Dominica
Calema
Sat 1 Mar 2003 09:41
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After nearly a week in Dominica we have now island
hopped up to Antigua. Wind speeds have now dropped down to 15-20 knots which has
allowed us some fantastic fast reaching passages and a bit of motoring in the
lee of Guadeloupe. We stopped briefly in Iles de Saintes and Des
Hayes.
The plan for the next few days is to haul out and
antifoul and do a bottom check. This then leaves us just over 3 weeks before we
leave for Bermuda.
Dominica was great. Definitely the friendliest
island we have visited , the most unspoilt and arguably the most beautiful. We
were met by Pancho (who's dad is Chico but neither of them are Mexican) about a
mile from the capital, Roseau, who found us a mooring for the princley sume of
$5 a night. Anchoring is possible but the depth falls of at an alarming rate
from the shore asnd the holding poor. Money well spent. Clearing in was easy
because the customs were all on strike when we arrived and took no interest in
us at all - best yet.
On the first day we walked and snorkelled.
Everywhere you go people would go out of their way to stop and talk to us. Many
have relatives in the UK and the universal following of Man U is well
represented. We were never hassled for money which is a bit unuaual! Our walk
took us to Scotts Head where we snorkelled on a seamount with a wall plummeting
from 2m to unmeasurable and this was (again) the best snorkelleing yet. CB had a
dive using his minibreather kit to retrieve his sunglasses lost the night before
from his top pocket and hasn't suffered a bend yet.
CB, Scotts Head and big cannon
 Scotts Head Beach. Note no sand which probably
accounts for the unspoilt nature of the island!
 The next few days were spent exploring the interior
of the island which are wet, lush and fruitful. We loined some Americans and S
Africans in a minibus and headed off to the Victoria Falls where we swam (on our
own) and that had an amazing lunch with Pancho's rastafarian uncles in their
forest glade. We ade a vegetarian stew cooked on a woodfire. Everything in the
stew was grown on their small 'farm' and it was a real treat to be there. Every
tree and bush was laden with something edible or useable from banana to
calabash. Needless to say Moses and Pinard (the uncles) were sustained more by
inhalation than chewing bbut made fine and very relaxed hosts!
Teg having the best shower of the trip (Trafalgar
Falls)!
 Can't believe we are starting to think about the
journey home already.
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