Finally a few days to explore Dominica! We were sprung from quarantine on Monday morning and made our way over to do the final check in. Once checked in, we were approached by a tour guide who was getting ready to start a tour of Indian River with another boating family. He asked if we wanted to join so we hopped on board his dinghy and off we went. Dominica has 365 rivers which makes it the winning island for fresh water supply. Dominica is mostly jungle and the beaches are more black and gray rock than sand so it is a unique island. The Indian River is most well-known as a Pirates of the Caribbean Dead Man’s Chest filming location. On the tour, we got to see Calypso’s shack which Hollywood had actually built for the filming but the locals rebuilt after Hurricane Maria wiped out the original. Evidently Hollywood is not very good at building construction to last through a hurricane. Our guide had assisted the film crew with moving people and equipment so I am now calculating that puts me two degrees of separation from Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom…..so close! As we made our way up the river, the guide described all the wonders of Dominica. He then took us on a hike to a farm where he picked multitudes of herbs for us to take back to the boat. He also made us a fruit plate with fruit he picked fresh off the trees. It was amazing and I have never tasted a banana that was so sweet. They pride themselves on being “very healthy” because of their herbs. One man told me that he had been forced to get the Covid vaccine which he did not want. So, after he got the shot, he went home and “flushed out my body with so many herbs…not one drop of dat vaccine left inside dis body, mon!”
On Tuesday, we rented a car to go exploring further. Dominica was once a British colony so not only do you drive on the opposite side of the road, you drive on the opposite side of the car. Bill did a great job navigating the change but I had a very difficult time. If you have never sat in the “driver’s seat” with no steering wheel, brake or accelerator in front of you, I do not recommend it. I constantly felt like we were going to drive over a cliff and I think the floorboard now has a permanent hole from me stomping the nonexistent brake pedal. I believe next time I will sit in the back seat behind him….like Driving Miss Daisy….that way, I won’t be able to see the cliff prior to the death plunge. We made our way over the mountain to the capital of Dominica, Roseau. Roseau has a population of around 15,000 people and two streets. The day we visited, all 15,000 people were out driving on the two streets. Roseau had a grocery store, a few restaurants and a museum but since we could not find anywhere to park, we had to pass on the museum. We made our way out of town to Champagne Beach. Champagne Beach was advertised as having bubbles that came up from the seabed (due to volcanic activity) and it was supposed to be like “swimming in a glass of champagne.” We disagreed. While snorkeling, we had a difficult time finding any rising bubble streams. After about 20 minutes, we both found one at the same time and watched as a few sad little bubbles floated up to the surface…not exactly a glass of champagne event. But then….as if the island knew we were disappointed in the bubbles, a swarm of sardines appeared. Not hundreds, not thousands but hundreds of thousands of sardines swimming all around us. The school was so thick that we could not even see the bottom of the ocean! I am guessing that telling people they will be swimming in champagne is a more effective marketing campaign than “come be swallowed by a huge fish with a school of sardines” but I must say, the experience was much more exciting than bubbles! After snorkeling, we attempted to find our Airbnb for the night. Google maps sounded so sure of herself….We drove up a steep mountain, through a deep gorge, back up the side of another mountain, down a dirt road when Google suddenly announced we had reached our destination. Hmmm, I knew it would be rustic but not this rustic. After a call to our Airbnb hostess, we drove back down the mountain, through the gorge, back up the other mountain and arrived at her house which was about ten minutes from Champagne Beach…sigh. We settled in nicely to the place, did some laundry, went to dinner and fell asleep. All good…until the sun rose at 5am….suddenly, right outside the window came a bellowing “cockadoodledoo!” Then, every 15 seconds from that moment on “cockadoodledoo!” After breakfast, he was still just crowing away and Bill told the hostess that the only good thing to do with that rooster was to put it in some soup. The hostess stated that he was their alarm clock and Bill said, “More like your alarm cock” which made our hostess