Portsmouth, Dominica

We arrived in Dominica (dom-in-EEK-uh) on Sunday afternoon, after a quick 22 mile passage from Iles des Saintes. Being Sunday, customs was closed but we decided to go ashore and check things out. This is definitely a poor country, on par with the Dominican Republic as far as open gutters in the roads, clapboard houses with tin roofs, etc. But the natural beauty is pretty astounding, more about that later. We headed into a bar called "Big Poppa's" where we had some Kubuli beers and booked a River Tour for the next morning. Dominica is the first place outside of the Dominican Republic where we've really seen a lot of boat boys. Although they are called "boat boys" they are actually grown men whose business is to help the cruisers out by operating as a water taxi, bringing diesel and water to the boat, arranging tours, or just anything in general that you might need while you're in port. They can be pretty aggressive sometimes; we saw one boat anchoring this morning and there were no less than four guys in brightly painted wooden boats hovering around it asking if they needed any services. (Some of the "boat boys" don't even have boats: a few hours ago we bought a bunch of bananas from a guy paddling around the anchorage on an old surfboard.) When we got here yesterday we knew we didn't need any help with diesel or anything, but we did want to do a couple of tours, especially of the Indian River. Some cruisers we met in St. Kitts had recommended Albert, so that's who we made arrangements with while we were at Big Poppa's.

The Indian River got its name because many Carib Indians once lived along its banks. They have since moved (or been relocated) to the Carib territory on the Eastern side of the island. The river is protected by law, no outboard engines are allowed, and you can only go through it with an accredited guide. So this morning with Albert at the oars (you should see this guy's arms) we headed up the river. Several scenes from the Pirates of the Caribbean 2 were filmed along the river's swampy banks (you'll see it in the scenes from the witch's house), and Albert pointed the spots out to us since he helped ferry gear up the river during filming. After several "guided" trips on other islands where the guy didn't do much other than point out the obvious ("there's the ocean...that's a Baptist Church...this is a really old bridge") it was refreshing to have a true guide -- enthusiastic and knowledgeable, with 20 years experience of showing tourists his country. He knew the local and common names of all the flora and fauna on the banks, and he made it a point to look for hard-to-spot iguanas and birds and make sure we were able to see them. The greenery was spectacular with all the ferns and vines and big twisty tree roots, and there were little splashes of color as well -- yellow and red hibiscus, alongside bright green iguanas and hummingbirds.

We stopped for a drink upriver where an enterprising guy was working on building a bar in the middle of the forest to cater to the river tour crowd. The bar isn't finished yet, but in the meantime he sells soda and beer out of a cooler. The soda vendor was a well-spoken guy who gave us some insight into the politics of the country. His main complaint/idea was that although the country is poor, they don't lack for food during the growing season. Food is so plentiful that they have a huge surplus of oranges, mangoes, grapefruits, bananas, etc, even more than they can export. But he can't understand why the government doesn't put in a cannery so that they can preserve their orange juice, fruits, etc instead of having to pay through the nose for imported canned goods in the off season. It was an interesting discussion. I told the guy he should run for office but apparently there's pretty much one family with a lock on the political power in this part of the country so I guess he'll just remain a visionary who's stuck selling sodas.

Anyway, Albert brought us back to the boat and we invited him aboard for a beer and a snack. He was telling us that recently he has moved away from town to a beautiful spot by a lagoon where he can enjoy the peace and quiet and natural surroundings. He kept using the expression "I recently moved my house" and finally I asked him if he meant that literally. Yes, he said. He didn't load the whole thing on a truck, like some do, but he used all the materials from the old house to build part of a new bigger house. His new house is about 1200 square feet with three bedrooms, a bathroom, and a kitchen, while his old house was 12 feet by 16 feet (for the mathematically challenged, that's just 192 square feet). I will think about that next time I feel that the boat is too confining.



Where we are:
Location=Portsmouth, Dominica
Lat=15 34.987
Lon=61 27.836