A tour of the damaged island

On 27th  August 2015, Dominica was hit by storm Erica. In six hours 18 inches of rainfall came down, causing flooding and landslides that washed away whole villages. On a trip with SeaCat, we went up to see Pomme in his garden of Eden and were struck by how the whole course of the river and walk up into the rainforest had been changed. We then drove up to the moonshine village, which had been devastated by the mudslides, the inhabitants are still living in community shelters.
We were very interested to see how the island had been affected and SeaCat was happy to show us, so we set out for a day touring parts of the island we knew from previous visits starting with a hike up to see Pomme in his garden of Eden.

We couldn't believe the change in the walk. The river path through the valley had been totally changed by the huge boulders and mud that had been washed down from the mountains. Luckily we met a neighbour of Pommes who could show us the way through some of the most seriously affected areas. However, at Pommes the plateau high up in the rainforest had escaped unharmed and we spent a few hours chatting with him, before continuing our tour. 

SeaCat then drove us through the worse affected areas, including the village where we had our moonshine tasting session. The village had been hit by a mudslide that had destroyed much of the housing and caused an explosion at the bay leaf distillery. They houses that remained had mud up to the windows and the road was impassable. 

The changes were hard to imagine and seeing it all for ourselves really brought it home to us.

Carnival time in Dominica

Carnival is known as Mas Domnik or the real Mas in Dominica and consists of two days of jump up and parades. We wandered into Rosseau to watch the spectacle, although we didn't manage the 5am start things were still in full flow at 9am! The party atmosphere was heightened by the loud music, the costumes and the dancing in the street. To which Darrell was treated to an up close and personal one with a young lady much to the amusement of both of us.

As we wandered around the streets of Rosseau we came across the children getting their costumes on for their parade. All the schools seemed to be represented with a variety of brightly coloured costumes ranging from Minions to parrots. Then we came across the stilt walkers getting ready in their black and white costumes. The youngest was only 6 and the stilts meant they were level with the first floor balconies as they paraded through the streets. 

 

We returned the next day for the more formal parade and watched from the balcony of a cafe. The parade is started off with the carnival princess, queens and kings and then followed by a host of groups in costumes,which were highly elaborate and colourful. It seems that everyone gets involved from the local dj's, the mothers groups as well as the parishes. Again the stilt walkers we out in more complex costumes reflecting the diversity of the island. A great morning was spent watching and dancing along to the music.

Martinique

Our previous experiences of Martinique have been limited, due to it being shut for Easter in 2014, and then last year having to swim ashore due to dinghy problems. So we decided that we should spend some time exploring places we hadn't been to before. So we left St Lucia and headed towards St Anne's on the south coast of Martinique. The journey over was bouncy, Sarah quickly understood why it had been referred to as a washing machine and it was a relief to anchor in the big bay off St Anne's.

Glassy calm at St Anne'sThe wind dropped significantly and we had a few days of glassy calm seas and bright blue skies as we explored the area. St Anne's is a small village, where we cleared customs in a local bar. As we wandered up the hill Darrell was taken by the rows of beach huts. On closer inspection we found it was in fact a cemetery. (Anyone who is approaching pensionable age and whose biannual eyesight test is overdue can easily see how such a mistake could be made!)

St Anne's 'beach huts'

Despite the delights of St Anne's the main attraction of the area was Marin, a 30 minute dinghy ride further up the estuary. Here there was not only the ubiquitous Carrefour supermarket but several chandleries where Darrell was allowed a short amount of time to look around. They were certainly better than the ones on the other 'non French' Caribbean islands. Worth remembering for the future, but not a particularly attractive place to visit again. We did have some entertainment from the 2 local High school's pupils who were obviously finishing term before their exams and engaging in a street fight involving wearing scarves over their faces and hurling flour bombs and eggs at one another. The police did eventually intervene!

Our sail north ended up as a motor sail due to absolutely no wind allowing us to pas close to the famously Diamond Rock (HMS Diamond Rock as named by Admiral Rodney) Not an easy place to occupy so close to French held territory.

We spent one night at Anse a l'Ane opposite Fort de France, another pretty 'French' resort which was obviously very popular with the residents of Fort de France who were occupying the beach until just before the last ferry back to the capital city.