burst into laughter. As we prepared to go out for the day, that bird was still just happily crowing away. We voted at that point to pack our bags and find another place to stay….otherwise the hostess would be very suspicious of where her alarm clock had gone when Bill took her mystery soup the next day. Leaving the crazed rooster behind, we made our way to Ti Tou Gorge which was yet another site where they had filmed Pirates of the Caribbean. On our way up the dirt road, we passed a young man walking so we stopped to make sure we were headed in the right direction. He stated that he was heading to Ti Tou Gorge because he was the tour guide. We loaded him into the car and he was a much better direction supplier than Google! Another Covid Plus….we were the only ones at the gorge. On a regular day during normal times, at least 100 cruise passengers would have descended upon us according to our guide. Since it was just us, we suited up in our life jackets and the guide took us down to the river. He stated, “In the States, you might say the water is cold. In Dominica, we say it is refreshing. So, no hesitation, just come on into the refreshing water!” I am pretty sure he would call the Polar Bear Plunge “refreshing” as well but this American still says it’s freaking COLD! After our bodies numbed, we made our way through a small gorge toward a beautiful waterfall. Along the way, we stopped where Pirates had filmed one of the scenes and were amazed at how much Hollywood magic had been used in the film to piece together the actual scene. We then received a Dominican baptism under the waterfall prior to making our way out of the freezing abyss. Next stop was Trafalgar Falls which has a “Father Fall” which is higher and warmer and a “Mother Fall” which is shorter and colder. Our guide helped us make our way to a small pool below Father Fall where we enjoyed a few minutes in a relaxing spa bath. After a long day, we made our way to our new Airbnb which was a small cliffside hotel. It had an amazing view, welcoming hosts, a pool, a restaurant and most importantly, no roosters! On Thursday, we made our way back to the boat to prepare for leaving. We stopped by the customs office to check out of Dominica and were pleasantly surprised that it only took 5 minutes and $3.00 to get our check out papers. It took us over 5 days to get our Covid results because evidently, the health department will not email anything to anyone. After asking multiple times and having no response, our agent finally secured the results in hand once ‘the health guy drove them from Roseau (approximately 40 miles away) over here to my office” so that she could scan them into the computer and email them to us. You would think that these things would not be surprising to me after a year on the sea but sometimes, they can still make me shake my head in bewilderment. We now will be sailing down the remainder of the island chain to our summer destination of Grenada. We hope to arrive by July 1st if all goes well and hope that getting past the Covid police will go smoothly. Have a wonderful week and we will see you in Grenada! ***More pictures on the pictures tab
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Welcome to Dominica! I would love to tell you all about the wonders of Dominica but alas, we have been quarantined on the boat since our arrival. When we checked in, we were PCR tested and given a lovely neon orange bracelet that states, “WELCOME TO DOMINICA MANDATORY QUARANTINE”. We were told not to remove the bracelets. I call them our scarlet letter and my daughter says they are the mark of the unclean. We are allowed to swim in the vicinity of our boat but we can not have anyone on the boat or around the boat. We are so unclean that the trash pickup guys can’t even pull up to get our trash because our trash is considered “hazardous waste” until we test clean. The person who did our PCR test showed up in complete hazmat level gear. Goodness, Dominica must have had a very horrible run of Covid to have all of these things still in place…..”We have had zero cases” was the response I received when I asked. Yet they have managed to make an entire industry out of a non-existent germ. We had to hire an agent to help us navigate the Dominica system- $80.00. PCR test on arrival and five days later for two people- $160.00 (quite the bargain here!). Order some groceries from the Covid agent since we can’t get off of the boat- $135.00 (a pack of salami, pack of cheese, loaf of bread, bacon, a few packs of M&Ms and two cases of beer. Yes…I know our shopping list sounds like it was written by a drunken 16 year old but these are desperate times!). So, without stepping foot on the island, we have spent $375.00. Trying times definitely inspire entrepreneurship!
