15:34.90N 61:27.50W Martinique to Dominica
Gaudeo
John and Prue Quayle / John Quayle
Tue 5 Feb 2008 17:31
Our earliest departure yet, just after dawn and in heavy rain. Though the
distance between the islands is only 26 miles, Portsmouth Harbour on the
north east of Dominica which provides the only shelter in NE swell is 67
miles from our anchorage on the SE corner of Martinique.
On a close reach with at last a favourable current, the passage was fast
which was especially fortunate as there are only 12 hours of daylight. On
leaving the lee of the island we encountered the usual 20-30 knots of wind
and moderate swell so that at least one of our new arrivals felt she was in
a washing machine and only surfaced after the lee of Dominica was reached.
The coast lines of both islands are beautiful but quite different.
Martinique is relatively soft and almost undulating whereas Dominica is has
sharp vertiginous peaks. Sociologically the contrast could not be greater
with Martinique being an extension of Euroland, and Dominica very much third
world. Chickens scratch about in the streets of Portsmouth, Dominica's`s 2nd
"town" and the shoreline is littered with wrecks of several cargo ships, the
result of hurricanes, the most recent being "Dean" last August. The
presence of an American medical school of 1500 students on the periphery of
the town seemed somewhat surrealistic. With none of the sheltered coves and
beaches of other islands tourism is less developed though with its 7
volcanoes, valleys, rivers and tropical rain forests great efforts are
being made
to encourage ecotourism.
A high point for us was a tour up the Indian river with Martin Carriere in
his launch, "Providence", an engaging and most informative guide, through a
jungle of long,dangling vines and swamp bloodwood trees which have massive,
wide spreading, twisting , tangling, roots producing interesting wavy
designs. Amongst the quiet, cathedral-like, magical canopy are seen humming
birds, small blue herons, and crabs, while out of sight, foraging parrots
can be distinctly heard. On account of its high volcanic peaks the island
has much greater rain fall than others in the Caribbean and true to form, we
were drenched during the tour but dried quickly in the heat afterwards -
Martin refers to this as "liquid sunshine". Incidentally, we have had rain,
usually only brief showers, almost every day since leaving Grenada. The
rainy season is meant to be over by now!
Sadly we are not staying longer for further exploration.
