On 18 September 2017 Category 5 hurricane Maria, with winds in excess of 150mph, ripped through the middle of Dominica. The whole island was devasted.

The eye of Hurricane Maria over Dominica between the French Islands of Guadeloupe (to the North) and Martinique (to the south)

Wednesday, 11 March 2020

We had arrived at Prince Rupert Bay, Portsmouth on the evening of the 10th and picked up a PAYS mooring buoy. PAYS is the “Portsmouth Association of Yacht Services”, a group of people who maintain and assist with mooring buoys, provide water taxis and offer tour guiding and other services. 

Today we had to check-in, sort out a new SIM card and generally get our bearings. 

Overlooking the bay, a natural harbour providing a superb anchorage, is Fort Shirley, the British base and look-out over the north and west of Dominica from the 1700’s. This has been beautifully restored and is the start of a walk up the hill to the lookout and canon emplacements which, of course, we had to take. 

In the evening we went to a beach barbecue at PAYS. Surrounded by two groups of friendly French sailors we spent a few hours talking Franglais and knocking back a few rum punches.

Thursday 12th March

At 7am we were collected from Ernestina for a tour of Indian River. This is a nature reserve where no power vessels are allowed so our guide rowed us and another French couple up the river through mangroves and jungle. It was incredibly tranquil and very beautiful. 

The rest of the day was spent planning and catching up on e-mails etc.

Friday 13th March

We picked up a hire car and drove South to Roseau, the capital, where we went to the Department for Land & Surveys to buy the best available map of the island. Armed with this we headed across to Rosalie on the west coast looking for a trail called Chemin l’Etang which went from a small village just above Rosalie to Freshwater Lake in the hills near the Trois Pitons. We found the trail and confirmed with a local resident that we were at the right place and set off. Whilst the way was somewhat overgrown it clearly was a path. We carried on for an hour or so but things got progressively more and more overgrown with fallen trees and landslides across the route. We surmised that, whilst well documented, the track has not been regularly used or indeed cleared since hurricane Maria. (We subsequently confirmed this to be the case.)

We re-traced our steps and drove on to another route, the Trois Pitons Trail. This proved to be a similar scenario where a well-known hiking trail has not been cleared since Maria and was, for us at least, impassable. 

Our third attempt was a route called Jaco Steps. This is a trail which has a lot of history to do with the Maroons (slaves who escaped, fled to the hills and made settlements there). Jaco was a Maroon Leader and this route covers part of the territory where he and his group were based. It is now maintained by a Rasta called Mal and his partner Eunice. It was a great walk – short but interesting and a good workout. 

Our overnight accommodation was an Airbnb nearby. 

We had dinner at a local restaurant, a substantial plate of delicious fried-chicken, rice & “provisions”. Provisions, short for “ground provisions”, are yam, sweet potato, dasheen and other root vegetables. They are very filling, but to be honest, generally lack flavour as prepared here and, therefore, not particularly appetising. It was an interesting place though; a couple of people eating-in. Some young guys came in for take-away, and two men at the bar. One was from Leyton in East London (not far from where we live), having retired back home to Dominica after emigrating to the UK and working there for many years.

Saturday 14th March 2020

Today’s walk was around Freshwater Lake, which together with the nearby Boeri Lake, provides much of the fresh-water, and a good amount of hydro power, for Dominica. The lake is surrounded by stunning hills which provide the ups and downs of the hike and amazing views. 

On the drive back to Roseau we stopped at the spectacular Trafalgar Falls. 

In Roseau we headed south to scout out the area where we would moor Ernestina when we sailed this way. Nearby was Charlotte Estate which we understood to be an old estate house that was open to the public. We made our way into the house, which was very quiet, and found a lady having a rest in the living room. She jumped-up apologetically and introduced herself as Celine, a French Canadian, before explaining that it was indeed an old estate house but was now, in fact, a B&B/hotel run by her and her Dominican partner Marcel. She then took great pleasure in showing us round the house and gardens,which were all very lovely, and telling us about her restaurant and shop for Dominican products in Roseau. We had some tea and, realising that nearly two hours had disappeared, made our excuses before driving back to Portsmouth. 

Sunday 15th March 2020

Back at Prince Rupert Bay we had arranged a tour of the North of the Island. This started with a drive into the hills before a hike for an hour or so to Chaudière Pool, an exquisite waterfall and swimming spot in the forest. We had the place to ourselves and it was only when we were leaving that some others arrived. 

The Red Rocks, our next stop, is a lava flow which reached the sea and, being rich in iron, oxidized (rusted) and now has a lovely warm orange-red hue. 

After this a visit to the Pointe Baptiste chocolate factory. The term “factory” is a slight exaggeration given that the set up comprises several covered wooden boxes outside where the cocoa beans are fermented and covered tables where they are then dried before coming inside to the kitchen-sized production area. Here chocolate is made in 25kg batches, one batch at a time. We sampled several flavours – all were delicious - and bought a few bars to supplement our rations on board. 

Back in Portsmouth news of Covoid-19 was getting attention with Dominica’s first reported case. The planned PAYS BBQ was cancelled although, not knowing this, we went ashore anyway, as did about 30 other sailors, so a smaller than planned gathering went ahead in any event. We mostly drank rum punch and chatted to an American couple who were “live-a-boards”, i.e. they have sold up and bought a boat which is now their home.

The next morning, we sailed north to Marie Galante, one of the smaller islands off Guadeloupe that we did not visit on our earlier trip to that part of the French Caribbean. 

More pictures from Dominica here………………

https://photos.app.goo.gl/qQK26vpB4CG3MRQ47