Dominica, The Nature Island

P.A.Y.S.

“Did you have a good sail?”, asked the Dominica one-person welcome committee. It was Lawrence (of Arabia, as he likes to be called) on his skiff, who motored towards us when we were about to enter Prince Rupert Bay, in the northern tip of Dominica. He pointed us to the mooring buoys in front of Portsmouth, and went back to his strategic position to wait for the next visitors.

Soon after, to grab the buoy, we got unsolicited but welcome help from Titus on his own skiff. He then went off to help another boat, and came back before long to let me know what documents I needed for clearing in, and to instruct me to be ready in five minutes to go to customs. He left again before I could say that I’d rather have lunch first, and came back four minutes later while I was gobbling whatever I could find.

Titus took me and five other sailors to the municipal dock and directed us to the customs office. The other guys said they didn’t need a ride back, so Titus was going to wait in the dock just for me. When I got back he wasn’t there. Uh oh. I was pondering my options (Walk two miles and then swim to Ñandú? Call Kathy to see if she could radio a water taxi?) when Titus showed up and gave an apologetic explanation. I stepped aboard the skiff but to my surprise he climbed to the dock with a dirty dish in his hand. The engine was running and the skiff wasn’t even tied to the dock. “Hold the boat please. I have to return something to my cousin”, he said and walked up the dock. I could have been bewildered with cultural shock, but instead I was just fascinated with the cultural imbuing I was being administered.

“Would you like to go on a tour around the island?” Titus asked us once I was back aboard Ñandú.

“Yes, sure,” we answered, since the tour was in our plans.

“OK, I have a group for tomorrow, so be ready at 8.”

“Looks like we have a plan for tomorrow,” Kathy and I told one another.

In some of the windward islands boats are approached by a multitude of vendors before you even anchor, to offer tours, produce, craft, take your garbage (to be disposed off responsibly, or perhaps not) or any help in exchange of money. It can get intimidating and winds up having the opposite effect: instead of bringing business to town it scares it off. Tour guides in Portsmouth recognized the problem and got organized forming PAYS, the Portsmouth Association of Yacht Services. When a boat comes in they assign one PAYS member and that’s the one person that approaches your boat.

From our standpoint, it worked very well, including Titus’ somewhat dictatorial but well-intended manners. They have an office with information, they provide security, they maintain the mooring buoys, they offer good services, and they are very punctual (which is rather unsual in these latitudes).

Around the island

Titus picked us up at the agreed time and brought us and the crew of two other boats to the dock, and introduced us to our guide and driver.

“This is Winston,” he said. “He wants to marry my mother”, he added gratuitously.

Skeptics might say that a size of just two samples does not constitute overwhelming evidence, but after touring Montserrat and Dominica I’m concluding that “Winston” is used in this corner of the world as short for “tour guide and van driver”.

Anyway. Around the island we went, Winston at the wheel. First stop was a nondescript corner where Winston picked up a monumentally large sound system and loaded it in the van. Second and third stops required the system to be unloaded first so that we could get off the van. Fourth stop was his modest house where he dropped it off. He stopped multiple other times to crack a joke with people on the streets in an unintelligible patois. I still wonder whether he knew all those people or not.

Dominica and Maria

The Caribs or Kalinago were the original inhabitants of Dominica. About 3000 remain in the Kalinago Reserve. The island was a French colony from the late 17th century to the middle 18th. In 1761 it was taken by Great Britain, after which the French went through a couple of cycles where they’d sign a treaty that formally conceded the island to the British and then have second thoughts and try to recapture it. Dominica gained independence from the British Crown in 1978.

Dominica’s unspoiled natural beauty makes it a dream for hikers and divers. And movie makers too: several scenes of Pirates of the Caribbean were filmed here, and the map you get in the Tourism Office shows the locations where each scene was filmed.

Last year hurricane Maria, the first category five to hit Dominica in recorded history, flattened the island with 160 mph (256 km/h) winds. Dozens of people lost their lives, 95% of the buildings were damaged or destroyed, and the once tropical paradise nicknamed the “isle of nature”, became a war zone stripped of its green layer of vegetation, obliterated by nature itself. Images post-hurricane are sobering.

Seven months later, we saw a resilient island recovering from disaster. Signs of destruction were evident everywhere (toppled trees, closed roads, piles of debris, houses without walls or roofs, bridges washed away). Walking the streets of Portsmouth I noticed a somber mood, in stark contrast with the other islands we’ve visited. But people are coming to terms with their losses and are working hard to rebuild their lives. Temporary bridges reconnected the island, the noise of frenzy construction fills the air, tourism is making a comeback, and the scarred island looks remarkably green again.

Of rivers and waterfalls

Question: how do you say “a whole lot” in the tropics? Answer: 365. That’s what I gathered after hearing a Bahamian say The Exumas has 365 islands, an Antiguan say Antigua has 365 beaches, and a Dominiquois say Dominica has 365 rivers. So, yeah, I doubt the number is accurate, but Dominca for sure has a whole lot of rivers: certainly enough to keep you busy for a whole year if you are into potamology (thanks Google—I had to look that one up). And what do you get when you put a whole lot of rivers in a steep island? A whole lot of waterfalls.

Cabrits National Park

Cabrits National Park, on the north side of Prince Rupert Bay, protects tropical forests, wetlands and coral reefs, and includes Fort Shirley, an 18th century garrison impressively restored. Cabrits is an extinct volcano, and it used to be an island until the action of tides deposited enough material to connect it to the main island.