computer controlled and all the sail handling is mechanical.
We joined Mike & Lynn for lunch at The Purple Turtle. This time we knew to order fries with our cheeseburgers. The lady remembered us and laughed when we made a point of making sure she knew we wanted fries. The burgers were good and we sat there for a while enjoying a couple of beers. We were invited to Verne Breeze for sundowners and appetizers this evening, along with Mike & Lynn. Chris & Kelly had met us once in Grenada when they came to a burger night, but we really got to know them over the past few months as we have moved north. This was the first time we had been to their boat. It is a Gulfstar forty something. Gulfstar's are big and ungainly looking, but they sure have a lot of room below. They may not win any races, but they sure get there in comfort. They have an old big dog aboard and two cats. One cat is about eight years old while the other is about eight months old. Of course the youngster torments the old man constantly, but they seem to be having good fun wrestling with each other. We enjoyed our visit very much and didn't get home until about 23:30. Pretty late for old fart cruisers.
GPS N 15-34.797 W 061-27.744 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9826.