like leaving home

I went in to say so long to some of the islanders that had become almost family.  Juasine who swam off the PAYS dock every morning and took me to meet Din who built a tree house and raises a family there.  And who picked herbs for us to make tea with and spent a day making a potion out of herbs and coconut oil for us.  He built the tree house on the beach and it is shaped similar to a boat hull made from branches.  He hand cut the steps and nailed them to a salvaged trunk to make a spiral stair.  I'm not that creative, must be I didn't continue smoking like he did!

One of the non PAYS boat boys that came out and gave us limes and mangoes so we finally let him wash the waterline of our boat, came out as we were leaving and asked for us to please bring him a good paddle when we come back.  He is really a good guy and enjoyable to listen to but sorta persistent, but did good work.  Sally said best limes she had ever eaten & I agree.
There are many others but I did not have their picture but did not meet the first unfriendly person on Dominica and all wanted to know if I was enjoying their island.  Emphatic  YES !

we didn't ask whose yard the limes and mangoes came from

tree house, notice the boat hull shape the upper wall make with the tied together branches.

78 year old Juasine  don't know about the spelling

hand built spiral stairs

Henry, Chrinstine, George, Sally and I donned day packs and headed up the mountain for adventure but actually all I got was out of breath.  We had tons of fun and will have no problem sleeping.  met farmers on mountain top planting irish & sweet potatoes, plantain, bananas, sweet corn, all in a two acre patch of relatively steep hillside for farming.  We then returned to hike the upper end of the Indian river and stopped at Ray’s Roadie shop for some delicious roadies that we had heard about all morning and was to be the highlight.  They were sold out when we got there.  Went back the next day and they are a must try item in Dominica.  Some kind of curried chicken and potatoes in flat bread wrap, delicious & exotic . 

my 4 compadres trying to leave me in the asphalt dust

planting banana tree shoots potato vines in the background

bean field on down the hill

I think the field behind the worker is more beans, in the foreground is bananas & corn

dueling crabs

oldest banyon tree and oldest hikers 

now they are trying to leave me in wet leaf dust

driving Dominica

0830 Martin came by to pick us, George & Jan Todd, Henry & Christine Gilbert, and Bruce up for a  road trip to the other side of the island.   We piled out of his skiff and into his van for a semi-harrowing drive around the island on the wrong side of roads just like the DR. He handled it well and no dents or dings.  We stopped every mile or two for him to go to the roadside and pick a plant or herb and describe all the uses for the fruit or leaves. He also picked mangos and coconut for us to eat.  I swear, there are so many medicinal plants here I don’t see how anyone dies!  We stopped at an old Willie Wonka Chocolate Factory except Willie was deserted by his rich family & investors so he has to make chocolate by hand.  We just about broke the springs in Martins van loading all our chocolate into it.  From there we went to a Caribe Indian building a dugout canoe from a single tree.  Any cracks or leaks were filled with  heated sap which smelled like pine rosin.  From the we drove down the scenic Atlantic coast to the Caribe Indian reservation where we bought loads of woven baskets.  And made it back by 1600 hrs. a very full day of nothing but amazement.

papaya ?

i forgot

typical mountain community

another

sweet sop?

growing everywhere 

passionfruit 

beach bar on Atlantic side

same spot

going to see days catch at a beach bar stop on the Atlantic side

also had about 30 fish & 10 more lobster 

first church in Dominica

dinosaur rocks  notice the lobster diver

coastal community

wild almonds

brand new

cocoa pods waiting to be processed

cocoa beans on drying table

star fruit

door of bolata wood so dense in has to be drilled before nailed

calabash that they use to make bowls, similar to our gourds but no handle

It's name is Red Rock but it is red clay

one of many wild cashew trees we saw.  the nut is beneath the red fruit.

Mississippi red clay gullies in Dominica

beauty and goofy, you have to guess who is who!

the blue plastic bagged bananas are for export to China, they don't like the yellow

 Caribe basket stand where George is in shock after paying for Jan's baskets

more unhappy Caribes

made from one tree using an adz for lower hull & chainsaw for upper

keel hand shaped with an adz

caribe boatbuilders proud of their project as they should be 

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banana & coconut plantation with Atlantic in background

Martin preparing midtrip snack

Finally Dominica

 We left the dive spot mooring and motorsailed on past Isle de Saints and on into a  confused sea with 25 gusting to 32  winds and 8 - 10 ft seas.

same village in next shot

Village on Isle de Saints, why?

Isle de Saints

first houses we saw in Dominica

  The wind and waves settled by Isles de Saints but the swells were so bad I had to steer 30 degrees off course to cut down a little on the rolling so we would have a few things left intact inside the boat.  We almost got past the northern point of Dominica before I was able to set a course to Portsmouth.  A brightly painted skiff with Lawrence of Arabia painted on the side hailed us with both arms flailing the air. He was a boat boy working the outside of the bay trying to rent us a mooring ball, which we finally agreed on $10/night so he led us to a ball.  We told him we really wanted Providence (one of his friendly competitors) so once Providence came by we switched boys.  Because cruisers stopped coming here due to the aggressive boat boys, the good ones realized they were losing money so they formed PAYS, an organization of boat boys that provide security and licensed tours.  The next morning Martin (Providence) came along side our boat with a bouquet of fresh flowers for Sally. 

Martin delivering his welcome to Dominica boque

 We then went to the Saturday farmers market and bought fresh off the tree fruit and wandered the streets till we found the Catholic Church.  I had a couple of prints made of pictures I had taken of locals at the market and went back to give the pics to them.  It was a tremendous hit, and the pineapple girl ran up and down the street showing the other vendors her picture which caused them to ask me for give them their picture.

our first trip in to the Saturday farmers fresh market

Saturday market

Sally knows her name but for me she is forever Pineapple Lady

typical street scene

market from the other direction

Went to Catholic Church Sunday morning and I sat through most of the service with Sally but when they started drinking wine, I bailed.  I figured they were planning on drinking all day and I had work to do on the boat.  But instead, Martin & his wife came by to take us on the Indian river tour which consisted of Martin rowing us up what we would call a creek in AL.  It was too narrow in spots for both oars to be out at once.  About half way up I said, I know it is not but those leaves hanging from the vines looks just like a skeleton.  Martin laughed and said my distance vision is good, it is a skeleton that was in the movie “Pirates of the Caribbean”.  The old river shack and skeleton were left there to promote tourism.  Martin is a botanist and showed us many medicinal herbs and remedies.  It was a very good tour, we saw many birds, crabs, lizards & flowers,  I recommend it and Martin to all that are lucky enough to visit here. 

          Indian River

Witch doctors house from Pirates movie

I could have picked him up, his only interest is the crab on the right!

skeleton from movie

Indian River

just for you flower lovers, was like this everywhere and they are growing outside!

the elusive blue tailed hummingbird

Martin and his lovely wife Florian