It rains in Paradise too!
Moonbeam
David and Lynn Wilkie
Sat 12 Feb 2011 12:02
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The last few days in Dominica have been interrupted
by gusty winds and very heavy rain squalls and while it is the ' dry ' season we
are anchored in the lee of a tropical rain forest so it is hardly surprising
that it rains from time to time!
  Down town
Portsmouth
At anchor Prince Rupert Bay Portsmouth
We have not been overly busy we must confess but
have enjoyed walking around the local area although one attempt to walk a
section of the National Trail which according to the signs has been funded
by the EEC was thwarted when we discovered that it only existed on the map and
not on the ground!.
  On one of our walks we were adopted by a
local dog who followed us faithfully and even into 'town' afterwards sitting
down when we went into a shop and then following us again when we came out. We
eventually left it looking dejected on the jetty as we dinghied back to
'Moonbeam' ! Another walk we came across a mango tree which had just dropped
lots of fruit so we took some back with us. Our attempts to photograph the
hummingbirds were not a great success but we did manage this 4"
cricket!
 There is always something to watch in the bay with
yachts coming and going and the boat boys zooming about looking for business.
Unlike other parts of the Caribbean they are not annoyed if you do not have
anything for them and they often just come over for a chat or even drop off the
odd flower.
 The established guys have fairly battered wooden
boats with 50hp Yamaha Enduro outboards and have their names painted on the side
- 'Providence', 'Alexis' ,'Albert Yacht Services', 'Cobra Tours' etc and there
are the guys trying to get in one the scene offering to take your rubbish or
bring you ' fresh' fruit. "Christian the fruit man" who is possibly permanently
high rows an aluminium punt which leaks so he rows about 6 strokes ( no rowlocks
) bales for 30 seconds, and he does this all day with a single bag of fruit on
board! Despite his outlandish appearance he is always polite and pleasant but
unfortunately you do not want his battered boat alongside your
paintwork!
One morning having breakfast in the cockpit we were
surprised by a naked Swedish snorkler coming right pass 'Moonbeam'- if I had a
bicycle I would have had somewhere to park it ! We assume he was Swedish as he
returned to a Swedish yacht- there were no other obvious means of identifying
his nationality!
Chris and Sharon in "Quicksilver" who hail from
Loch Sunart arrived so we enjoyed drinks with them on a couple of occasions.
Chris supplied the additional photos of the human chain on our earlier Victoria
Falls trip.
  Plans to go snorkelling with 'Providence' in the
National Park Waters were scuppered by bad light which was
unfortunate.
 Stad Amsterdam off Fort Shirley
The big bay seems to attract square riggers and we
have even seen the 'Stud Amsterdam' ( which we saw in La Gomera ) " Royal
Clipper" and other vessels an anchor for a day or two.
One evening having just rescued an Italian dinghy
that had gone adrift we were just putting the dinghy back in the davits when we
both heard a French female voice- "Please can you help me ". Initially we could
not determine where it came from until we saw a girl in the water who was
swimming to one of the square riggers but had not realised how far it was ! Une
damselle en destress! So she was hauled into the dinghy and delivered back
to the ship!
Always something to do!
While we had internet I reviewed some of the blogs
I wrote from mid-Atlantic and I apologise now for the spelling and gramatical
errors but I was probably tired!
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