Early Monday morning, March 5th, we left the mid-western coast of Guadeloupe for a group of islands off the southwestern tip of Guadeloupe called The Saints or “Les Saintes” in French. We were traveling with our friends on “Heaven Won’t Wait” and the other three boats we were with in Deshaies will come to Les Saintes within a few days. We will repeat this pattern after about four days when we leave Les Saints first with “Heaven Won’t Wait” to be followed a few days later by “Asseance”, “Arctic Tern” and “Villomee”. Our “neighborhood” after Les Saintes will be Prince Rupert Bay off the town of Portsmouth, Dominica. Thus the title of this week’s web entry, “same neighbors, different neighborhood!” We will surely miss our “neighbors” when we say what will likely be a final good-bye in the next few weeks.
It is rewarding to us to be able to take our turn at arriving first at a new island and then share our acquired knowledge of this territory which will be unfamiliar to our friends who follow behind! Upon anchoring in a new location, each yacht must check in to customs and immigration, learn how to dispose of trash and pick up fuel (if needed) and water. Each town usually has a fresh produce market at specified locations one or more mornings a week and there is always the important information of where to get staple foods and how to utilize a local bus system, if available. Some anchorages are difficult, so obtaining information on holding ground, wind strength and direction changes and paths of ferry boats can make life on the hook more comfortable and relaxing.
Les Saintes was an adorable little town that I, unfortunately, did not get enough pictures of. We all thoroughly enjoyed our four day visit here. The picture below is taken from just outside the main town of Bourg Des Saintes and this is the town center.
This island is small enough to walk across from end to end – two activities we enjoyed. The above view of the main harbor is on the very protected Caribbean Sea side. The Atlantic Ocean side is a stark contrast with unending high winds and seas pounding the beaches. The Atlantic coast is visually dramatic as well. We walked to two destinations on the Atlantic coast, “Grande Anse” and “Baie De Pompierre”. The wind was howling at the rough beach of Grande Anse and we watched a kite boarder scream across the harbor and fly into the air off of the high waves. Baie De Pompierre is a very protected bay with beautiful reefs lining the shores. We would watch the wild seas outside the narrow openings pound against the rocky barrier outcroppings, shooting sea spray many feet into the air. The photo below is taken from the climb up to Fort Napoleon on the hill to the north of the town. Notice the shape of the land and the accessibility of the Atlantic Coast from this quaint town.
This next picture was taken from the same location as the previous and shows the other islands that are part of the collection called “Les Saintes” which protect the town.
Early morning, March 9th, we departed Les Saintes with the planned destination of Prince Rupert Bay of the majestic island of Dominica! We have heard tremendous reports of Dominica from other cruisers and we hope our experience there can be positively measured against our expectations. Our sail was an invigorating one. We remained on one close-hauled tack for the 20 mile trip that kept us pointing just a bit east of south. We averaged 7 knots of boat speed and enjoyed the occasional spray from being broad-sided by a swell. It was a beautiful day and we enjoyed the family time we were given during this passage. As we approached the northern point of Dominica, the wind gusts became erratic. This is a typical pattern of unpredictable gusts near islands and is often called the “island effect”. Tom mentioned what causes this in his write-up of our adventures of last week. While our experience off Dominica was not nearly as dramatic as that off of Guadeloupe, we did reef sails as a precaution.
One thing Dominica has over other Caribbean islands is an immense collection of natural beauties. Their government has done a very good job at protecting their assets while making them abundantly available to tour and of preserving their cultural heritage. They have very successfully transformed what yachting people refer to as “boat boys” into well educated guides of their rivers and inland wonders. This has proven to be both economically beneficial to Dominica and a welcome service to yachties. Boat boys previously approached your boat to help you anchor, offer to take your garbage, sell you local fruit, etc. Well, you are still approached by young locals paddling themselves along on surf boards to offer these and other services. However, you are also approached by one of several certified and very qualified river guides who make your experience in Dominica truly wonderful. Albert is the river guide who first approached us and when we realized he was one of the certified guides, we agreed to use his services for a guide of the Indian River later that afternoon. Over the next week, he would stop repeatedly by our boat to provide information, chat and take us snorkeling in a very special spot. Tune in next week to learn more about that one!! (As you can see, I’m writing this a bit later after experiencing it-that is typical of us!!)
If you hear that the Pirates of the Caribbean was all filmed in the Grenadines, don’t believe it! We have seen first hand several of the scenes from Dead Man’s Chest, the second movie! The kids are absolutely beside themselves each time a guide tells of another local experience with the filming of this movie. We have watched the movie while here, then have walked where it was partially filmed! Here is a shot in the Indian River where Captain Jack and his crew go to visit, “her”!
