Archiv
CW03 2002
13.01.2002 - 19.01.2002
Today is Sunday, January 13 and we're mooring at the historical walls of
Nelsons Dockyard in English Harbour, in Antigua.
We're having breakfast "out of doors" today, namely at the Gallery
Bar right across the road. Back aboard we do a little this and that and then
we must leave, pick up the rented car and off to St. Johns, sine we're expecting
- as announced - dear visitors from home.
Christina and Bernd Schierloh are arriving in Antigua today and, as a surprise,
we're going to pick them up from the airport. After a long flight they finally
arrive, almost on time, at 6pm and we drive straight back to the boat. As
a welcome drink we have a rum punsch mixed by Cocktail Mixer Thomas.
Expanding that a little it turns into a nightcap and we retire to our bunks.
Monday is shopping-day and we drive to St. Johns again. But before we visit
the supermarket outside of town, we walk a little through downtown, towards
the harbour where two pleasure cruisers lie. The "Radiance of the Sea",
a really huge ship and a three-master, the "Club Med II".
We don't buy too much; after all, we're going to visit the next islands in
the South, where we have to go shopping again.
On our way back we quickly wonder about the landings of Falmouth Harbour and
send admiring glances to the great (sailing-) yachts there. The Endeavour
is also back. After returning to English Harbour we put our shopping away
and then it's already time to satisfy our hunger, and we do that. We do that
well, in the restaurant HQ, which is also in English Harbour.
After our breakfast on Tuesday morning we refill our water, put everything
away again, unfasten the lines and weigh the anchor. But somehow that's rather
heavy today. Soon we notice why: our anchor got stuck in one of the three
hurricane chains that are spread across the harbour ground. No surprise our
anchor held sooo well yesterday, while others we dropping anchor for a second
time or even moving a little. So we manoeuvre around for a while and Thomas
and Bernd solve the problem with lots of expertise. On we go.
We leave Antigua, heading for the next Island in the small Antilles, Guadeloupe.
Antigua, Barbuda and Redonda together form an independent state in the Commonwealth
with the British Queen as head of state, and they belong to the small Antilles.
The small Antilles themselves are divided into two strings of islands: the
Leeward Islands in the North, from Anguilla to Dominica, and the Winward Islands,
from Martinique to Grenada. They are named after their position to the trade
winds. Therefore they are also called "islands on top of the wind".
A good 40 nm lie ahead of us. 40 miles, only sailing. Wind up to 40 knots,
making us does up to 8 knots. At times it's a little rough and the rain doesn't
spare us either. So we arrive in Anse Deshaies on Guadeloupe shortly before
dark, drop anchor and let the day end.
Since we want to stay for 1-2 days the first thing we have to do on Wednesday
morning is to sign in. But that turns out to be quite difficult since this
office doesn't seem to have any fixed opening hours. So we did get fresh French
Baguette, but we couldn't sign in. Our second try in the afternoon isn't successful
either, since there's no one there. So we load the dinghy again, weigh the
anchor and drive in the rain, through the rain, to the Ilets a´Goyaves
not quite 10 nm away. On our way 2 dolphins visit us, but only for a short
time. Arriving at the Goyaves Islands we moor at a buoy and use the last rays
of sunshine to go snorkelling. So to say as an appetizer for scuba diving.
After all, we're in the Cousteau-underwater Park here, which is located all
around the island.
Back aboard we unfasten the lines and make our way to our night quarters,
only 1 nm away. We drop anchor there, in the South of Pt. de Malendure.
There's a lot going on here at night, and it's happening in the water. There
seem to be huge amounts of fish here. Whole schools jump out of the water,
which we can see and hear very well. Unfortunately we have to delay going
to sleep. Not because of the fish; no. Shortly before midnight another catamaran
drifts around between our neighbour and us. Apparently her anchor didn't hold.
We have slight problems waking up her crew to let them know what happened,
but after a while we succeed. So they drop anchor again and we can finally
also go to bed.
