Dominica

We toyed with the idea of stopping in Grand Burg, Marie Gallant, but decided against it and left Monday morning. We had great wind and a quick 20nn sail to Portsmouth, Dominica. It was a beautiful day and an easy sail….unlike the squalls we are currently facing as we cross from Dominica to Martinique… as I write.
We were meant by Nigel (a.k.a Action Pack) who guided us to a mooring ball. Once we got settled, sails put away and Sail Clear completed, he came back and took us to town. There is a group called PAYS (Portsmouth Association of Yacht Security) which Nigels is with…. We were in their mooring and had them do our check-in, dropping off our passports. We could pick up the clearence at noon on Tuesday. The 5 days of mooring, plus the check-in & out, was 265ec ($98 USD).... A good deal! We walkd through the town and back to the boat, arriving just as “Action Pack” was leaving for the day, so he took us back to the boat.... For super, Christmas shopping online, and sleep.
I rented an Airbnb.... A treehouse in the rain forest, https://www.airbnb.ca/rooms/4332955?viralityEnt…, for three nights. On Tuesday, we had our coffee, read, wrote, had breakfast and then packed our stuff and headed to PAYS to pick up our clearence (Felica was the girl at the desk and she stated that her brother & cousin had been shot and killed on the weekend 😞). Our car was waiting, and Davo, the owner of the small company, drove us to the Hideway at Tibay Heights. He and Crispin (& Jenn -- Airbnb owners) are bothers and he built the cottages.
We arrived early and were so relaxed, we decided to just stay.... Read, write, Brian played guitar (Christmas tunes) and relax to the sounds of birds and rain. We took a short and scary trip into Picard to the grocery store (as that is usually our favorite outing). The road to the Hideway was dirt, uneven, washed out, steep and about 1.5 miles long. The driving is also left hand side. We bought some yogurt and fruit and I wanted to make our way back before dark.
On Wednesday I taught a class and it went well (I was worried about the bad wifi signal).... And then we relaxed all morning, engaging with nature as the birds were always in the same space with us. Unfortunately, the bats were too at night.
We went to Syndicate Falls.... And as we were going down the long awful road, a heavy lorrie was coming up.... I needed to back up the narrow hill (with drop offs)... Intimidating! The road to the Falls was the same... Steep, narrow and only built for one way (so you backed up or pulled over when you met another car). At the top was the Zen Cafe...lol... I wasnt feeling to zen.
A quick hike to the Falls and we decided to take the plunge. There were kids from Germany on a classroom at sea (Thor Heyerdahl boat), who took some pictures for us. We wanted to do the nature trail, but it was another 20 min... UP, and it was getting late. I was fed up with driving so Brian took over and we headed to Portsmouth beach for a long walk and another swim before heading back to the cottage.
We toyed with the idea of climbing a mountain or boiling lake on Thursday.... However it rained hard throughthe night and much of the day. I was grateful as hemmroids were afflicting me (TMI 😏) pretty seriously! We lounged all day (except a trip to the pharmacy), and then went to the Steakhouse for super and had ribeye. It was good and the sunset was beautiful. Back to the cottage for the final night! Brian was doing great -- I thought he would want to check on Lorena, especially given all the rain we had, but he declined.
The cottage is two story, above the tree tops and open air. Its like you are witnessing nature from the inside verses an outsider looking in. The rain on the metal roof was melodic and the sound of the birds so peaceful!
Friday I taught a plank class, but it didnt go well as the connection was bad. Then we made lunch (as Jenn gave us a late checkout), had a tour of the other cottage (we stayed at FouFou, and the other is called Máde). Since Davo was on the land working on cottage #3, Jenn drive us back to the boat.
I think Lorena was in better shape then both of us expected, dry and Rod (the lithium problem child battery) was at 64%. We had turned off one of the fridgesbefore leaving --- but I forgot to empy the tiny freezer that had broccoli in it, which now smell peutrid!
After washing the fridge and putting away our belongings, we decided to go for a swim.... Over to the Canadian boat, Danu II, that had come in. We donned out “teletubby” snorkel gear and got some excersize. We were met by Zach, Jayda and 7 month old Owen (Emberson) who lived aboard and were from Barry, Ontario. We showered and reposed before supper, and were greeted by a “hello” from the Canadians who we invited aboard for a few hours.
A late super, some dancing and then to sleep for aday of travel... Unsure whether we will stop in Martinique or go all the way to Saint Lucia.Read more