God Bless Dominica (and Les Saints, Guadeloupe, Antigua, St Barts and St Martin)

Well, procrastination has run its course and we are out of excuses. Today we have time, Internet, and no reason not to finally submit a posting, the first in almost 3 weeks. Truly, most of this time we have simply had no Internet access, wireless, etc, however, some of it has simply been a paucity of time. A simple choice between RECORDING memories, and MAKING memories.

Once again, we are working back in time. If you want to follow this chronologically, go to the bottom of this posting.

DOMINICA, MARCH 8, 2009 TILL PRESENT

We are currently in Portsmouth, Dominica since Sunday afternoon.

Nightly occurence. They don't make enough pixels.

Yesterday in Portsmouth. We decided to have just a chill day, instead of beating ourselves up with day trips, as Chris and Mal and Stacy prepare to leave tomorrow. Did a little grocery shopping, then stopped for lunch in a cafe. Chicken roti is wonderful...curry chicken, potatoe, etc wrapped in a fresh hot tortilla. Also "Seamoss" to drink. The owner would not reveal the recipe, made fresh in the cafe. Apparently sort of a local egg nog with seaweed, milk, spices. Was really delicious. While waiting, we were all glued (except sleepy Pete) to CNN. First news we have seen/heard in weeks. Nothing good. Ignorance is wonderful sometimes. Then spent the day swimming, sunning on the trampoline, reading, card games, speed scrabble.

Albert (our river guide) and his 18 y.o. daughter Aretha ("better than Aretha") came for dinner on the boat. Chris made Dominican food (Republic, not Commonwealth). It was good....rice, beans, squash, onions, peppers, chicken..."La Bandera". And now proof that Peter does know how to do dishes. Just find an ocean big enough and he can clean any pot. This is how we clean dishes actually. Crude rinse in ocean water, then soapy wash in the sink, usually cold. Helps conserve fresh water.

Malinda has been our faithful historian/diarist throughout the past two weeks. It has been a bit of a community event as we have all contributed facts and details at the end of the day as journal and pen come out. A nice way to end the day with a recollection of all the exciting, new, educational or just plain wierd things that we experienced.



Robert Ludlum, Diet Coke, Stacy's guacamole with chips on the poop deck at sunset. Bliss.

Our driver, Dylan, took us to his favorite eating place in the city, Roseau, after our trip to Trafalgar Falls, for some down-home, creole cooking. Great meal of curry mutton or BBQ pork or chicken, with potato salad, rice, banana, veggies, etc. All the while watching their national obsession, cricket, on the Tele. Not that we understood it. We also watched a few minutes of a youth cricket practice in the park, but not sure that we understand the rules any better now than before.

in 1979 Hurricane David did a number on Dominica. This school bus was on the wrong side of this African bilbao tree in Roseau. No one hurt. Not something you see very often. Sort of makes the rules about putting gum under the seats seem silly.

We hiked into Trafalgar Falls, which we had been to three years earlier on a Cruise ship, and some of us bouldered up to the falls and sat under the deluge. The water was strong enough to prevent standing. I won't need to shampoo for a week. The water was not cold, just cool ( or was it adrenalin), and so clear. Vis was great. Saw small fish. Peter and Chris found an underwater channel behind the falls. I just watched and looked for my BLS card.

Came down from the Falls and found Kathy looking for the soap under the water with this Frenchman. Boy they can hold their breath a long time.

This geo-thermal hot spring felt so good. It was the first hot bath we have had in 5 weeks. We soaked for 30+ minutes until we were sweating prunes. Nature's hot tub.

(Stacy taught us the fine art of flash-filling when taking our photos...)

Enroute to Trafalgar Falls, Dylan (our guide and driver) took us to his home town on the west coast, Colihaut, a small fishing town. There we went to his neighborhood, met the local kids, saw goats, chickens, mango and breadfruit trees galore. Very narrow streets, really only about 10 feet wide, deep gutters usually. The kids all wear very fancy school uniforms...the girls in dresses and blouses, the boys in slacks, dress shoes, white shirts and ties. Looks like a grade school MTC.

Albert our river guide introduced us to Cocoa Tea (Cocoa ground with nutmeg, cinnamon, and vanilla, then rolled into cigars shapes) and we found some in a local shop. We tried it back at the boat, and Chris, Peter and Kathy really love it (Keith is not so sure).


