Dominica
Moonbeam
David and Lynn Wilkie
Tue 1 Feb 2011 02:06
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15.34.878N 061.27.811W
Portsmouth
Dominica
Saturday the alarm went at 05.30 and we lifted the
anchor at 06.30 to head North for Prince Rupert Bay at the North end of
Dominica. A beautiful morning with variable wind which soon settled into a fresh
Easterly trade wind and we headed north at great speed with 2 reefs in the main
and the mizzen still furled on the boom as we overtook 3 Canadian yachts. The
wind stayed with us up the lee of Dominica and the sea stayed calm and we
reached our anchorage at 1500hours having logged 52 miles.
Approaching Dominica
The scenery up the coast was all green with 4000'
hills covered in rain forest and there were lots of colourful houses on the
shoreline ranging from basic shacks to superb "mansions".
 At anchor Portsmouth
The anchorage is a large bay with palm trees and an
old fort on the North end but the 'town' of Portsmouth in the middle is blighted
by the rusting remains of some small ships which have been hurricane victims
over the last 20 years.
 
 We did our housework and swam and sunbathed,
watched the turtles swim by and the pelicans and frigate birds flying around and
on Sunday evening we enjoyed a barbecue ashore put on by the local "Boat Boys"
who offer tours and services to yachts. With something over 30 yachts in the Bay
the majority are Canadian but also several Aussies, Germans, French, Spanish,
Norwegian and also the young Dutch school girl Laura Dekker in her yacht
"Guppy" ( www.lauradekker.nl
)
 Monday morning we had arranged for one of the boat
boys to row us up the Indian River which is basically a small area of Mangrove
swamp and we saw the local herons, kingfishers, parrots,hummingbirds and others
as well as land crabs and an iguana. There is even a very
'rustic' bar set up to serve local
juice or rum punch !
   
    Roy breaking open the coconuts for us to
eat
While recognising that Dominica is a very poor
island with limited income resources it was alarming to hear that the government
is selling valuable tracts of land to the Chinese including much of the
waterfront here in Prince Rupert Bay and relocating locals to the hillside.
Paradise is not without its problems.
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