The Saints and Dominica

May 11-12, 2011

We left Pointe de Pitre in Guadeloupe and immediately went aground! One of the guys from the marina who helps boats get docked came to our aid. Using the Spiniker halyard + another line he heeled us over enough that we could push ourselves off the sand bar. We proceeded to sail to The Saints which is group of islands south of Guadeloupe. We anchored off the largest of these islands. We went ashore to explore and check in at the Marie. We walked down the main street taking in the

sights and browsing through the shops. They do have a ferry dock and small square. The Streets are very narrow and many use scooters to get around. We ate in a ice restaurant called La Fringale which had nature murals painted on the walls and a waterfall in its open interior patio. The first night was very noisy as many catamarands were anchored with many young persons on board who went into

the town for loud music at one of the bars along the harbor. We spent some time exploring the nearby beaches using the dinghy. None were very large and all had ugly dark sand. The

last day we walked to the nearby Pompierre Beach which was wider and was more of a park. Many others were also present. At the entrance several vendors were selling food and drinks

. We met a nice couple , David and Michelle, on an Island Packet 40 "Daniel's Story" and joined them for cocktails and dinner. Other friends of their on a trawler "Bodacious" were there for cocktails. They suggested that we stop in Portsmouth on the north end of Dominica and take a tour of the National Park there.

May 15-16, 2011

We left The Saints for Dominica. We did stop at Portsmouth. The anchorage was very rolly at least 20% heeling. A Belgium couple we met at the customs dock said they might have a tour group for us to join the next day. Our driver was Robert "Boa" and our rainforest guide was "Cobra". A charter captain, Tom, who knew Cobra transported us all to the dock in several trips in his dinghy. We left at about 10a.m. and did not return until 7p.m. We drove along the coast and then into the rainforest. Many stops were made along the way at small bars for beer, rum, etc. We stopped at Manny's bar where we sampled some Dasheen (Taro) and "stepups" a type of rum and ginger wine drink popular among the Dominicans. cobra took us on a hike to

Spanny's Waterfall where we all took a dip in the cold mountain water. Cobra was very knowledgeable about the flora and fauna of the rainforest. we then went to a friend's bar along a mountain stream where we had rum and a Dominican meal of smoked chicken and fish with dumplings ( think knochi) and breadfruit ( like a potato) in an herbal broth. Not bad really. The setting was beautiful with many lovely flowers. When we arrived back at our starting place, Tom,was still in the mountains with Cobra so we were stranded on shore, making our poor driver and us quite angry with irresponsible Tom! Finally someone at the restaurant where we met took us out to our boat in Tom's dinghy. We spent another rolly night on the boat at anchor. most of the homes in dominica are made of concrete blocks covered with smooth concrete and painted vivid colors many with white trim. They all seem to have gardens . Though the economic status may be low, they show pride in what they have.

Sunday, May 15, 2011

We left Portsmouth and motor sailed down the coast through showers to Roseau, Dominica. The cruising guide spoke of many mooring balls but we did not see very many. Finally a Sea Cats boat approached us and helped us get a mooring in the rain. We ate on board. The next morning we went to the Fort Young Hotel because our friends, the Reynolds, from Montserrat were expected to arrive in Roseau for part of their vacation. They were seated at the patio bar as we walked into the hotel. We enjoyed lunch together before taking a walk around Roseau. Since they had waken at 4 a.m, they went to rest as we walked trying to identify some restaurants in town. Unfortunately, most of the restaurants listed in the Cruising Guide were no longer open. We ended up having pizza at the hotel. The next day we met the Reynolds at the hotel to take a taxi up into the hills to a garden restaurant for lunch. It was raining during our drive and while we were there except for a short time during lunch. We were the only customers. Our taxi driver was also a very good guide during our drive to and from the restaurant. We had an early cocktail hour with the Reynolds and went back to the boat for dinner. Unfortunately it had been raining most of the day and started again heavily as we were taking the dinghy back to the boat.

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

We sailed from Roseau, Dominica to the northern port of St. Pierre, on Martinique. there was a lovely large town dock where we took our dinghy in. We identified the place the Cruising Guide said to check into customs, but it was not open again until 6 p.m. We were able to take our trash to shore and then we walked around. It had a nice park next to the dock and a lovely old Town Hall. We sat down at an open sidewalk bar to wait. We tried to chat with some of the patrons. We met a couple from PA who keep their boat in the Chesapeake as we docked. They had come to the Caribbean with the 2010 Caribbean 1500. They came by and waited with us, We then walked down to the restaurant where the guide said we should check in and discovered that they no longer check in there but at the tourist office which the Chesapeake couple said was closed when they walked by it. We went back to the boat for dinner since none of the restaurants in town seemed to be open yet. We would check in at Fort du France the next day.