Thursday morning and just after 9am we've already weighed anchor and are
on our way to the Ilets a´Goyaves, to the Cousteau marine park. Scuba
diving!!!
After the short drive we choose a nice place and buoy, moor there and jump
into our wetsuits.
And now all four of us are standing here, rubber men, fully equipped and full
of anticipation. Since it's still quite early there aren't that many other
divers here and we can take our time. We jump into the water, directly off
the boat and we're right in the middle of it.
UNBELIEVABLE, what the underwater world has to offer. All of us are totally
fascinated and ecstatic. Fish, corals, sponges, in all sizes, forms and colours.
Everything so natural, so real, and yet I think: that can't be real. Images,
like you ones you know from books and films. Miraculously beautiful. After
40 minutes we come up again and we're all equally impressed.
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Out of the wetsuits, rinsing them, putting them away to dry and off
we go again. At almost 12 o'clock we're on our way again, to the Iles
des Saintes, to Terre den Haut. |
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But the weather is nice again on Friday and we can enjoy the beautiful
view; as Christina and Bernd do. Now, be honest, who would have thought, that it rains so much and so often here? That's not what comes to your mind if you think of the Caribbean, is it? But all that rain also brings something beautiful: rainbows! Rainbows of a kind that you don't get to see at home. How could you though, after all, how often does it rain and the sun shines again immediately afterwards, and that in a way that creates images like this one? For today we have a good 20nm and another island ahead of us. |
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It's called the "nature island of the Caribbean".
It is also said, that Columbus, who discovered it during his second
journey to west India 500 years ago would probably recognise this one
island because it stayed so original, so natural.
I'm talking about Dominica. It owes its name to the day of its discovery, a Sunday, in Spanish: Dominica. On all the cleared, grubbed up Antilles that were made arable, the natural vegetation has become rare. Only on Dominica the tropical rainforest is (almost) still as it once was. Almost all of the 790 square kilometres of the volcano island are one large natural preserve, covered by a thick jungle in which sulphur springs, waterfalls and little lakes and rivers are hidden. |
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And that's what we want to take a look at. We reach Dominica in the early
afternoon. But before we reach the island, the first "boat-boy"
reaches us.
"Welcome to Dominica" he calls, while we're still half a nautical
mile away from the bay we're going to. He points to his boat, on which his
name is written. He calls himself Bounty.
As we enter the bay he's back, and there are more. They paddle along on surfboards
or in small canoes, and they all want to sell you something: round trips,
fruit and vegetables, fresh bread or disposing your waste. That's how they
make a little money on the side or even support themselves.
There are 8 people surrounding our ship as we drop anchor in Prince Ruppert
Bay in front of the city Portsmouth.
We order a little fruit and vegetables from one of them and later on we book
a ride down the Indian River, the largest river on Dominica, with Bounty.
Portsmouth is also the ships-graveyard of the Leewards. No less than 7 freighters
and other ships, all victims of the hurricanes in the last few years, lie
on the beach here, in front of the city, directly in front of the gardens
and balconies of the houses standing here.
Not really a nice sight, but interesting, and also part of the island. But
before we can go looking around we have to sign in, even on Dominica. So we
get the dinghy ready and Thomas takes care of that. As soon as he's back aboard,
Christina, Bernd and myself also get ready and together we take off to Portsmouth.
We wander through the city a little, along the main road and meet many friendly
and open locals. We walk up to the Indian River mentioned before and turn
around. We walk past the market halls, back to the dinghy, along the lava-black
sand beach.
Right at the beach we have sundowners on the terrace of the bar "Purple
Turtle" and enjoy and admire the location and the view. Then we return
to our ship. After having cooked and enjoyed dinner we have a little nightcap
and that's it for today.
Today is Saturday, January 19, and at 10 am Bounty picks us up for our Indian
River tour. But before we go on that trip we take a detour to the market.