In preparation of being stuck on the boat for a week, we had prepared a list of boat projects to tackle to pass the time. We have made our way through a few such as oiling the teak, polishing the bowsprit, installing new lights in the engine room and repairing a loose door. We could have accomplished more if the weather had been more cooperative. The first night we were here we climbed into bed and all of a sudden, the winds started to roar. About an hour into trying to sleep, I heard a strange crashing sound so I got up to find that one of the solar panels had flown off of the framing and was hanging precariously by a corner. I called for Bill (who can apparently sleep through the end of the world) and he managed to get the panel off of the frame and safely into the salon. He then proceeded to throw out our super duper emergency anchor to make sure we did not drag during the night. We did not get much sleep the rest of the night and one of the other boaters had clocked the wind at 50 mph. I have to say that night was worse than the direct hit hurricane we had last year in the Dominican Republic. When I asked our “agent” if the wind was always that ferocious, she responded, “No way. I thought my roof was going to blow off my house!” I told her to try riding it out on a boat….at least she had the decency to look a little compassionate given that her country was torturing us in so many ways! The next morning, the weather had calmed and we had a good day with only a few rain showers. The next day, the wind died down to nothing. Oh, that must have been wonderful I hear you say….not even close. Boats are designed to face into the wind which on most occasions, keeps the waves on the nose of the boat which makes for smooth days and nights. On this particular day, when the wind died, Galt spun aimlessly about with the waves and current crashing incessantly onto the broad side of the boat causing the boat to rock and roll. All day. Every moment of the day. Thank goodness for Dramamine and the glorious distraction of chick flicks. Bill, not yet having discovered the wonder of chick flicks, had a few meltdowns during the day but we managed to survive the day and another long night. We awoke the next morning to discover that the rocking and rolling had been so fierce that the super duper emergency anchor had come loose and was now somewhere on the bottom of the bay. During a break in the rain, we jumped into the water with snorkel and mask to go on the anchor hunt. Bill literally swam into the rope that was floating above the anchor so we hoisted the super duper anchor into the dinghy and it is now safely back onboard. During that excursion, I saw my first octopus! I never knew how amazing an octopus was and he enjoyed showing off for me by squeezing into the tiniest of places and then flattening himself out to look just like a rock. Add see an octopus to your bucket list! So, here we are on day 6 of our 5 day quarantine. We took our five day PCR test yesterday morning and are praying for release by tomorrow. We have been investigating all the locations where Pirates of the Caribbean were filmed on the island and I am making my list. We watched one of the Pirates movies last night so that when we go to a location, I will know which scene was filmed there. Very exciting stuff for a movie geek like me! I told the gal that did our PCR tests today that if the test came back positive then it was going to be a greater miracle than the virgin birth of Jesus since we have not been off the boat for over a week now. She also must have figured out that the chances were nonexistent because she told Bill it was too hot for the full hazmat suit today…..we took that to mean it was Saturday and her bosses were not around. So, here’s to a negative test, running into Johnny Depp soon and a Happy Father’s Day to you all! PCR count to date: Sally -10 Bill - 8 We have made it halfway to Dominica at this point without issues! Our last two days in Sint Maarten were hectic ones with errands including last minute store visits, groceries, saying goodbye to new friends and of course, getting another swab shoved up our noses! Bill is currently at 6 shoves and I am in the lead with 8 shoves. We left Sint Maarten with hopes to return next year and headed toward St. Kitts for our first anchorage. We will definitely be returning next year to St. Kitts because it was beautiful! We were not allowed to get off the boat but from the water, it looks a lot like Ireland. Very green with beautiful rolling hills. Our next leg was to Monserrat which is where we are anchored for the night. We did not have permission to enter into their waters (we tried and tried to contact them but no response) but we figured that people who live on an island with an active volcano in the middle of the hurricane zone probably do not care too much about a germ. As my Stifel financial buddies would say, “they have a high tolerance level for risk”. We leave tomorrow for Guadalupe and then onto Dominica Monday. Then, we have five days quarantine there….sigh. The good news is that we have finally found the dolphins again! We had only seen one since leaving the Bahamas so we are hoping to get some entertainment on tomorrow’s sail. I tried to entertain myself today by fishing but the only thing I caught was a sea gull….luckily, he discovered my lure was not edible and gave up. Quite the pesky fellow!
Most of the trip we have been humored by our Google Fi phones. Every time we go to a new country, Google Fi notifies you by saying something such as “Welcome to the Bahamas! We’ve got you covered!” Thus far, Google has had us in the following locations: Location Google guess United States United States Bahamas Bahamas Turks and Caicos Jamaica Dominican Republic Dominican Republic (but no phone service) Puerto Rico Puerto Rico St. Thomas St. Thomas St. Maartin (French) Guadalupe Sint Maartin (Dutch) Anguilla St. Kitts Jamaica Monserrat Antigua and Barbuda on Sally’s phone and Jamaica on Bill’s phone So, I would not recommend counting on Google to get you anywhere quickly or accurately! I am really curious once we arrive in Guadalupe if Google will say “Welcome to St. Maarten! We’ve got you covered!” The main challenge with the location issue is figuring out which time zone that particular country is in because Google automatically changes the time on the phone. Makes setting wake up alarms a little more adventurous! Just a short blog this week because I am a bit tired after all the travel the last two days. Have a great week and we’ll see you in Dominica! ***No pics this week due to slow internet. I was talking with a friend of mine this week who had just been to Hilton Head, SC on vacation. Her family went on a dolphin tour and she said that being on the boat reminded her of me. She said that being on the boat was so peaceful but she imagined it wasn’t always so. The truth is, at least 90% of the time we spend on the boat is peaceful…and the other 10% is where the really great stories come from.