Albert took us on a trip up the Indian River in his boat. We saw some great flora and fauna. This is where I learned that bananas have flowers below their fruit! But the greatest thing was seeing where they filmed the witch scenes in the the 2nd Pirates of the Carribbean!

(Great picture Chris!! I think this is called a brown lizard. We did see many green iguanas too.)

Albert, our river guide, may have had a little crush on Stacy. Mark where are you when we need you?

This is more the Caribbean scene we were expecting. Home made fishing boats on a palm-studded, wind-sept shore against Caribbean blue water. Pass the sunscreen and get out of my way.

More hurricane remnants; this time from Luis in 1995 and Omar in 2007. These ships line the shore of Prince Rupert Bay. One ship has been deliberately scuttled just at the mouth of Indian River as a breakwater.

So after finally clearing Bourg des Saints Harbor, we motored out past Pain de Sucre and Terre de Basse into open water, where we raised a reefed main and jib and sailed off on a wonderful broad reach, reaching Portsmouth Dominica in a single port tack. Seas were 3-6 feet and winds 20 knots with some gusts to 28. We got an occasional strong stern wave which really created an amazing yaw, much to the chagrin of Malinda, who got wet from the Captain's Diet Coke on the salon table as she lay in her usual supine command post during the passage.

We sailed into Prince Rupert Bay and were immediately met by Albert, our new friend, Indian River guide, fishing guide, general gopher. He grew up here in Logoon on Rat Island. He still lives there on family land. He lives out in a swamp approached walking over coconut logs above the mud and water. Dodges boa constrictors...really. Anyway, he was waiting for us (for anyone really) out at the harbor mouth drumming up business. We dropped sail and motored over to the ferry dock to take on water and wash the boat. $20 for all the fresh water we needed. Got a good rubber skid mark on the starboard side from the old tire fender on the dock...our fender handlers missed. Oh well. I paid a Rastaman smoking the ganja weed mon $30 the next day to clean the sides of the boat, scrape scum, etc.

ISLES DE SAINTS, MARCH 6-8 2009

Sunday morning March 8th was beautiful, sunny but still quite windy. We had a leisurely morning. We commenced Sacrament meeting with 3 verses of Master the Tempest is Raging, chosen by Kathy and words written out by Stacy, opening prayer, followed by a few choice announcements..."Please return chalk supplies to the Library; we are running low. There will be swimming linger-longer after the meeting today, and Family Home Evening will be held on on Dominica Monday night; The men would like to thank the Sisters for bringing in dinner, etc". You get the idea. Dad was then released from Captain and Commander, and Peter was unanimously sustained as same. We then sang Green Hill followed by the Sacrament. Peter gave an extemporaneous talk on Alma 40, followed by a lesson by Chris on Acts 16-17. No shipwrecks this time. Then a closing song and prayer. We thought we were good to go to Dominica. We tried to go to Dominica. We REALLY tried to go to Dominica.

We couldn't raise our anchor. It just wouldn't come up despite all the usual maneuvers. So Keith, quickly reverting back to Captain and Commander, ordered (uh, suggested) that Chris don scuba gear and go check it out. Turns out that in the midnight slip and slide all over the windy harbor two nights before I had dropped anchor directly on an old, unmarked mooring chain 30 feet under us. 5 feet either direction and we would have missed it. At least we held good in all the strong wind. We didn't move an inch. Anyway, after we took the tension off the anchor chain Chris in his majesty calmly removed the anchor from the obstruction, climbed aboard, and we were off. Chris is now our boat Dirk Pitt. Move over Peter. Ah how fleeting is fame. One day you are a hero, and the next just a galley mate again.

This beautiful, wooden sailing schooner sailed into Les Saints on our last day. You watch this and can almost imagine the 19th century in front of you. Actually we saw many of these large sailing vessels, though this was one of the prettiest. Many of them are commercial sailing cruise ships like Seven Seas, etc.

We made reservations at "Les Tres Boats". The chef and owner (his name was "Chicken George" after the "Roots" character) told us to return at 7 PM and then bought the ingredients and cooked us up a 5 course meal. When we tried to have four more join us for dinner from our sister ship "Seabbatical" the chef said that he had only made enough for the six of us! He made a passion fruit sauce over grilled mahi-mahi, with streamed veggies ( cristophene, mashed yams, other) after a coconut fish ceviche served over fresh pineappple puree. Then a baked chocolate cake and ice cream.

