Martinique to Dominica
Petronella
Thu 21 Mar 2013 07:48
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15:34.835N 061:27.917W
After a couple of easy days in the Marin Marina we
cleared out of both the country (Martinique) and the marina on Sunday 17
March. We dropped back to the anchorage at St Anne's just a few miles
away so that we were ready for a quick getaway in the morning.
 Club
Med en route Le Marin to St
Anne's Sunset
over Diamond Rock from St Anne's Bay
We were underway before 6am bound for Dominica
which at 85 miles was going to be a long days haul particularly as we hoped
to arrive before dark. Not a very promising start as we had to motor in quite
heavy rain for the first hour or so but luckily it soon brightened up and a
good breeze filled in and we could make sail and start to
eat up the miles.
By midday we had cleared the north end of
Martinique and could see the mountainous outline of Dominica 20 miles ahead. We
had a good force 6 Easterly to drive us on so even reefed down we were
making over 8 knots with blue sea and blue sky. Great sailing!!
 Approaching
Dominica
At 18.30 just before dark we were pleased to drop
anchor off Portsmouth in St Ruperts Bay at the north end of
Dominica. En route we had been entertained by a Shearwater (Cory's? ) who
accompanied us for over an hour, constantly flying round the boat and swooping
to sea level before diving for fish.
 Tuesday was spent speaking to the local 'boat boys'
to arrange an Indian River trip, visiting the Customs and pottering about on
board all the while dodging the frequent showers. We had
been very impressed with the lush green mountains as we sailed up the coast
so the rain wasn't that unexpected!
Anchorage off
Portsmouth
Sails in the sunset at St Ruperts Bay
At 07.30 on Wednesday morning we were collected by
our guide Anjou who was taking us on a 2 hour boat trip up the nearby Indian
River. The river is one of a supposed 365 on Dominica and is the only one that
is navigable. It is quite narrow and winds gently through an area of tropical
rainforest. It was a lovely trip marred only slightly by the continuous rain,
but as Anjou said if you come to the rain forest what else would you expect.
Motors are banned so Anjou had to row us up the river but this was great as the
wildlife was not disturbed so we saw herons, kingfishers, moorhens, etc all
going about their business.
 Rain
in the
rainforest!!
Some colour in the rainforest!
 A
gekko in the
rainforest!
Leaving the beautiful Indian River
We had hoped to do a tour round the island but
given the unsettled weather and our wish to get as far north in the leeward
islands as possible, we decided to take a 'rain check' and leave the trip for a
future visit to Dominica. We had managed to do a clear in/clear out
in the one visit to the Customs in Dominica so with the promise of more
favourable winds the following day, next morning saw us weighing anchor again
bound towards Les Saintes.
Fishermen off the coast of
Dominica Goodbye
Dominica until next time!
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