Indian River

Posted on February 14, 2009 by steve

Last night we welcomed aboard Tero and Anna from Karibia – the other Lagoon 420 Hybrid anchored near us. It was good to get to know them and share notes. They’ve been here for 3 weeks. They had intended on visiting Guadeloupe but the general strike has made them decide to stay here longer.

This morning at 7am Alexis came by to pick us up for our morning trip to the Indian River. Six of us were involved in total. Joining us for the trip were Emmy and Brian from Avalon and Jane and Andy from Drimia.

The first stop was the local market. At that time of the morning the selection was broad and good food could be acquired. Having bought loads of fruit and eggs for less than US$10 we reboarded Alexis’ boat (which involved getting our feet wet – incidental detail) for our trip up the river. Before getting to the river Alexis pointed out the various wrecks along the waterfront – all a result from past Hurricanes including a few from Omar which nearly went over Dignity in the BVIs last October.

The river ride was very, very good. We’d chosen to go early to avoid any rush so we were the first set up people up the river. It was nice to have it to ourselves. We were able to see the place where they build (then tore down) the voodoo ladies hut in Pirates of the Caribbean 2. We’re now going to have to watch the movie to see if we recognize the place.

Alexis would point out various wildlife and plants and made the trip very entertaining. The river was narrower and more lush that the one we dinghied up in Guadeloupe. Alexis had to row most the way as outboards are forbidden on the river. This made it extra quiet. At the furthest extent of the trip there was a bar in the jungle where we could walk around, have a fruit punch and be shown more flora by Alexis. As ever, here are the pics of the trip.

Now we’re back on the boat and it’s not yet 11. We have some further things planned for today. Shortly I’m off to Drimia to take a look at Andy’s sat phone hookup to his computer. This afternoon Helen and I will take a look at the town. Tomorrow we’re up early again to go hiking with Brian and Emmy. Then we’ll need a day or two off from all this hard work.

Footnote. Had some success with Andy and Jane’s sat phone set up and his PC/GPS hookup. Nice to be able to pay forward just a little of the help we’ve had from other cruisers.

Posted in Dominica, Drimia, Karibia | Leave a comment

Portsmouth, Dominica

Posted on February 13, 2009 by steve

We’ve made it to Dominica. Easy sail really – one tack all the way. Took about 6 hours all in all. We’re now cleared in and settled on an anchorage. We’re alongside another Lagoon 420 and have said hello. Probably having drinks tonight but currently struggling to contact them on VHF. May have to dinghy over shortly. We’ve also book a trip up the Indian River which is a well known and well recommended tourist attraction here. We’ve attached ourselves to one of the boat guides – Alexis – who should be able to help us out with all our land based trips. I’ve also managed to fill two gas cans so we’re no longer running the dinghy on fumes. That’s all for now. Oh – here are some local pics. Previous pics have also been uploaded.

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Posted in Dominica, Karibia | 1 Comment

That worked

Posted on February 13, 2009 by KC2RIY

Blog went through first time and fast. That was unusual even at the best of times.

Posted in At Sea, Dominica, Guadeloupe | Leave a comment

Farewell Guadeloupe

Posted on February 13, 2009 by KC2RIY

We’re on our way to Dominica. This is another attempt to email at sea. In the past I have not succeeded and I suspect this is due to the ground plane being close to the electric motors which are now acting as a dynamo. If you see this, I have succeeded.

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Posted in At Sea, Dominica, Guadeloupe | Leave a comment

Lucky day – relatively speaking

Posted on February 12, 2009 by KC2RIY

As per our plan we were ready to go hiking and on the dock by the rental stand by 9am. As luck would (not) have it, the rental stand was open. While loitering we learned from the Captainerie that the car gas station at the other end of the marina (2/3 of a mile away) was open. So with hope in our hearts and feeling as though our gas situation was resolved we motored over there only to find it was not open. Now that we had even less gas in the dinghy I got the job of rowing back the 2/3 of a mile
to the car rental stand. It was still closed. We waited until well after 10am but no luck with that. Time for plan B.

We ordered a taxi who took us to the Fed Ex office on the other side of the bay. There we learned the package was stuck in customs at the airport. They gave us some paperwork to go there. At the airport customs we were first informed we had to involve a clearing agent. We said the strike might make this difficult and we needed to leave tomorrow. They then said we had to come back after lunch (2.5 hours later) then go back into town to clear some paperwork then go back to the airport to collect
the Hookah. Given the strike and our leaving constraints we asked them if there would be an easier way still. For customs officials I have to give it to them for working out what they did as they had no requirement to. They did find a way for us to collect the Hookah then drop off the papers in town – on our honour. We agreed to this. Of course, the lunch break was sacrosanct so we had to wait until 2 in the afternoon. Until this point the taxi driver had been waiting without running his meter.
We gave him the news. He had another job he could squeeze in so this worked out.

Things still didn’t go blindingly fast in the afternoon. We did eventually get the Hookah but the problem was the customs office in town decided to shut early. We were told it would be ok to put the paperwork through the mailbox. The taxi driver took us there (while on the way picking up some teeth from a dentist). There was no mailbox. The taxi driver phones customs at the airport and they told us to stuff it under the door. This was not easy either but we found a way. Hope it works.

Back at the marina we found the marina fuel dock to be open but with such long waiting lines and so few people working we decided to wait til Dominica.

To many this may sound like a bad day. However, as things go here in the Caribbean I think we did pretty well. We’ve heard of people having to wait weeks for stuff only find it was here all along. Hats off to the customs officials who were so polite and helpful.

Our plan for tomorrow is now to run for Dominica. We’re not going to get in our hikes in Guadaloupe which is disappointing but we can use the time and money we have saved to do some extra ones in Dominica which is often referred to as the most unspoiled Caribbean island. So things can’t be so bad.

Both of us are looking forward to seeing the back of Point-a-Pitre. If the strike were not on at least we could do our day trips and enjoy the liveliness. As it is we feel we’ve been stuck in a bit of a dump. Time to move on.

Posted in Guadeloupe | Leave a comment