Here we are waiting in the park for dinner. Kids were playing tag, riding in-line skates, etc.

These were the two most used forms of transportation on the island. We had to really watch ourselves not to get run over.

Ah yes Mal, dessert before dinner! Just wait until I get home and show Ella and Eli this photo!!

Uhhhh, our three men: "He who points", "He who scratches head", and "He who sits".

Our favorite Beach of the whole trip...Plage de Pompierre, on the windward side of Terre de Haut. Pete and Dad swam 1/2 mile out to the mouth of the bay at the breakers. The bay is nearly enclosed by steep rock cliff and stone formations....just beautiful and protected. It is closed to all motorized boats.

AHHHH...

Wow! This is the scene coming back from the beach. We had a long walk, but it was worth it!

Running with Stacy's posse. She drew a crowd everywhere she went, and seemed to invite approach by the most unusual people. Why would a seemingly normal, grown Frenchman want to have Stacy take his picture with an old TV atop a washing machine?

The manikins in this shop were just plain wierd! As you can see we couldn't help but make fun...the question is, which is the dummy ?

Hoisting the mainsail takes a lot of upper-body strength. If Keith or Peter get hurt after Chris leaves, we are dead!

The first night we were anchored in 48 feet of water in Saints harbor, and the wind was blowing like a banchee. About 1 AM Stacy was up and noticed a strange sight outside her port window...an adjacent sailboat just a few feet away. WE WERE DRAGGING ANCHOR! So were several other boats. We called all hands on deck, grabbed fenders, and manually pushed away the bowsprit of the adjacent monohull. The dinghy painter had somehow become wedged in the rudder, so with little encouragement Pete jumped right over the side 30 sec after waking up. I handed him the dive light, and he quickly freed the line. Then we motored up, quickly raised out dragging anchor, and motored across the bay to what we thought was a more protected site. It was, but very steep drop-off in an on-shore swell, and by the time we had safe amount of anchor chain out our stern was just a few feet from shore....too close for comfort. So up again, and off to the third possibility, over near the commercial dock. Here we finally found good holding in 30 feet of water, tho still quite wind-exposed. I was up on anchor watch till after 3 AM while the others slept. What a night. Pete was the hero of the night. We dub thee "Dirk Pitt". And good eyes, Stacy. We clearly need more anchor chain on board. 150 feet of chain w/o rode is insufficient to give > 5:1 scope in > 30 feet of water. Lesson learned.

GUADELOUPE, MARCH 3-6, 2009

This pic is in the marina in Basse Terre, Guadeloupe. Even tho the picture is blurry, I really like the fluid, motion artifact because it shows how the lamp-post and anchorlight and starlight reflects off the ripply water in a thousand directions. It can be quite disorienting.

We needed to provision our boat, but the locals have been on strike and protesting for higher wages in all of the French Islands and the rioting caused the shut down of many businesses. When we came into this Leader Price grocery store in Basse Terre we were so shocked by how bare the shelves were. We decided not to try to provision on this island...the locals needed the food more than we did. Interesting story...I was driving the very nattow and round-about- backstreets looking for this place with no luck. No map or address, just finger pointing from passers-by. In desperation we stopped again to ask, and instead were escorted by 2 EMT's in their ambulance to the market. Would that be "Code Grocery" ? Very nice people everywhere we went.

We stopped here at the McDonalds in Gosier on the way to St Anne Beach to use the restroom and walked into a protest march. We later learned from a French teacher who happened to be there that this was a focal point "hot bed" for the protest. He said that this was the first time in 10 days that he had come out of his apartment!! (How do we time these things?) Later, the French police came and broke up the protest after the protesters tried to storm the then-closed McDonalds.

After our trip to the rain forest and falls, we visited St. Annes Beach and had the local crepes (chocolate-banana, {Dauphine...bacon, potato, sour cream sauce}etc) while using the slow internet. Cute rear-view shot of Keith...

We took a steep, adventurous drive (Thanks Mal for sitting over the gear shift/emergency break for hours!) up to Chutes de Carbet in southern Guadeloupe and hiked into the rain forest! It reminded us of Multnomah Falls on the Columbia River, minus the cold wind.

