Friday, March 29, 2013

Dominica

 The  trip to Roseau was incredibly fast. We left at 07:00 in the morning and we were tied up to a mooring at 13:00.
We dealt with a guy who calls himself "Pancho" and is available on channel 16 as "Pancho services". Very pleasant and helpful guy and I certainly do not regret dealing with him. His associate, who calls himself "busch", took us to customs, helped us clear everything and we made a deal with him for a four hour tour next day to visit the Trafalgar Falls, the Fresh Water lake and the botanic garden. Which we did, except for the BonaticGarden which we did the next day.
Both Pancho and Bush are passoniate about their country, and are very eager to show you the best of it. This is my second visit of Dominica, and I knew they were doing the best they could and we had a very good time, visiting those sites but also going to town, having a drink or a meal and enjoying the whole experience.
The last evening, we had dinner at "Drop  Anchor", just next to our mooring, and it was a very enjoyable dinner, with tables set on the wharf for people who obviously had made reservations.
We never had to put the engine on the dinghy, as we were very close to the "Drop Anchor" wharf, and for me, this was a big plus.
So, we stayed in Roseau from the 26 to the 29, when we left early morning for Portsmouth, where we arrived late morning.
The  arrangements there are very similar to those of Roseau. When you arrived, one of the local boats with the sign "Yacht Services" meet you as you are still way out, welcome you and try and convince you to take a mooring. Did not take a lot of convincing for me. At 10 $/day, this is a no brainer.
So we tooke a mooring, in 20 knots of wind, which required some assistance from another boat owner who came out with his dinghy,
And then , we enjoyed doing the "Indian River" trip, with a couple of nice people from Quebec, with whom we only spoke english, as Karen is still struggling with the french language.
After the very nice 1 mile trip up the river, we had lunch ashore and went back to the boat for a quiet evening, preparing to go early tomorrow to "Les Saintes" in Guadeloupe.
Going on Internet allowed me to understand why we had such an unusual weather in the last few days. This had to do with the monster storm in the North Atlantic, which fortunately is now weakening.

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