Harry's photo of sunset over Pigeon Island
On our way south from Antigua we stopped at Pigeon
Island, off the west coast of Guadeloupe, and the snorkelling was incredible –
Harry said it was like jumping into an aquarium – plus a loggerheadl turtle swam
by, amazing.
So rough crossing to Dominica that we had to hand steer. The Saints on horizon.
We then headed to the Isles de Saintes, which are 7 miles
south of Guadeloupe The Saints are really pretty – small, high islands with a
lot of French colonial houses, red-roofed and multicoloured with pretty balconies
and lots of flowers. We had planned to
stay a day but the wind got up so much that it was not safe to leave for 3
days.
Anchored off the Anchorage hotel, Roseau
We were lucky enough to spend nearly 3 weeks in Dominica,
which was lovely. The people are very
friendly and often stop for a chat. We
did a trip to Victoria falls, the highest falls on the island, and it is a
‘moderate’ walk. Well, after crossing
the river, knee deep in water, several times, scrambling up granite boulders
(some too high for me and Harry so we had to be dragged up) shinning along a
fallen tree trunk over the river and shimmying around a rock outcrop with John
guiding our feet we finally got there!
It was worth it though, as it was spectacular. We went with three people from another boat,
which was nice for all of us, and they found it a bit difficult too so I didn’t
feel like such a wimp.
We were anchored off the Anchorage Hotel for 10 days with
Pancho, complete with dreadlocks, as our ‘boat boy’. The ‘boat boys’ all have open, wooden boats
with powerful outboards and they are usually very helpful as they earn money by
looking after visiting yachts. It was
good being there as there is a small reef near the hotel and we were swimming
and snorkelling every day. We caught the
little local bus into town to go to the Saturday market, lots of freshly picked
fruit and veg with stalls ranging from 3 tables down to one small box on the
ground – plus the fishermen blowing on conches to attract your attention.
Veena at her stall - the produce we bought from her was delicious.
We
sailed back up to Portsmouth, in the north, a huge bay and a really safe
anchorage. The boatmen have got together
and organised a security boat to patrol at night and to pay for it they have a
Sunday night barbecue, right next to the wonderfully named Purple Turtle
restaurant, so we enjoyed a great evening with about 100 other people from
various boats. We ended up with three
American couples and all the men were called Jim! They all keep their boats in the Caribbean,
and spend half the year at home, and half cruising.
Albert, our chap, took us up the Indian River which runs
into the bay and is named after the Carib Indians, and is really beautiful and
mysterious. It was used in the 2nd
Pirates of the Caribbean movie, and the three films were set in Dominica and St
Vincent. We saw iguanas, land crabs and
lots of birds as he rowed slowly along, and the trees looked like a set from
Lord of the Rings with extraordinary convoluted roots of swamp bloodwood trees decorating the river banks,
interspersed with palms, bamboos, ferns and vines.
Chloe & Sara starting the repairs on Twisting Shadow's genoa
We met up again with a young couple we met in Antigua, David and Chloe,
and I was able to mend their sail for them. Their boat was built in 1969 and is
only 28 feet long, and it took them 28 days to sail across from the Canaries. It was lovely to see them and spend some time
together. They are heading south now and
will meet up with Tom, on Makatea, as he is heading north from Trinidad where
he made landfall after his Atlantic crossing.
We did another big walk, a trip to the forest to see the
rare Sisserou parrots. The guidebook
suggests a taxi then do the walk yourself as it is about an hour and a circular
path. So we got up at 6am, packed up
marmite sandwiches, biscuits and water (just in case..), dinghy ashore, 10 min
walk to bus area and got a taxi, and after 20 minutes drive up the mountain we
came off onto a steep lane when the driver then complained it was much further
than he had realised as we drove for miles up the single track road. Eventually he left us with about 20 mins to
walk to the forest, where we met a couple of wardens eating their breakfast – a
lovely walk, beautiful, tall hardwood trees but no parrots. Then John decided that instead of the long
walk back to the main road, we should take the path down the hill, the first
half of a ‘difficult’ hike on the map.
Harry & I were not sure as we’d found the earlier moderate walk to
the falls a challenge but we agreed that the most difficult bit was the second
half, to the top of the mountain opposite.
So we set off, through orange groves at first, parrot-pecked oranges
strewn around the ground and the air heavy with the scent of orange
blossom.
There is a 4 foot black & white snake in this photo!
The forest was dense, with a
path marked by occasional paint marks on the trees, and for the first 2 hours
it was fine, we saw a couple of snakes, lots of humming birds and gorgeous
butterflies, then it started to go steeply down until we had to slither on
steeper bits until we got to the sheer drop.
It was only about 12 feet but seemed much more. John went first, then talked us down, more
slithering, sometimes on our bottoms, more climbing down, more worrying (I was
sure I’d never be able to go back up by now) until, finally, we came out into a
banana plantation, still following the path, and then down to a tarmac track
and a signpost!! We were by the river
and a mile from the road, almost at the bottom of the mountain it had taken so
long to drive up. We were all sweltering
and went down to the river to have the most refreshing swim ever.
Cool, fresh, water - bliss.
Portsmouth Harbour - a welcome sight on our trek.