The following day we were away straight after breakfast and had a very pleasant sail to St Pierre where we arrived in plenty of time to find a good anchorage close to the town quay and were able to clear out before a pleasant afternoon tea in our favourite Alsace Bar. He now even does Nespresso coffee much to Darrell's delight and there are always some very nice cakes, much to Sarah's delight.

Our relaxed state ended in the early evening just as darkness was falling when a small French yacht anchored very close to us and then promptly went ashore. We were monitoring how close he was swinging to us when Sarah suddenly realise that the perspective of all the surrounding lights was changing meaning only one thing - our anchor had been lifted by the French boat as it moved. Panic Station! Well only momentarily. Anchoring in the dark is not nice at the best of times, but when the strong wind is swirling around and other yachts are dragging their anchors and trying to re-anchor it is a nervous time. Anyway we managed it without hitting or upsetting anyone but decided, due to the conditions to mount an anchor watch with one of us in the cockpit all night. It was quite entertaining watching yachts dragging and wondering how long it would be before anyone on board noticed. One yacht ended up about half a mile out into the bay by daylight.

We did not have an early start that day, but after a lie in and a breakfast we set sail for our favourite island, Dominica, pleased to be leaving St Pierre.

Monte Pele with no cloud cap as we left Martinique

The Adventure Begins.

With most of the main jobs completed, it was time to head north. Truth be told, we both had itchy feet and were keen to start sailing, although Sarah was rather anxious about the winds, as she still gets very seasick. Her courage must have been in good supply as she suggested that we check out of Grenada in Prickly Bay and head straight for Union in the Grenadines. A longer sail than going via Carriacou. Although, she did put in the codicil that she wanted to anchor in Chatham Bay not the usual Clifton, as she wanted the larger, easier to anchor and more sheltered bay.
At 8am Darrell was waiting for Customs to open, well for the officer to turn up, he did just before 9, so all the formalities could be completed. As we were making the final preparations a yacht tried to anchor next to us but kept dragging, so as we left he took our spot and had solid holding, rather lucky as he was leaving the boat for three months as he headed off to do some work in Canada.
The sail thankfully was straightforward, with no dramas, apart from the lazy Genoa sheet coming undone as we furled her. Darrell needs to brush up on his knot tying! We even managed to get anchored before it got dark, as we averaged over 7 knots. Chatham was busy. Last time we had been in there had been three boats in total, this time, 15 yachts, 3 motor cruisers and a cruise ship, all be it a smaller one that pretends to use sails.
That night the wind picked up and we were veering 120 degrees around the anchor, and there was some re anchoring going on during the evening and early morningamongst the other yachts. Due to the choice of this bay, it meant an early walk over to customs the next day. Luckily, we had the offer of trail guide Alex to show us the way and explain the history of the island. So we set off at a great pace up the side of a steep tree covered hill trying to keep up with our guide. We walked across to the second village on the island, Ashton, where Alex was building his home. He proudly showed us how far he had got and we gave a donation for some more cement so he could continue his labour of love. We then continued to Clifton, the walk took about an hour and a half, and found that Customs had moved from the airport to their proper office on the quayside. So Darrell quickly completed the formalities and Alex sorted out us a bus to get back to Chatham. On the journey, the bus stopped by the local primary school to pick up 12 preschool pupils and their member of staff to return them to the preschool building. Squeezing them in four to a seat and on people's laps, health and safety is slightly different out here! 

Due to the high winds we stayed in Chatham for three nights, chilling, snorkelling and exploring, before we headed out for a night in Tobago Cays. The beauty of which is always a tonic for the soul.
The next day we sailed to Bequia and went to customs to sign out. Much to Darrell's surprise no money was asked for. Last time we cleared out here we had had to pay 56 EC for immigration and 65 EC for customs, but it turns out that they had been for overtime as it had been a weekend. As this was a Friday no money was required. Obviously, Darrell will be better organised so we don't clear out at a weekend, unless it is a French island!
Next morning bright and early we set out on the 72 mile sail north to Rodney Bay, St Lucia. Resisting the temptation of Capella at Marigot Bay much to Sarah's disappointment. No time to stop and watch fishes on this trip! Thankfully, we were anchored and drinking a cuppa by the time the sunset. Next morning we went into the marina as we needed to do a few more jobs and get some more new batteries to replace those for the bow thruster and windlass. Luckily they were in stock and Darrell fitted them without any problems. Strangely, the old batteries disappeared very quickly, in fact Darrell had offers as he was taking them across to be tested, even though one had lost a terminal!