We moved Galt over to the marina in Sint Maarten on Thursday and took a day to enjoy the resort life. One plus of being on a boat is many of the marinas in the Caribbean are located in four and five star resorts. When you stay in the marina, you get all of the benefits of the resort for a quarter of the price. At this marina, we have a pool, restaurants, a spa, unlimited hot water and even a casino. There is a full gym if you so desire to get that kind of exercise. We do not feel the need for a gym because we get plenty of Galtercise. This week, our main exercise has been Hatch aerobics. The workout goes like this….2am: starts to rain so you jump out of bed, run up two sets of stairs, close the front hatch, close the back hatch, back downstairs and climb into bed. The rain stops two minutes later. 7am: boat is stuffy so run on deck, open front hatch, open back hatch. 9am: begins to rain so repeat process. 9:05am: rain stops so open hatches. 10am: rain starts. Pretend not to notice hoping that either the rain will stop or your boat partner will finally give up and go close the hatches. Rain, rinse, repeat all day. We also had a lot of boat yoga this week as well. Boat yoga is where you take two large people and try to squeeze them into the tiniest places on a boat. Then, you twist yourself around until you can reach what you need to fix with hopefully at least two fingers. Who needs a gym when we have a Galt? Since we are in a marina, that also means that I get to share the seedier sides of boat life this week. As we prepare to be on the move again, we want to be sure that critical systems are at their best. We worked on cleaning out the bilge (which I have explained in a previous blog) but this time, we also decided to clean and reset the pumps. Bilge pumps are one of the most critical things on a boat as the pumps are what is between you and Davy Jones’ locker. Needless to say, you want them working at full capacity. So, we open the floor plate (see picture), suck out the scunge that gathers in the bilge and clean the pumps. Cleaning was not too disgusting (we have had far worse jobs on the boat). Just a little Krud Kutter, replace some rusted holders and glue a broken piece. Now we are ready for an emergency that we hope will never come. Next, we had the anchor chain issue. Much like the bottom of the boat, when an anchor is in the water for a month, it grows all kinds of lovely habitats made up of seaweed and small barnacles. As we raised the anchor on Thursday, the line that takes the tension off the anchor chain (called a snubber) came up looking like Cousin It from the Addams Family (see picture). The anchor was not quite that bad but still took several hours with a scrub brush to get it clean…not my favorite job. Then, there were the “we are spoiled” jobs this week. We hired a man to scrub the boat hull, propeller and rudder so they are ready to make it to Grenada. Also in the marina, they have a guy who comes to your boat, picks up your dirty laundry and it magically reappears on the dock the next day…all clean, fresh and folded! We are going to be quite spoiled by departure time. After all of our hard work, we decided to go out for happy hour and Saturday night dinner in Simpson Bay. We made our way over to Soggy Dollar which has $1 beer daily between 5pm-7pm. Just as we were leaving to go grab some food, all of the electricity in Simpson Bay went off. It is amazing how quiet it gets once you take electricity out of happy hour! We walked out onto the street and saw one restaurant that obviously had a working generator because they were lit up like a Christmas tree. It is also amazing how easy picking a restaurant is when you take electricity out of the equation. I had never had Lebanese food and probably would not have picked it if there had been other choices. The food was very tasty so lack of modern day wonders has once again broadened my horizons! By this time next week, we will hopefully be on the move to Dominica. We have mapped out our plan and the guinea pig boats that have gone before us have all made it without too many issues. I will do my best to get a blog uploaded next week but I make no promises since I am not sure what the internet situation will be. I will give you all an update just as soon as possible! Have a wonderful week and may the laundry genie show up at your door! |
AuthorSally Miller Archives
May 2024
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