Fruit and vegetables are displayed at little stands, in a covered place. Fresh
fish can be bought straight from the little fishing-boats, from the fishermen
themselves. Sometimes that's a little sad since the pretty little doctor fish
or pusher fish, which we enjoyed so much while diving, lie here now, ready
to be fried.
At the market we even meet some locals who speak German and who have been
to Germany. We here sentences like "guten Morgen, wie geht es Dir"
(=good morning, how are you) and "achso", spoken without any accent.
That's quite funny.
We buy some fruit and vegetables and treat ourselves to a drink-coconut and
then we get ready for our river tour.
Arriving there Bounty turns the outboard motor off and starts rowing.
Antigua has 365 beaches to offer, but Dominica has its rivers. The island
has 365 rivers, one for every day of the year, and we're on the biggest one.
Our journey takes us through mangrove swamps. Nature at its best! The peace,
the air, the green! Fascinating! Birds with white feathers and almost neon
coloured green legs walk around and fly through the undergrowth. Crabs crawl
around on and in the Mangrove roots. Huge termite nests hang on the countless
palm trees and plenty of fish swim around in the water.
The palm trees, they are really countless. There are extremely large and so
very many palm trees here. Small ones like the ones you can buy in a pot at
a nursery at home, as well. A coconut with a sprout! They lie around in hundreds,
no, more likely in thousands here. That's how nature renews and rejuvenates
herself all the time.
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Here's a picture, to give you an idea what this enchanting "wilderness"
looks like. There's a landing place here, in the middle of the jungle and this is where our journey in this direction ends. We walk from here on. First we turn right. Past a bamboo-bush to a banana plantation and we just take a few bananas with us. The path leading there is quite challenging since the ground is all soggy and muddy from the rain. We stroll through the banana plants, see small lizards and colibris and then continue in the opposite direction. We're almost walking on the riverbank, through bushes, that protect us well from the heavy rain that started falling. At least for a short time, then the heavy raindrops fall through the leaves and we return. |
So we walk through the rainforest, in the rain. Isn't that special?!
Actually we'd already been wondering. Here, where we expected plenty of rain
it hadn't rained. After all, Dominica belongs to one of those parts of the
world with the highest rainfall. As the rain stops we're also back at the
landing place and there's kind of a bar, right at this landing place. We find
out, that our freshly harvested bananas are cooking-bananas and they explain
to us how these are prepared and we decide to also give it a try sometime.
Christina and I get a little present, a fish and a bird made from woven leaves.
We have a glass of juice and then we start our return-trip.
On our way back we go up a small canal and that was it. Bounty takes us back
to our boat. What a beautiful trip!
Christina and Bernd take the dinghy and go to the beach for a while before
we all go back ashore for dinner.
Tonight we're going to a bar right on the beach, for a BBQ and Reggae.
Fish and chicken straight off the grill, with rice, salad and Creoles sauces,
along with a local beer. Nice!
Speaking of food, the culinary tip from our onboard kitchen. Because of what
we're going to have next week, this week's tip is going to be a small one.
Really just a little tip concerning a well-liked side dish: mashed potatoes.
Simply spice it up with a few chopped, lightly fried onions and a little chopped
and also lightly fried bacon.
Next week we'll present you a nice, full course.
Well, we've had our dinner, but there's no music yet. By the looks of it that
could be another while, but that doesn't matter, we've got plenty of time.
Around 10pm the reggae band shows up and starts setting up their equipment.
At first the general mood isn't really too good, but then locals take over
the microphone and we get some real reggae. Stoned and drunk they can't seem
to stop themselves. Interesting to see.
Since we'll still be on Dominica tomorrow, on Sunday, and we'll also want
to do something we book another tour with our guide Bounty for the next day.
Everything that we saw and experienced there,
… what the new week had in mind for us,
… next week here.
Same time, same place!
So long
Diana + Thomas
Christina + Bernd
This week we present you a saying from Christoph Martin Wieland:
To gain everything you have to risk everything.
And finally a small success-announcement: our fax machine is working again so we can receive faxes at the announced times!
