May 5,2020
It seems that we have been here forever…. our plan was to stay here only 10 days and we have been here 10 weeks. But we can’t complain, Dominica managed really well the spread of Covid-19. Restrictions keep changing and getting more relaxed so we can move a little bit more and visit and invite people from other boats.
They say Dominica has a river for everyday of the year, I’m not sure if the statement is true but we definitely tried some of the rivers, waterfalls and some really amazing places where the nature is breathtaking. Now that we have been able to explore more we have discovered so much more of Dominica it is fantastic.
Look at the map below. We have covered it pretty well.
I’ll share here some of the stories this month, be ready because it is lots and lots.
Tour around the island to explore with Saline
Jan Paul and Marjolein are on board of Saline, they are Dutch and were our neighbours on the anchorage for some time. We like to move in the anchorage to change scenery and race the sunset. So we moved every couple of weeks when we go to filled the water tank.
We rented a car together and Jan Paul was the designated driver as he had made the driver’s permit for Dominica and we drove around the island for two days.
On the first day we went south straight to Champagne Beach (video) and Soufriere. Driving thru the zigzagging roads and appreciating the sea views from the highway.
VIDEO
We wanted to visit Sari Sari falls which is in the southeast of the island, so we drove through small and smaller roads only to arrive to a broken bridge, that was destroyed by a Hurricane and has not been restored. So, we never made it to those falls. Going around to reach them by the other side seemed to take too long. So instead we decided to go back and maybe have a couple of stops. We passed by small village, Berekua, where we discovered the Saint Patrick Catholic Church. Also destroyed by the hurricane and never recovered. For some reason, apparently it was easier to build a new church, just one floor with no architectural features than to recover the old church. Such a shamed because the original church still looks impressive although it is missing the roof.
Restaurants still closed so we brought some picnic and enjoyed it outside the church looking at the sea!!
On the way back to Portsmouth we stopped at Salton Waterfalls small easy walk to such an amazing site. It is private property so we managed to find the owner who opened the gate and let us in.
The drive back from the waterfall took a bit longer than expected, but such a good views.
Video (coming up)
On the second day, we went shopping to Roseau, there are a couple of big supermarkets
where they bring foreign products. It is better to go to the supermarket first because people normally go to the bank first and then to the supermarket. With the restrictions, we had to make a line, but it wasn’t that long because we were still early. New rules said we were supposed to wear mask and only 15 people was allowed to enter the supermarket each time.
It took us a couple of hours to get in line, do the shopping and bring back everything to the car. We were all so happy we were able to find meat, cheese and other goodies not available in Portsmouth. It made us for a really nice dinner that night when we got back. We had not have beef for 4 months now!
All happy with our shopping and happy we still have time left in the day to keep exploring, we headed to Riviere Cyrique falls, which we had seen some pictures and it looked really impressive as the waterfall drops to the sea. We got there and the gentleman at the entrance of the private property looked at us and told us that we were on the right track. He also said “there is a stair, so you have to be careful”, he didn’t seemed convinced we were gonna make it. Half an hour later I understood why. The trail reached a point where the only thing you could see is a rope but it is impossible to see the other side of the rope. And the rope looks like going to the void. We looked around and tried some other alternative but finally we gave up. It seemed too risky to try to go down.
We went back and had our picnic this time in the middle of the fields.
All refilled with energy we continue the afternoon with a few stops along the way before getting back to Portsmouth just in time for curfew.
Tourtle Beach; when it is open they have some explanation of the live of the turtles as this is a place where they come to laid their eggs. The path is kept in a pristine condition which makes for a really nice walk. So many flowers!
Kalinago; it is place with some history of the indigenous people form the island. It was closed so we just had a walk around outside
And last stop Number one beach on the north
Touring some waterfalls, cold soufriere and red rocks with NUDI,
Azad.m and Titus
According to regulations we were allowed to make gatherings of no more than 10 people. And that is exactly what we did. 10 people from 3 different boats 8 different
nationalities and the youngest boy in the anchorage. A baby who arrived in Dominica at 7 months and he is now 9 months old, such a nice cute baby. Later we found out that our trip had unsettled some people in the anchorage, some were saying we were not allowed but we were visiting public beaches no national parks all according to the rules. I thought the real problem was we had not organised our trip with PAYS (Portsmouth Anchorage Yacht Services), they liked to control all businesses.
We had a bus for us and our own tour guide. Titus who is one of the locals that has his
boat and basically run errands for the yachties. Buy food, beer, take away delivery, fill the gas bottles and almost anything you need help with he can help or find someone to help. He even found a very specific pump for one of the boats, something you wouldn’t even think they had in Dominica.
The tour was very nice, an relax just driving and stopping in some sites. We took all day that was so good.
Waterfall; I called the rock waterfall on top there is a rock that looks that it is beeing holding there for some time.
Cold sufriere
The Bat cave, was part of the itinerary and we arrived to the side and did small but
steep climb, but after we were supposed to go down to the cliff and around. All
that effort and risk to see some bats? Not really interested. So instead we
came back and enjoy our picnic lunch by the beach.
