Sail on Sail Pending

We took a walk to Fort Shirley and Cabrit National Park. The walk took us along the beach  

 and past a deserted resort where construction stopped a few years ago. 

   Then we got to the entrance of the National Park.  

We walked up the hill towards the Fort.  

 Fort Shirley has been completely updated. Here are some pictures of our walk around the Fort.  

The original settlers that landed in Jamestown, VA landed in Dominica a few weeks before. Here is a plaque from Virgina. 

      
     
    The outdoor kitchen was pretty cool!!  

The trees around were a great learning experience. 
 A group of huge Mahogany Trees.  A teak tree  

We walked back down the hill.   
 and waved at our friends on Time Out as they were leaving and headed towards The Saintes. 

 We walked back to town and ate lunch at The Purple Turtle.  

and had Passion Fruit Rum drinks on the boat!! 

 
It’s always an amazing day on the water!!! 

The British and French have battled back and forth for this island for centuries, but on November 3rd, 1978, Doninica gained independence from the British and is now its own country.   

  
Both the French and British influence is very apparent. The culture and creole style food is definitely very French, but English is the official language. Many locals will speak “Patois“, which is a dialect of creole, amongst themselves.

We anchored in Portsmouth, a town located on the Northwestern side of the island. There are P.A.Y.S (Portsmouth Area Yachts Service) guys that great the cruisers and help them with anything that a boater could want or need, including arranging tours and general information about the island. Tyler explained the PAYS guys to Grammy and Pop Pop like this… “They are like the guys in hotels that will set up tickets to shows and tell you which restaraunts to go to.”  … And he is exactly right. The PAYS are like the concierge, for cruisers, in Portsmouth. 

Over the past few days we’ve learned that most Dominician’s live off of their land, so they have respect for their island and protect it from becoming polluted. They are very proud of their independence and even more proud of their island culture and everything the island has to offer.  

 
Here are just a few facts we’ve learned about Dominica, so far. 

1.) There are 12 active volcanos; 9 on the island and 3 in the sea. There has not been a major eruption since the steam eruption in 1997. 

2.) There are 365 rivers including the famous Indian River which was used in the movie, Pirates of the Caribbean 2.

3.) There are 100 different varieties of Mango’s, 177 species of birds, 3 types of snakes, 1000 varieties of Hardwoods in the rain forest, 12 different wild Orchids, 20 different types of crabs, and over 1000 types of herbs many of which are used as treatments for different ailments. 

4.) The Eastern side of the island gets about 70 inches of rain a year while the Western side gets over 250 inches. It will rain everyday in the rain forest. 

5.) Dominica is considered the Western Hemisphere’s Fountain of Youth with currently    

 There over 30 centenarians on this small island. Health care cost are minimal, as well, because they use plants and herbs to cure most medical problems. Dominica’s Centenarians

Now, it is time to go have fun and explore this lush island!! Stay tuned for more pictures and information on this lush tropical paradise. 

After a pleasant 3 hour sail from The Saintes, Guadeloupe, we arrived in Portsmouth, Dominica. As we were pulling into the anchorage our friends on Time Out, radioed us and said they were just pulling in, as well (they were arriving from Martinique). Our other friends on Escape Claws have already been here for a few days. 

We quickly got anchored and dingied ashore to clear customs. After we cleared into Dominica, we met up with Time Out, at Sandy’s Beach Bar. Since we haven’t seen them since St. Patty’s Day on Monserrat, we caught up over a few cold beers while the kids played on the beach.    

   
Luckily, it was an early night because we had a tour to the Syndicate Rain Forest with Spesh the next day. 

On the drive to the forest we drove by a Bridge that was destroyed by Tropical Storm Ericka, last year.  A new bridge was rebuilt with the help of the French and British governments.  
 

Spesh kept us all entertain with the stories of his family history. His great, great grand fathers and 2 of his brothers escaped slavery from a plantation in Guadeloupe and came to Dominica. 

He also told us some interesting facts about Dominica.

Dominica has 12 volcanos; 9 on the island, 3 in the sea just off land.

Dominica has 365 rivers.

Dominica has 177 different species of birds including the Sugar Bird. (Couldn’t get any good pictures). The Males birds will make a nests and the Female will choose who’s nest to lay her 3 eggs in. When the 3 eggs hatch there will be 2 male baby birds and 1 female baby bird. The two male baby’s will fight until one die. Survival of the fittest at its best!!