This foot bridge was hit by a mud slide, but we took turns going out onto it to get pictures.

The commercially-sold bananas were all wrapped up in blue plastic to protect them from the birds.

Stacy lost a bet with Kathy and had to pet a wild cat. (We never did ACTUALLY see her touching the cat, although she said that she tried...)

This was Fort Louis. Keith did some, shall we say, slightly illegal driving to get us to the area. There is always a car story behing every trip we take!

We asked around a local cafe near the dinghy dock for a rental car place, and met a very wonderful French couple. She was a dentist, and he was a General Practitioner MD. They were there eating with their family. After their meal they drove me 30 mins to a car rental shop, and stayed to help translate. They were very kind. The only rental car we could get was a 2 door Peugeot that seated just four. We had six big people ! So we tried all kinds of things to get us from place to place. (Cassan and Peter, do you remember Austria and Switzerland ? Annie and Chris, do you remember Gorgona?)

While getting more provisions, some local girls came up to Kathy and started to touch her clothes. They said, "hi" in their best English (locals speak French), so she asked if they wanted a picture with her.

Stacy put these signs up on the port and starboard sides of the boat. They represent the French and Dutch sides of St. Maarten. The French side (where all of our guests stay) have the stinkiest heads... for more details call Stacy, Chris or Mal. But the French side also claims to have had more fun. The names come from our favorite soon-to-be Top 10 Pop hit we heard for the first time in a St Martin night club..."On the Dutch side".

A view of the starboard hull looking forward from the stern berth.

Keith tried trolling between Deshaies and Basse Terre, Cousteau Marine Park notwithstanding. No luck. The Williams fishing jinx continues.

This is Deshaies harbor on northwest Guadeloupe. The town was small and quaint. We arrived here after a robust sail from English Harbor. Our main sheet parted 10 miles into the sail. Gave me a start when I heard this loud crack. I thought the boat was breaking up. We tied up the main sheet on both sides and just motor sailed with our jib the rest of the way.

We got up early ( 6 AM), weighed anchor, and sailed on a very fast run from Green Island back to English Harbor so we could be there at 8 AM opening to check out of Customs/ Immigration. After checking out at 3 different adjacent offices ( Port Authority, Immigration, and then finally Customs after the guy finally showed up at 10:30,) we sailed south out of the harbor for Deshaies, Guadeloupe.

The two REAL master and commanders...

ANTIGUA, FEBRUARY 26--MARCH 3, 2009


Kathy and Chris kayaked while Keith and Mal dingied over to West Beach on Green Island and found hermit crabs, a sitting hammock, and warm sand. Peter later swam over...show off!

We had a GREAT gourmet dinner (featured in Gourmet Magazine) at Harmony Hill in Brown's Bay of Nonsuch Bay on the east side of Antigua. They allowed guests to swim in their swimming pool and had a tower with a great view. It was on old sugar cane distillery.

Harmony Hill, Brown Bay, Nonsuch Bay. Who can forget fresh herb rolls, olive tapenade, and lobster taglietelle?

This was one of the best meals we've ever had!

Peter never turns down a good swim~ And he needed it. His swim shorts were very stinky. Can occur easily in sea water in not rinsed and dried.

Speaking of swimming...

Wahoo! Who would have known you could find swimsuit models on Ricket Beach!

Our favorite after-dinner past-time: fighting over which game to play!

Hammock Wars :

Bryan left for Dominica our first night in English Harbor. We are now on our own! After 2 nights here we sailed 2 hours east to Green Island. What a beautiful place. Not many boats, protected beaches, large ringing reef.

English Harbor, Fort Berkeley. We are hogging the only shade!

Sitting on top of the fort wall gave us quite a view. One Life in the background. Looking into Freeman Bay. Shirley Heights in the background.

Chris and Mal



The only surviving (though restored) Georgian Naval Base @ English Harbor , Antigua. Admiral Horatio Nelson served here early on in his career. There is a very nice museum dedicated to his history and life in general in the British Navy of the time. The pic below is of a sailhouse...they would sail the boat into this area. The pillars supported a sail loft, and the first floor where the pillars are was open.