Red rocks, although we had visited this site before, some people on the group had not been there. And the scenery is so beautiful that we didn’t really mind to visit again. This time Titus show us a place we had not seen before which is like a secret path to go to another place inside the rocks. This island has so many surprises in so many vivid colours.
The last stop was Chaudiere pool, a great swimming natural pool we really enjoyed and we visited 3 times during our stay.
“The boiling lake ” with JetLag, Acaju and Hourria
The boiling lake!!! There was so much expectation about this walk. We had heard lots and lots of stories from different people about this walk. It is in all guides as one of the most incredible places in the island. It is the second biggest boiling lake in the world. The first one is in New Zealand and we visited it last April 2019, but I remember it was very easy access. In this one the trail has disappeared in some spots, you get to dead ends and have to find a way to pass. apparently it was destroyed after Hurricane Maria in 2017 and it has not been fixed.
I was postponing and postponing this walk as I had an injury in my achilles last October and although it’s been healed, sometimes still hurts and I definitely do not want to get injured again by putting to much effort to it, specially in these times.
However, by chance, we got invited by JetLag to join a group and do this hike. It was a mixed group and I felt comfortable the majority of the group will not be pushing to go really fast on the walk. So, I decided to take the challenge and go, Cedric was really interested in doing the walk as well. We agreed that if I see my achilles was not handling it well, I’ll stop and go back. It didn’t happen, once we started the walk was so colourful and the vegetation kept changing that I really wanted to go all the way to the end. Brigitte and Gerald had walking sticks and they had a spare one. I never used one, but as they offered, I took it. I was so glad I did, such a great help.
On the other hand, David carries a rope and when there is absolutely no place to hold
on, he held the rope and help me, it was excellent to have that extra support. He is very used to the rope and Viviane takes it all the time. We did an amazing, very hard hike thru a very rough terrain. Parts of the trail are easy to follow but some of them have ropes, missing steps, river crossings and so much more. For four hours, we kept going up and down under the sun, bit of rain and lots of mud. The views from the ridge are fantastic. The trail has various environments dense vegetation, a desolation valley and the streams that need to be cross several times. 30 minutes to the end you can start seeing places with the vapour coming up. Finally, at the top a cauldron of bubbling greyish-blue water enveloped in a cloud of vapour. Great walking team, we made it!!! Had some lunch and another four hours of hike. We finished with a refreshing cooldown at the entrance of Titou Gorge.
Video: The amazing boiling lake
JetLag (Brigitte and Gerald), Hourria (Viviane and David), Acaju (another Cedric and Pauline)
I had no camera but everyone shared pictures after. Memorable hike!
La Chaudire pool, Waterfalls and snorkelling with Safari
Safari was another of our closed neighbours. She is Spanish and he is French a lovely couple with some pretty interesting stories from the time they lived in Madagascar in a very remote place. We went to la Chaudiere Pool again! We love the place and I wanted to shared it with them. It was our third time there so I took the chance and did the jump from the rock, great splash!!! This place is so much fun and easy access, with a public bus you can get to the town and then it is a 30-minute walk in the heat, checking all the landscape and also all the fruits, which we picked up some on the way back. Papayas, mango, lemons and a few bananas. After the walk you get so hot and sweaty that it is such a pleasure to get to the Chaudiere pool with nice cold water. It is so clear you could see the small fish swimming around you.
On the way, back after the refreshing swim and collecting all the fruits, we had to wait a bit for the bus to pass and bring us back to town.
Sometimes you need a team to collect mangos
We would have love to go to a restaurant and got some lunch, but it is still not possible. So we got some Roti and Quesadillas a small local restaurant for take away and went to the football field completely empty to take our lunch. What a great day.
Another day we were told of a waterfall close by to the anchorage, so we pack a small snack and went early morning after the radio at 8am. The trail was really nice with some abundant vegetation and a bit of shade which is always welcome.
A bit disappointed when we got there because there was no pool. We could not take a swim. Cedric and Thierry climb the rope to see the other part of the waterfall
which they thought was nice
On the way back walking close by the beach, we saw a buoy and some divers on a recommended snorkelling site from CMR (another boat). Anyway, we just took a swim and decided we could come back another day with some gears to snorkel. Great little find!!
It is so much nicer to be able to do some hiking and visit other boats, we have been able to discovered so much more of Dominica and we have people over for apero or go to some other boats. Curfew stills 7pm so we need to get home by then.
We have been looking and thinking on where to go next. It is now the end of May. Some insurances don’t cover after June 1st if you stay this high in the area, so people has starting moving or making plans to move. Main destination seems to be Granada, where you need to register and pay to ensure you will be able to enter. However, any boat arriving to Granada is required to do a 14 day quarantine.
We do not have a decision, Grenada, Aruba, Panama,Martinique, Guadeloupe are all still possibilities we will continue monitoring and decide where to go next. Our insurance does not have the 1st of June as a deadline and looking at the historical data of hurricanes we should be fine until the end of June in this area of the Atlantic. We are hoping we can go somewhere else without the 14 days quarantine.
We will keep you posted. For now we will keep hiking, swimming, paddle-boarding, walking and enjoying Dominica with all the restrictions that are keeping us safe!
Happy Days 