Dominica, Portsmouth
Dominica is English-speaking, independent, and uses the EC dollar, currently converting at about 4.6 to the pound. It is a relatively poor country within the Caribbean, although very beautiful, as most of it is covered in rainforest.
We had been warned from other yachts about persistent boat boys and risk of theft from boats, although our pilot book referred favourably to the boat boys. Some yachts we met missed out Dominica altogether for these reasons. We decided to see for ourselves, and had a very good experience.
We arrived at Portsmouth in the north-west of the island, the holding was good but the shelf suitable for anchoring was narrow. We anchored to the north of the town as recommended by our book, and were approached by two boat boys, one in a fast motorboat a mile out, and one paddling a surfboard in the bay. We bought fruit from the latter although we found prices were high in retrospect. However from him we had our first taste of passionfruit, sour on its own but great with a bit of sugar or used to mix with yogurt.
The next morning as we were very low on petrol for the dinghy, we moved the yacht to nearby the Customs building to the south of the town. The officials were friendly and helpful. Then we moved the yacht again, to opposite the south end of town, near a roadside fuel station, and opposite several rusty old wrecks lying in front of the town. We bought petrol for the dinghy at a good price and withdrew some cash at the bank ATM next door. Next we paid a visit to town, locking the dinghy to the pier. Immediately one of the taxi drivers pounced on us, offering us a half-day tour for 260EC dollars, he was persistent but eventually respected our decision to shop around before choosing. He was fine when we saw him later and explained what we did end up booking.
In fact at the back of town we found an unassuming taxi company, A1 Taxis, which offered us a whole day tour for 300EC dollars (about GBP 65), which we booked for the next day. We are not in the habit of taking expensive tours but we felt Dominica was very special and well worth the exception, and also it would probably be one of the cheapest Caribbean countries to take such a tour in.
We continued to look around town and bought some bits and pieces, and found the market and internet cafe. All prices for local goods were very good, and the internet cafe which we used more than once, Alpha2Omega, charged 2.50 EC per half hour, a very good price. Everyone was very friendly and helpful. We had a drink and game of pool at a local bar, again very cheap and pleasant.
The town is mostly full of small buildings on low stilts, made of wood or corrugated metal, many having seen better days. Shops and bars are often just in the front room of a house. However water and electricity seem to be available to all. Most people seem healthy and happy, despite the apparently poor living conditions.
On Saturday morning we visited the market, which consists of tables and the backs of trucks positioned around a crossroads at the north end of the main street. Although we were hassled a bit, we also met many nice vendors, and did not feel in the main that we were cheated because we were visitors. We came away with some bargains, in particular grapefruit at 6 for 1 EC dollar. That is about 4p each, and they were sweet and delicious.
Our day’s tour went well, although to start with there was a lot of driving. As the island is full of hills most roads are windy or steep, and everywhere there were crops of one sort or another, notably coconuts and bananas. There were also houses dotted pretty much everywhere, in spaces which you would not expect to fit them. After a stop in the Carib territory we went on to the Emerald Pool, a short walk with a pleasant volunteer guide. The pool, under the waterfall, was cool and invigorating, we had it to ourselves and it was lovely. On the days when cruise ships visit Roseau, the capital, many people take island tours and apparently the queue for the pool is long!
We were then taken through Roseau and up steep roads to the Trafalgar Falls, two waterfalls which are again in rainforest.
Then we were driven to Scott’s Head, the south-west tip of the island which is an islet joined to the mainland by a causeway, and the beaches on either side are known as the place where the Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea meet. The contrast of the swelly ocean and calm Caribbean was obvious, and the whole area was stunning.
We returned to Roseau where we were taken up to a viewpoint of the city, by then it was raining quite a bit so the visibility was limited. The drive back to Portsmouth was long and windy, passing through several smaller towns. Our return was punctuated by sharp showers from the hills, and an almost permanent rainbow against the hills from the setting sun over the sea.
We thanked Matthew, our driver, very much for the day. He had been a very good driver for us, avoiding many potholes and being willing to stop ad-hoc for us to buy fruit, take photos and so on. He was also a mine of information on anything we wanted to know and we learnt a lot.
In our position anchored opposite the town we were no longer approached by boat boys, although we took security here reasonably seriously and hoisted the dinghy at night, locked our main hatch and restricted the opening of our other hatches. We didn’t actually hear of any current trouble in Portsmouth.
Eventually it was time to move on, and we sailed and motored the couple of hours to Roseau, the capital, in very variable winds beneath the hills.