S/V Aphrodite

The Leeward Islands are north and west of the Windward Islands on the stepping stones leading us back to the States.  They span 200 miles and include 10 major islands operating as different nations, some with French, some with Dutch and some with British traditions.  According to our cruising guide, The Leeward’s can be subdivided into 3 groups: The Renaissance Islands of St. Martin, St. Bart’s and Anguilla, enjoying an impressive economic and social rebirth; The Islands that Brush the Clouds (don’t you just love that description) a chain of small, steeply mountainous tops of the volcanic chain which include Montserrat, Nevis, St. Kitts, Statia and Saba and The Islands of Mountains and Mangroves, Dominica, The Saintes, Marie Galante and Guadeloupe (the last 4 being included in the French Antilles grouping as well).

Dominica is a rustic, majestic island of rainforests, waterfalls, rainbows, tropical flowers and natural beauty.  I loved it.  But even more beautiful than the land itself were the people.  I cannot recall a more engaging, warm-hearted group of people.  Speaking the same language always enhances the experience but the spirit of the Dominican people was far greater and apparent than the mere benefit of a shared language.  The day we arrived a large cruise ship was in port so the down town area was teeming with tourists.  Usually that doesn’t appeal to me but I was astonished and overwhelmed with the colorful town and the warmth of the people.  Most of the houses had fresh coats of multi-colored paint with tropical plants suspended, draped and sprouting out of tiny front yard gardens.  The markets spilled out of the shops and onto the streets displaying fruits, vegetables and a variety of handcrafted native items.   My favorite market day was on a Sunday morning, without a cruise ship crowd influencing the local merchant’s activities.  This was a Dominican market for the Dominican folks and it was teeming with an entirely different energy.  Everyone was visiting with each other, many wanted to talk to us about the dogs, pet them and have pictures taken with them.   

We stopped in two locations along the western coast of Dominica, Roseau, the capital, and Portsmouth.  The country does not have a well developed infrastructure for tourism so most of the tour opportunities are handled at the local level.  For a visiting yacht this means that a local guy races out in his panga to greet arriving boats, helps secure a mooring ball and hopefully become the boat’s tour guide.   Our greeter and guide was Poncho, an eager and helpful Rastafarian who assisted us in many ways, probably the most significant being getting the dogs cleared into the country.  When we learned that we were going to have to jump through all the same bureaucratic hoops that we did in St. Lucia to get the dogs cleared into the country we planned to just skip it and leave the next day.  But Poncho happened to be a dog owner and used the vet the customs guy recommended for the clearing in process.  He contacted the vet and provided the transportation to get the clearance accomplished.  We promptly booked a day hike into a waterfall in the rainforest.

For the nature lover this island is supreme.  The rainforest offers unlimited hiking opportunities and numerous stunning waterfalls tumbling off steep mountainsides into lush vegetation.  The rugged topography continues below the sea.  Walls drop farther than you can dive, towering pinnacles rise from the seabed and underwater hot springs bubble forth. 

The trip we took with Poncho was to Victoria Falls.  It is an amazing hike, requiring us to ford the river 5 times, sometimes through waist high water, to the highest falls in Dominica.  We took the dogs, assuring Poncho that they would have no problem with a river hike.  However, we did not know that we would be scrambling over moss-slicken boulders.  Their webbed feet did not help them as much as goat hooves would have.  We had to do a lot of boosting to get them up and over the boulders.  They loved it though, and by the end of the day both of them were much braver and more sure footed.

The water at Victoria Falls is whitish with high sulfur content and reminded me of the glacier runoff of Lake Louise in Canada.  The cold fresh water felt marvelous to me.  I much prefer fresh water to sea water.  Poncho’s uncles live in wood huts at the base of the trail head in a paradisiacal like garden and offer a simple meal of vegetarian Ital food for those who want it.  I am still not clear on what denotes Ital food, but what we had was a lentil and vegetable stew over rice served in calabash gourd bowls with calabash scoopers as spoons.

We took several other incredible hikes without a guide and found some amazing sites.  I think the sheer number of photos we have posted indicate how much we loved this island.

Iles des Saintes is a part of the Guadeloupe Archipelago.  Unlike Guadeloupe, they are small, dry and steep.  We took a hike to the top of one of the peaks and got a stunning view of the Bay of Iles Des Saintes, one of the most beautiful and protected bays in the world.  The town is picture perfect, pristine, colorful and full of life.  While on our hike we watched a sea storm come to land, drenching us in “liquid sunshine.”