Favourite Island??

It’s been 10 days since our last update – which we’ve spent on the two most southerly of the Leeward Islands, Dominica and Guadeloupe. As an aside, I think it might be just me, but now matter how many times I say/write ‘Dominica’ or ‘Guadeloupe’, they still sound almost impossibly exotic!

We arrived at the south western end of Dominica on 7th January and picked-up a mooring buoy off the capital, Roseau, in the late afternoon. We have now worked out that the deal on many of these islands seems to be that there are a bunch of good guys who get together and form a self-regulated organisation who manage the buoys, help you moor up, provide tours, water taxis, beach BBQs, laundry, garbage disposal, etc. At Roseau we had chosen to use the (recommended) services of ‘Seacat’. So, the next morning we took Seacat’s water taxi form our anchorage the mile or two into Roseau. First order of the day was to check-in with customs and immigration, once this was done we headed into Roseau downtown to find some brunch. Roseau is lovely – with a properly Caribbean feel, friendly people and a buzz of activity… but not much brunching! We eventually found a café in a second hand clothes shop on the first floor overlooking the bustling street (!), which was great. From there we explored the town, including the historical sites, market and the botanical gardens and it’s amazing trees.

The next day we set off early for a guided tour/hike onto the rain forest. After a 30 min drive uphill into increasingly lush greenery, our guide (Armstrong – named after Neil?) parked-up and we headed up a trail for an hour or so until we got to Middleham Falls. This is a 200ft waterfall into a rock pool from a vertical escarpment. It was breathtaking – and we were very hot and were in that pool in no time! After the hike back out, and a well deserved lunch stop, we took the much more leisurely stroll to the bottom of Trafalgar falls. These aren’t quite as tall, but there are two of them. The taller one (125ft) is impressive enough, but about ¼ of the way up from the cascades at the bottom, the main fall is joined by secondary spring from a hot volcanic vent. Armstrong set off up a non-existent ‘trail’ over boulders, through pools and up muddy banks, until after a final scramble over some rocks we found ourselves on the edge of two pools of water. On the right, the main waterfall thundered into a rock pool, 5 meters away on the left the volcanic spring surged hot water into a copper-coloured pool of hot water. We quickly changed into our swimmers and slid in. It was an amazing experience, paddling from one pool to another and sitting under the cascading waters – at completely different temperatures – a nautical sauna. After a long day we got back to Blue Pepper in time for sundowners and dinner aboard.

Wednesday the 10th we slipped our mooring after breakfast and sailed the 20 or so miles north up the lush, rainforest clad, coast of Dominica to Portsmouth in the north west. Like its namesake on the South Coast of England, it is, well, on the coast. Otherwise there are no similarities! Here we were using the (again, recommended – thanks Brendan) services of a boat guy, this time Martin ‘Providence’. (I have no idea where these names come from – I think a branding agency could do some great work with these guys… as long as payment in rum was acceptable.)

Thursday we relaxed and went ashore too get a feel for the place, we both loved it. It’s a small town with plenty of rum shacks, a fishing dock, a lively market, the inevitable 18th century fort and a lot of palm trees. It’s also on the edge of a national park and so on Friday morning we had an 0700 start for a trip up Indian River with Martin. The fauna and flora were fascinating, made all the more so by Martin’s David Attenborough-style explanation – he also wove things out of palm fronds… and sang!

Our time in Portsmouth also included a trip across the island to the north east (Atlantic) coast, via the beautiful, lush, volcanic landscape in the middle. This trip included a swim in a river overhung by bamboo, mango and swamp blood trees; a visit to a chocolate farm/factory and a clamber over the extraordinary Martian-like red rocks at Calibishie.

On the Saturday there was even a glimpse of Carnival – apparently just a warm-up, can’t imagine what the real thing is like!

On Monday 15th we bid farewell to Dominica and headed north from Portsmouth, across the straits to Guadeloupe (still sounds exotic!) We loved Dominica, our favourite island so far.

Our Guadeloupe landfall was in Les Saintes, a small archipelago around 10 miles south of the main island. There are three islands in Les Saintes which cluster around a protected few square miles of water in the middle which makes a great anchorage. Which explains why it was very busy! All the morning buoys were taken - we prefer to anchor, so not an issue, but it meant the few patches of water with the right depth and holding were in contention – and it was very rolly. Having found a spot, we took the tender ashore to clear-in with customs etc and explore the town of the biggest (but still small) island, Terre-de-Haut. It is very fetching and pretty, but just not very Caribbean! We ended up spending two further days here as Sue had put out her back and rest was called for. We did manage a walk across the island to a great beach on the Atlantic side and, this being France, had a great dinner out!

Thursday 18th Jan saw us weighing anchor at Les Saintes and heading for the SW corner of Guadaloupe Island, some 15 miles away. After a frisky sail in a decent breeze, we rounded the corner of the island and headed another 10 miles up the west coast to Pigeon Island. Here we anchored off the small fishing village opposite the island. In the morning we took the tender over to what were actually two islands separated by a narrow channel which was a shallow reef. It was like swimming in aquarium (except bigger, and no small castle on the sea bed. Although oddly there is a monument to Jaques Cousteau, which is a statue of him, 10m below the waterline!)

The next day we headed another 10 miles or so up the coast to Deshaies. This is a rather lovely fishing village at the head of a well protected bay/anchorage. Apparently its where ‘Death in Paradise’ is filmed. Neither Sue or I have watched it, so the references were slightly lost on us! There was, however, a decent boulangerie and we had a good dinner ashore on the second night.

Our original plan from here had been to head to Montserrat and then St Kitts and Nevis, but the weather gods weren’t playing ball. With a 25+ knot Easterly forecast for the next week, we decided to head north for the 45 mile run to Antigua. It was a lovely fast sail and we arrived off Jolly Beach this afternoon (21st) and as I write we are anchored in a huge turquoise bay, with 70cm below our keel!  

Although these islands are pretty close together (you’re never out of site of land), it has struck us again how different they are – geographically, culturally, economically and just the feel of the place(s). We are looking forward to clearing in at Jolly Harbour tomorrow and exploring our next island experience - Antigua!