15:34.90N 61:27.96W Portsmouth, Dominica

Firstly, to all those people who are fed up looking at photographs of houses, I apologise, but you will understand that living in Dominica was a large part of our family life before we, the kids, all left home to go to University and take up jobs, fairly shortly after our return to our native, Scotland.

Well, what have we been doing! As you’ll see from the blog, on the last day we had the rent-a-wreck we travelled to Scotts Head at the south end of the island. We first travelled there in an old, Ministry of Fisheries, Land Rover in 1972, a couple of days after our arrival in this foreign land in 1972. At that time we took Hermien, a little girl from across the road who was deaf and dumb but a very happy we soul. I’ve tried to trace her but was informed by the new residents of Jepson Lane, that the father died and the family moved to America.

The day after our trip to Scotts Head we sailed to Portsmouth at the north end of the island. It wasn’t nearly as far as I had remembered, the last time I did it was in , “Pilgrim” our West of Scotland fishing boat. The wind continued to veer round to our quarter and we eventually rolled up the jib and sailed on under main alone, occasionally touching 6 knots but generally between 4 and 5.5 - we weren’t in any hurry. As we rounded Point Ronde, to the south of Prince Rupert Bay, the wind came on the nose and we hoisted the iron headsail (engine on). We motored in to a position north-west of Portsmouth and anchored in 10 meters of water , in white sand below the Cabrits, two volcanic hills out on a peninsula which is also the home to Fort Shirley, a British stronghold during the Napoleonic wars. The fort has now been cleared from the jungle and the barracks have been restored and now houses the museum. The water was crystal clear with an aqua colour to it and we were able to watch the anchor hit the bottom and the chain to pay out . I then did something I’ve wanted to do for years. I donned my snorkelling gear (Liddell’s £12) and swam the length of the chain to ensure that the anchor had set properly.-magical!

The fruit man appeared shortly after paddling his windsurfer without a sail and the cargo holding area, an old crate and took our order for the following morning. He arrived at 0800 this morning with a large bunch of ripe bananas and six large grapefruit - £2 for the lot.

Today we went on a trip up the Indian River, so called because the Carib Indians used to live along it’s banks. It is more recently famous as the set (or one of then) for the filming of Pirates of the Caribbean 2 & 3. The river was teaming with life and the trip had a real Amazonian feeling to it. Alex, our guide rowed us up on the 2 hour cruise, all the time informing us of the flora, fauna and wildlife. He told us that once on one of the other trips, a Boa Constrictor was hunting a bird overhead in a tree and had fallen into the boat. All the tourists had then jumped out of the boat into the water - quick time.

The whole seafront of Portsmouth is strewn with big ships blown ashore in the hurricane of 1995. They are still there and untouched as scrap metal has no value here, it’s too expensive to gather and export so it is left where it stands. We’ve seen as many JCB’s, a crane and large pieces of plant and machinery broken down at the sides of the roads and abandoned there for the jungle to engulf in a very short time. The pier at the entrance of the Indian River was repaired and extended by Dad and a Chain Gang from the local prison in 1973. It is still being used but suffered major damage in the same hurricane, being undermined as the sand and gravel was sucked out by the big seas. Bev asked Alex if the locals didn’t object to these big ships blocking their view, “ no man, they very happy because it protect their houses from the hurricanes” . The tropical rain poured from the heavens on our way back to Swiftwing and to say we were soaked through is an understatement - not something I’m known for.

There were also half a dozen large boats that looked like stern trawlers and I asked if they were fishing boats. They turned out to be converted fishing boats which carry fruit and vegetables to the other islands that are without rainforest .

We’ve spent the afternoon on board as the wind howled and the rain poured. Bev has baked flapjacks and John has read his book. I, on the other hand, fell asleep in the cockpit. Bev has made vegetable Roti for tea, a type of filo pastry wrapping a mild curry - yummie.

Photos will follow when we get a better connection.

Douglas.