Fai Tira Blog 16.00 UTC  Saturday 9th January

Fai Tira in Martinique    14:44.49N 61:10.72W

We arrived in Dominica at the town of Portsmouth.  Fai Tira is registered in Portsmouth but the one in England not this one.  As we arrived we were greeted by a “boat boy” called Jeffery.  Camomile who were already anchored there were using a “boat boy” called Albert and had suggested we use him.  We told Jeffery that we were going to use Albert!  Jeffery was not happy as the rules state the first contact you make with a “boat boy” is the one you are obliged to use.  An argument ensued between the “boys” and we decided to stick with Jeffery to make sure we did the right thing.  Another little boat came over selling fruit and we bought some Grapefruit from hm.  There were already five BWR boats at Portsmouth and Mark from Blue Magic better known as Excelsior Tours had arranged for us to go to Big Papa’s night club, restaurant and bar for evening food and entertainment.  We were picked up by Andrew one of Jefferies associates and landed on Big Papa’s landing platform which was very wobberly.   Big  Papa came out to great us.  He was a larger than life caricature, big booming voice, big torso, big biceps, and a big personality.  We later found out after he was rapping on stage that not only did he own and manage the night club but he wrote poetry and beat up five policemen when they came to discuss an incident.  This place is brilliant right on the beach, a live band and great food we all had a ball of a time and danced until we could no more.  I think the amount of Rum Punches might have had something to do with it.  We were ready for bed but unfortunately the party animals on Camomile, Bill and Sue had other ideas and invited all back to their boat for MORE Rum Punches.  God knows what time we hit the sack!
 

The next day saw Excelsior Tours arranging at trip up the Indian River but not before we had to visit customs and immigration.  All went smoothly there, we returned to our boats before eight of us crammed on Andrews boat for a tour of the Indian River.  The river entrance is partially blocked by an old freighter that had been washed ashore in the devastating Hurricane in 1979 one year after Dominica had gained independence from Great Britain.  Engines are not allowed on the river so Andrew got out his oars and rowed us up this beautiful peaceful river.  On the way he pointed out all sorts of fauna and flora.

 It was very interesting and peaceful until we ran into ten boats coming the other way with cruise liner passengers on board.  We ended up at a point where the river was not navigable so we had to stop.  Guess what?  There was a jungle bar there selling Rum Punches and a Punch they called Dynamite.  Well we had to try one of those. Well it was Dynamite with hardly any fruit juice in it at all.  We got back on the boat and Andrew had made all the ladies a little bird and turtle made out of palm leaves.  How nice! 

One the way back a discussion took place between Excelsior Tours and Andrew to negotiate a price for an afternoon trip to a waterfall for a swim.  Excelsior Tours did the business and we headed off joined by the crew of Enchantress.  The taxi driver was called Winston and was a mind of information.  He kept stopping the taxi for us to get out whilst he explained how they cultivated Bananas and all manner of other interesting facts.  We eventually got to a small village which is where he lived in the mountains.  (Point of interest there are 365 rivers in Dominica one for each day of the year).  We headed through the village and the road petered out and became a dirt track.  Winston negotiated the ruts and bumps as if his Toyota people carrier taxi, was a four wheel drive.  I was in my element, an off roading expedition to a remote waterfall.   The track ended and we disembarked to find ourselves scrambling down a track to the sound of rushing water far below.  When we arrived at the bottom of the valley the water was rushing over the water fall into a big pool.  Above it was a twenty foot cliff.  Winston said “come on, jump in from here”.  Four intrepid plungers went for it.  Mark, Paul, John and myself.   The water was warmer than we were all expecting and very refreshing.  We all swam and had really lovely time with this wonderful location that we had all to ourselves.  We staggered back up the mountain to the Taxi with Winston pointing out lots more interesting stuff about the rain forest.  We then headed to a beach bar where he served us up cold beer.  What a star he was.  We headed back to our boats thoroughly knackered but fulfilled. No parting tonight.

The next day saw the majority of the BWR boats leave us and head south.  John and I went for a walk into town and experience the true Caribbean with its colour and culture. One house we found was equivalent to the shell house in Dartmouth but much more frightful being covered in ornamental objects and shells but painted bright pink. We then headed back and sat in Big Papa’s for a beer and to use his WiFi connection.  The afternoon saw us walking up to a nearby fortification before inviting the crew of Scott Free on board for drinks and nibbles.

Saturday morning saw us start off at first light heading for Martinique.  We were accompanied by Scott Free as we motored along the leeward side of Dominica.  The wind was fluky and we sometimes had no wind followed by massive gusts.  This gave us an indication of what was to come.   Blue Magic confirmed this on the radio, gusts of 35 knots between the islands.  We headed out and experienced this so we reefed.  Whilst doing this John spotted a Whale.  We reported this to Scott Free and they saw it too and identified it as a twenty foot Pilot whale.  The trip across was bumpy but manageable and we arrived at St Pierre in Martinique just in time to see the sun go down. 

Bye for now.

Pete and John