Can’t you just picture it? So could we! The excitement upon realizing we were in the very location of the filming of our favorite movie series was contagious. Our guide helped shuttle film crews during the filming sessions so he shared his personal knowledge and insight. This was such a gift to my boys! Here is one of the great tree root systems that made the filming of that portion of the movie special …
While the filming took place during bright daylight, you would never know that from the final product. Albert explained how they used huge and numerous fog machines to pipe in massive amounts of fog for mood and darkness. This next shot shows where one of the two temporary houses were erected for the dwelling of “her”, as Captain Jack Sparrow refers to the magical witch woman whom he has had a past with!
Here is our kind and gentle guide, Albert, sharing some knowledge and enthusiasm about his country with us …
If we left Dominica tomorrow, we would fondly recall our time here — which at this point would be less than 24 hours! As the boys had finished school work for the week, the following day was dedicated to exploration! We had a land tour of Dominica guided by our driver, Stratford. The four of us and the three residents of the boat “Heaven Won’t Wait” climbed into a mini-bus at nine in the morning and what a day we had — us and every one of our senses. Although all of our senses are continually tied together to provide us with information about our surroundings and experiences, I will break each one out as I describe our day.
Sense of Smell – This is how the day began … Our guide was great at stopping along the road to point out a coffee tree complete with coffee beans or to pick lemon grass and hand it to all of us to smell. In this manner, we enjoyed sniffing cinnamon bark cut freshly off a tree and the refreshing smells of freshly torn lemon grass, three varieties of bay leaves, several mints, basil and some local flavoring plants whose name is not coming to me!
Sense of Sight and Sound – Our senses of sight and sound were continually aroused as we enjoyed beautiful vegetation and vistas with the sounds of birds chirping and waves crashing. We saw how pineapples, bananas, coconuts, avocados, huge apricots and tons of fruits and vegetables whose names I can not recall. This picture is taken from a cliff overlooking the eastern coast (Atlantic side) of the center of Dominica. The vegetation was colored with bright purple, orange, magenta, yellow, white and every shade of green imaginable!
Sense of Taste – “Overload, overload!”, our taste buds screamed for us to stop by the end of this day! Below is a picture of kasava bread in the making – kasava is a root vegetable similar to a potato and this picture shows a foot-operated machine which is used to grind the kasava into a texture to be used for making the bread.
There are several steps between grinding the root and eating the bread, but you can see here several loaves of kasava bread about ready to come off the fire in the manner it was made hundreds of years ago by the local native tribes of Caribe people who still occupy territories on the island of Dominica.
Sense of Taste continued … Stratford, our guide and driver, brought us to this road-side stand pictured below which is at the home of a guy called “Sexy Bones” and his family. Sexy Bones cut open young coconuts for us to drink from and old coconuts which the thick coconut flesh comes from. He had us taste freshly cut local basil, bananas, ginger, nutmeg and this great fruit called custard apples. As you can see, his tool of choice is the machete which he skillfully employs here to cut a coconut for drinking. Our friend Marni, in this picture, is holding the custard apple and the table behind her contain plantains, bananas, papaya, and apricots all grown on Sexy Bones’ property.
Taste STILL continued … I told you our taste buds were screaming at the end of this day! After leaving Sexy Bones’ road-side stand, we were taken to a restaurant in the Carib Territory town of Castle Bruce on the Atlantic coast. The restaurant is called “Islet View”. Wow! Steamed fish with local spices, papaya salad, grilled bread fruit, fresh squeezed juices, and another 5 or 6 items that were equally tasty but which I can not recall the names of!
In addition to all I’ve mentioned so far, we also tasted the slimy substance which surrounds cocoa beans in the large pods which hang down from cocoa tree branches. Probably the single strangest sensation of the day, though not at all unpleasant!
Ok, I said all of our senses were played with this day! On to touch …
Sense of Touch – Cold, crisp mountain water crashing onto your back as you climb on a rock and jump through the falls at this “Emerald Pool” in the rain forest of Dominica as Zachary has just done! A very refreshing “touch” after an almost full day of touring this great land.
We arrived back at the dock where our dinghy was waiting eight full hours after we had begun our island tour. All of our senses were exhausted, yet our spirits very high. I’ll leave you with a picture I took while walking toward the Emerald Pool. What do you see in this picture below?
An ape on all fours looking right at you? That is what I saw in this tree root system. Here is a side picture of the same natural item!
Isn’t nature great? It even has a sense of humor!
Hope you all thoroughly enjoy your lives this week and always. We look forward to writing again soon!