As you can see the kids were intrigued by Spesh’s story’s about the island’s history and the different flora and fauna. They all listened attentively and asked some great questions. School for today is done. Yea!!!

Then we hiked into the forest where there are over 1000 varieties of hard wood trees. The bridge below was built out of a Karapit Tree. 
 They do not cut down any of the hard woods here on Dominica, because they don’t want to destroy the forest. The wood can only be used if it has fallen naturally. This tree fell in 1979 when Hurricane David hit the island. Notice, in the picture below, that the stumps and logs have not rotted or been eaten by ants or other insects. This is a pretty solid wood. 

   
  Spesh says the bridge will last over a hundred years. He also told us that the wood is so hard that it will break a normal drill bit. 

Another hardwood tree is the Chatannye Tree that was used to communicate before telephone or other modern forms of communications. People would bang on the roots and it sounds like a large drum that can be heard miles away.   

 
Spesh showed us how to use the gum from a ?? tree root to make a fire (top picture below) and how to follow the roots of a ?? tree to find water (bottom picture below). Sorry, I don’t remember what the trees were called. 😳  

There are 12 different species of orchids and thousands of other tropical flowers that grow wild on Dominica. Here are a few pictures of the wild flowers we saw today.  

    
 
Spesh showed us how he and other local people set traps for local game. He took us to check his trap which is a large hole dug into the ground with twigs and branches over it to hide it. The animals will fall in and will not be able to escape.  

 
Spesh also showed us a plant which is called “The pearl of the forest.” He broke a stalk open and took out several white seeds from inside that look like pearls. These tiny pearls are known for healing any prostate problems that man might have. He had each of the men eat a couple.  

 
Here is a picture of a birds nest orchid. 

Here is a picture of a Kawi, the parrots open it and only eat the seeds.  

We had an amazing morning and we’re getting hungry, but our hike wasn’t over yet. We de ended out of the rain forest and into agriculture areas that raised tropical fruits…. Stay tuned for part two, where we taste the fresh produce of the island. 

Video of our walk through the forest
Below are more pictures from our morning hike. 

After our walk around Capesterre we found a dirt road that weaved North along the water to view the Grottos and beach on the Eastern edge of the island. The prevailing winds and waves heavily beat the Eastern Coast, so this is not an area we can get to with Sail Pending, so our only option to explore is by car. The rocks were jaggy and black
 
but the sand was a beautiful creamy pink color. 
 

Then we drove along the South side of the island, past the airport, to the largest town on the island, Grand Bourg.   

 
Grand Bourg is a very industrial town and lots of people getting on and off the multiple ferry’s that come and go everyday.   

After we walked around Grand Bourg we made our way back towards Saint Louis (where Sail Pending is anchored). We passed old ruins and turned around to take a closer look.  

 As we walked around we learned that it was The Roussel-Trianon Sugar Plantation built in 1669.  

 What is so impressive about this plantation is the intricate details of the carved stone on the windmill and other locations around the plantation.  

 
We are so happy we took the time to stop and explore Marie-Galante. It may be off the normal path for most cruisers, but if the weather conditions permit, this small island should not be missed. 

The anchorage at Saint Louis, Marie-Galante is wide open and spacious. It’s located on the Northwestern side of the island and a perfect place to rent a car to explore the Northern cliffs.  

The sandy bottom of the anchorage had a few rocky areas with very colorful and healthy sea life. Here are a few pictures of an area that Rich and Shawn found when they snorkeled to check our anchor. 
 

There is a large concrete ferry dock with a well maintained floating dingy dock located on the South side. The guide books also say that you can beach your dingy too.  

The village of Saint Louis is a charming French Caribbean town. Here are some pictures of our walk around town. 

 
 
The next morning we rented a car to explore the rest of the island. It wasn’t the newest or the most well maintained car, but it got us around the island safely. 

   First stop the cliffs on the Northern side of the island.
   
  

Next stop was the Bellevue Rum Distillary where they still make rum the old fashion way; with real sugar cane! 

   
Time for lunch!! We had an amazing lunch in Capesterre, a small village on the Southeastern side of the island.  

     
 After lunch we took a quick walk along the beach road. …. Stay tuned. Our afternoon in Marie-Galant will be coming next in part 2.