Fish, mangos, and dasheen yes. KFC no

Amaris Sails the World

Portsmith, Dominica

May 2, 2014

Fish, mangos, and dasheen yes.  KFC no.

Dominica is among my favorite of the Caribbean Islands.  Although we did little of it, there are tons of hiking trails to explore-many leading to waterfalls, hot springs, vistas, etc.  The island has the highest mountain in the Caribbean chain as well-which leads to tropical rain forests.  Parts of the island see over 300 inches of rain (slightly more than Seattle) leaving the island lush and the inhabitants with a surplus of water.  Dominica has installed one of three planned geothermal power plants and will soon be selling power to neighboring islands Guadeloupe and Martinique.  As if that isn't enough, Dominica is the home to more centurions per capita than any other country. Recently, the worlds oldest person (who lived on Dominica) passed at 127 years old.  Sadly she left two friends that were 116 shy of a Dominos player.  The island was also covered in volcanic ash 100 years ago with the eruption of the volcano at the north end of Martinique.  The ash leads to very fertile soil and growing conditions-and limitless water for irrigation.

Shawn and I spent three days in the main harbor at the north of the island.  The people are incredibly friendly - which i know i keep saying about the people in the Caribbean.  In general they all are.  Many of the islands in the southern half of the Caribbean have "boat boys."  These men greet incoming yachtsmen as they sail in and help tie to a mooring, arrange or sell produce, set up tours of the island, assist with finding repairs or parts, etc.  For the most part, these "salesmen" walk a fine line between helpful and annoying.  Sadly, they don't have a ton to sell - and they are all selling the same tours.  Dominica has taken a different approach with the boat boys forming a type of "co-op" whereby they ask visiting yachtsmen to chose one individual to be their guide to the island.  This individual arranges for all the items someone may need and in general can be quite helpful to a visitor.  You are not continuously barraged with "would you like some grapefruit?  Would you like a tour?  Would you like some "Bob Marley" (marijuana)?  In addition, the co-op has laid a myriad of moorings that visitors can tie into instead of anchoring.  The funds from these moorings as well as a weekly cook off (Fridays) go to support the co-op.  A warning however, I dove on the boat to clean the bottom while anchored here-the mooring behind us was tied to two anchors (a large fisherman's and a Danforth) and not the typical 2-ton concrete block.  A good reminder to dive on your ground tackle even if it is a mooring. 

While visiting, we took the island tour by van with friends Tom and Sabina aboard their boat Honey Ryder (yes-named after the James Bond super model).  The all day tour drove through a valley between mountain ranges where we hiked into two spectacular water falls.  Sabrina of course encouraged us to swim by claiming the pools under the falls had magical properties that may help us look young forever.  Whereas it was wonderful to swim under the falls in fresh water-the water was quite frigid.  I suppose we are soft after swimming in the 85 degree water of the Caribbean Sea.  We also made stops at several vistas including the islands Red Rock Cliffs at the north end.  I believe Dominica to be one of the Caribbean's more beautiful islands.

Shawn and I agreed that if we ever become plantation owners - Dominica is the place to do it.