We arrived here on Friday around noon. We left Pointe a' Pitre on Thursday after a very busy morning. Wednesday was a holiday so everything was closed making our Thursday a bit hectic. We did grocery shopping (you know the drill, dinghy, walk, shop, walk, dinghy); Michael did the check-out of Guadeloupe and got 15 gallons of diesel. After everything got back to the boat, fueled, groceries put away and dinghy on deck - we left for "The Saints" to take off some time on the trip to Dominica. We sailed all the way from Pointe a Pitre to Islet Cabrit - no joy fishing. Anchored for the night and enjoyed being the only boat in that beautiful anchorage. The next morning (Friday) we got up bright and early and took off for Dominica. We again sailed most of the way - motoring the last few miles to make some water and charge the batteries. We anchored near the Purple Turtle Restaurant.
This is the first place where there are "boat boys". These are small business owners - who provide yacht help. On some islands they can be problems, but the ones on Dominica are professional, courteous and very helpful. They provide various services from helping you tie up to a mooring to getting you fresh fruit and vegetables. We had a guy named "Martin" on the boat "Providence" recommended to us by another sailboat - so we called for him. There is loyalty amongst boat boys - if you say "Martin's my guy" - the others back off. Martin this morning (Saturday) came by the boat as pre-arranged and picked up some laundry to take in for us and we'll be doing a river tour with him this afternoon - which includes a bit of bird watching - looking for the indigenous parrot.
Last night (Friday) the music at "Big Papa's" restaurant went on until 5 am Saturday morning. It was quite loud with a beat the reverberated through the boat. We also had a lot of rain yesterday - and unfortunately - had windows that weren't dogged down - so after visiting some folks on a boat (Clyde and Gertrude form Holland) - we came back to a flooded galley, a damp clothes locker and a wet basket in the walk-through. Oh well - we'll be better about checking windows in the future. After major clean-up, putting the dinghy and motor on deck (now we have to start doing the dinghy as well as the motor as we get further south) - we went to bed only to be kept up by the big party on shore. It started around 11 pm and went to 5 am! It was a Heineken promotion with two bands. Admission was $20 or $30 VIP. We got the music for free!
Saturday morning, we woke up quite early to get the dinghy back in the water and head to the vegetable market. It was a great vegetable market. There were people selling fruits, vegetables, fish, breads, jams - you name it. The selection was terrific - loads of bananas, pineapples, onions, peppers, watermelons, mammy apples, mangoes - you name it. We stocked up on some fresh items and can't wait to break into that watermelon.
We also stopped at the bank to get the local currency - EC's (Eastern Caribbean dollars) it's about $2.62 EC to $1 US dollar.
The people here are the friendliest we've seen so far on the trip. Everyone says hello and chats with you. Yesterday (Friday) after clearing into customs ($4 US), we stopped by for a cold drink. We ended up sitting at Big Papa's chatting with an interesting group of locals (including Big Daddy who owns the joint) Helen who runs a local dive shop, Marcellus (or Tony) who is the poet bartender / manager of Big Papa's, and Jeffrey one of the boat boys (and in charge of boat security in the area). The stories were funny and we learned a lot. It was a blast.
In 2001 on our cruise this was one of our favorite islands. I think it won't disappoint us this time either. So far it's great. We're looking forward to Martin's river tour this afternoon. Hope we see some parrots.
One story we forgot to share from "The Saints." Anchored there on the Ascension holiday, we were boarded by four Guadeloupe customs agents. Three came on board, one stayed in the dinghy - holding on to our boat with his hand on his weapon. Sounds scarier than it was. They were very polite and sat in the cockpit asking questions and filling out paperwork. They asked us if we had more than $10,000 Euro (we said we wished we did!). They asked about weapons, pets, tobacco, and alcohol. We skirted the alcohol question!! All was good - and it was an interesting experience.
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