Cassini blog#114 Bye Bye Dominica
Cassini's blog
Simon and Sally, Nigel and Catherine
Sun 7 Apr 2024 19:30
| Bye Bye Dominica Yesterday, our 2 week visa for Dominica expired so time to move on. Before we left we had one last trip ashore to visit the market, bakers and fish market. Saturday is the main market day with many more stall holders and the road closed to traffic. There was an amazing atmosphere, very lively with stalls piled high with colourful vegetables and fruit - mainly bananas. The very small ones are delicious, so sweet. We've enjoyed fresh baby carrots and very tasty tomatoes, tried green papaya as a vegetable and yam. During our stay we found two bakers, a traditional one with soft white rolls and the "rasta" bakery with baguettes flavoured with turmeric, coconut, seeded wheat, carrot, plantain, or wholemeal and served by a lovely young lady dancing to reggae music as she served me. All delicious. Sally and Simon went to the fish dock and chose marlin steaks, six large ones enough for two meals for just EC$20. Our stay in Portsmouth, Dominica has been a lovely stop, exploring inland, hikes, friendliness of the people, sights and sounds of this fabulous island which remains unspoilt by commercialisation. It will be interesting to see what happens in the future when the international airport is built and if/ when funding is available, to complete and develop the hotels. I hope it doesn't lose its charm. Groceries packed away and time to lift the anchor to sail 20 miles to Iles des Saintes. There were some interesting winds. As we left the shelter of the island, the land breeze from the west dropped and the prevailing easterly wind took over. A tricky few moments "multitasking" as we maintained our course but changed from a port tack to a starboard tack, added a reef to the main and caught a fish, tuna. A hectic few minutes sorting out the sails and the fish then back on course to our destination. Last time we were here, there was a general strike, but yesterday, all the shops and bars were open and the town very lively. Immigration completed, we wandered and had delicious ice creams. Back to the boat for tuna cerviche followed by flavourful marlin steaks with a coconut cream sauce for dinner. The first time I had eaten marlin, very yummy and I'm looking forward to the second marlin meal. We will be alternating with tuna for the next few days! Sunday morning, we undertook a thorough clean of the boat, all the floors up, spaces cleaned, cupboards wiped out and sprayed. The reason being, Simon found a cockroach in his binocular bag yesterday, yuk! We were fairly confident the beasty crept in whilst we were on one of our trips ashore but to be on the safe side, checked and cleaned everywhere. Whilst it was a tedious hot job, seeing and knowing everywhere has been cleaned, was very satisfying. We had spotted a few swimmers in the sea close by our mooring, so after our jobs, we all went for a snorkel to see what was there. A submerged cabin cruiser. Not a lot to see but lovely to have a swim and cool off. A lazy afternoon now with reading, crochet and knitting. Sally is trying to finish her cardigan before we come home. Tomorrow, we will be chasing up the spare part, keeping everything crossed it arrives very soon. Catherine    |
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