Somedays are just magical. Our passage from Dominica to Guadeloupe was calm seas and sunny so of course we were on the flybridge enjoying the day. Out of no where Gary says “I’m not sure what’s in the water ahead. It looks like… it is! It’s a whale!” Sure enough, passing right in front of us was a good sized whale with a calf right next to it. After it passed us it flipped it’s tail as if to say “goodbye”. We smiled for hours afterward.
On the way south last spring we skipped over Dominica and went straight to Martinique so this trip we made sure to stop and check it out.
Dominica seems to be a fairly poor country. They were hit pretty hard by Maria two years ago and are struggling to recover. We skipped Roseau in the south due to the cruise ships docked there and went to an anchorage in the north at Portsmouth. Our boat boy, Elvis, explained that with the hurricane they lost 100 feet of waterfront due to erosion. It may have made the harbor bigger but they lost many houses and businesses.
We went ashore for lunch one day and found only a couple restaurants that were open and the menu selection was sparse. There were a fair number of bars but not much food. There’s a lot of building going on, just not quickly.
There’s not much to do unless you’re into hiking (not our thing) so we signed on with Elvis for a river tour one morning. Once you reach the mouth of the Indian River motorized boats are prohibited so Elvis broke out the oars and rowed us a mile or so up the river and back. It was scenic and peaceful with land crabs, iguanas and birds.
The movie Pirates of the Caribbean was shot around these islands and on an offshoot of the river was a replica of Calypso’s hideaway as the original was destroyed in the hurricane.
A couple days and we were ready to move on so a quick and calm 3 hour boat ride found us once again in Isles des Saintes in southern Guadeloupe where we picked up a mooring ball for a couple nights. We’re getting proficient at snagging and attaching to the mooring balls. Maybe some day we’ll be as good at that as we are anchoring!
We checked in and completed the necessary paperwork after having an amazing lunch at our favorite restaurant here. Guadeloupe is a french island so cassoulet was a given. Yummy.
A little short dive off the back of the boat, very short, a little socializing with Regina and Rob from s/v Ramble On and it’s time to head on to Point Ferry on the north end before moving over to St Kitt’s.
We’re on a schedule now as we need to be in Puerto Rico by the 18th to pick up my brother for a visit.