One Life through old window in the guardhouse on point of Fort Berkeley

This explanation of why a ship called "she" particularly poignant after preceeding picture:

Another in an endless supply of bakeries we visited in our wanderings. Kathy's Achilles heel. This in the old English Harbor village.

The passage from west side of Antigua to English Harbor. Peter tied on a safety line and was towed behind the boat while we were motoring right into the wind. He kept up pretty well with his butterfly stroke for a while, then the waves won, he swallowed about a liter of salt water, and we pulled him in. Only Peter. We kept quiet about this in front of Bryan and Mom for a while. (Note from Kathy: It was obvious what they had done, because they had not put away their evidence. It wasn't hard to figure it out after seeing a life jacket, line (rope), and water all over the place. Come on, I know these guys only too well!)

This is a wonderful little bay called Deep Bay on the northwest side of Antigua, just below the mouth of St Johns Harbor. A 100 year old shipwreck lies here in 20 feet of water. Two old wooden masts just rise above the water. Here lies the Andes, a pitch carrier from South America which caught fire and sank here. We snorkeled and scuba'ed on the wreck. Sadly, very poor vis. Kathy kayaked.

Our passage from St Barts to Antigua was distinctly more difficult and tedious than Anegada Passage, for sure. Higher winds and waves, 15-20+ knots and 5-6 feet seas from the southeast, exactly our direction of travel. Sailing was out. We covered the 75 miles in 12 hours or so, but it was a rodeo the whole way. Peter, Stacy and I took shifts at the helm, harnessed in. Once again, the stars were amazing, watching nav lights of passing boats was interesting, and navigating by lighted ATON's and GPS into Jolly Harbor on west coast of Antigua at night was fun. We found an easy, shallow anchorage, dropped anchor, and caught a few hours of sleep. Then motored into the marina area to arrange laundry ( very expensive), got diesel and water and washed the boat, and did some shopping. Bryan and I went to a local pizzeria for pizza and Internet. Chris and Mal flew in about 10PM that night and took a cab from the airport to Jolly Harbor where we met them with the dinghy. So wonderful to have them here with us!

Kathy scratched her cornea with her comb and had to have an eye patch on for 5 days. Just try not having depth perception or equilibrium on a boat for 5 days! It sucked! I now have a lot in common with Admiral Nelson! He got a statue. Navigation and cooking was all I was good for!

Sadly, on the afternoon of the 24th we departed St Barts after entering and clearing Customs/ Immigration. Would have liked to spend more time here. Looked like a cute little island to explore on foot, scooter or taxi. Their airport looked awesome....we watched small planes pass over our heads in the harbor and land on a plateau inland several hundred feet high. We could only see the windsock, but it looked cool. But we were anxious to see Antigua, and needed to be there by the afternoon of the 26th to pick up Chris and Mal.

ST BARTS, FEBRUARY 24-25th

A local landmark. There is a little bit of everything on this building...

This picture is for the IRS. This was a business trip, honest.

Stacy has been reading about Jeanne D'Arc. (Peter, on the far right, is sitting down waiting for us to take yet another photo or read yet another street marker!)

"What do you mean you don't have a bakery??? This is France, isn't it?" "Yes, Kathy it is France, but this is a church, a 100 year old Anglican church, and the only bread here is served on Sundays."

This is a bit of what the seas can look like.

We have decided to re-name this boat: "One Duct Tape", or Duct Tape Life"! Everything is being held together with duct tape from the windows to the dingy gas line, to leaks in the ceiling, etc!

SAINT MAARTIN, FEBRUARY 17 THRU 24th

Mark was still here with us and we had a nice lunch in a local creperie/boulangerie. We were told that the owner/server could remember peoples names from years ago and the food was GREAT! Greek pitas, etc.

What can be said about this photo? Obviously the guys have 6-pack envy~

This was taken on the dingy bridge in Phillipsburg!

Bryan and Mark at Customs in Phillipsburg. What a dinghy ride to get their...out in open water around cruise ships. We got the run-around, or as its known, the "Customs Cha-Cha". We spent a lot of time doing this from island to island, country to country. Check in, then later check out.

Peter has become quite the sailor! We would really struggle without his help. We will really miss him when he heads off to college in June!

We miss everyone and hope all is well back home!

Keith, Kathy, Peter