Carnival in Dominica

Not sure if this is going to work. Thought I'd try to show you a snippet of the Carnival parade in Dominica. Some of it is too bizarre to describe.

Jumbies

Miss Teen Dominica

Not sure about this one

Too much fun

No clue?! Ma Pazi?

Butt Shakers

Watch out for the high tension wires!

Michael Jackson

Gimmee some of that cotton candy!

For all your meat needs.

Delicious baked plantain stuffed with salt cod

Anyone can join the parade

I'll see if these movies work and repost if I need to.

CALLS Dominica

Sorry - the last blog post had a different focus and I didn't mention CALLS - the Centre Where Adolescents Learn to Love and Serve in Dominica.

Searching out CALLS to get them to do our laundry

Soon I will be able to change out of this attractive ensemble!

CALLS supports kids between 17 and 24 who have fallen through the cracks. Many of the girls have babies. All of the kids have been unsuccessful in the public school system for a variety of reasons.

CALLS' mandate is to build character and help the kids get enough of a grounding that they can be successful on their own.

It is the kind of program that takes a special staff to work with these damaged kids and I have always had great admiration for the efforts of people who work in these situations.

I met with Doug Primrose from Yale Secondary school and Jinder Sarowa from Robert Bateman Secondary School this summer before we came down to the boat to collect tee-shirts from past events. I know from experience that you order 250 tee-shirts for an event but you only use 225 of them. You never want to be short so you always end up with extras... and they sit in storage forever.

So Jinder and Doug gave us a ton (actually 50 pounds) of tee-shirts and assorted clothing. Westjet gave us free luggage to bring them down to the boat and we've been storing them to give to an appropriate charity. And CALLS seemed just like the right place.

Feels good to be able to help in a small way.

So, as we watched the parade to start off Carnival, it was heartwarming to see one of the shirts on a young man. I approached him just as he lit up a spliff and asked him if I could take a picture of him wearing the shirt.

He said, "No." So no photo.

You do what you can!!!

Down at the market, you can hear ladies cry out while on their heads they bear...

Bought some "Coolies" or jacks

And had them for lunch!

The Curious Case of the Naked French Boat

So... we are doing the things that one normally does in Dominica. We go on hikes, although not as frequently as our crazy-hiking boat neighbours. Some of these guys are going on a cross-island trek every day. We go to beach barbeques, drink too much rum punch and then dance like fools.

We've grown quite close to our neighbours, Nigel and Mike. They anchored right beside us... and they are really quite close... about a boat length.

PAYS BBQ with Mike and Nigel - the rum punch is lethal

Pigmy Cannon

Very attractive couple on the bluff overlooking Prince Rupert Bay

Wondering if we can load and fire it.

We've also been trying to do some boat maintenance. Keeping up with the stainless is an endless job. We should try to do just one little bit every day but we don't and then things get out of control. We are also trying to get coats of varnish on between rain showers. That is proving to be challenging!

Ack! Must clean it today... or tomorrow...

Varnish artist

Just after we got here a little boat came in with some combination of young men and women. We've never actually figured out who belongs on the boat and/or if some of them are just visiting. They spend a lot of time naked. We spotted one young man out in their kayak heading between boats and along the shore naked as the day he was born. Pam got a rash in her eyes from overuse of the binoculars. She tells me he is quite fit and has large hands. Same with the girls. They sit in the cockpit of their little boat erasing all evidence of tan lines.

This all became blog-worthy a couple of days ago when one of the Portsmouth Association of Yacht Security (PAYS) boat boys came out to their boat and took some combination of boy(s) and girl(s) to shore. A short time later the boat boy returned with one girl on board. We watched as he more-or-less flung her up onto their boat. It was as if she was drunk or comatose. It looked a little weird. Well, weird it was. After the boat boy left she began to wander around the deck of her little boat. At various times she was singing, laughing, crying and moaning. We were quite worried that she was either drunk or on some crazy-ass drug and might hurt herself. So along with a couple other nearby boats we just watched. She took off all her clothes and then started waving at people as they went past in their dinghies. At one stage she had a machete and was flinging it about as if she were a pirate. Then she hurled it in the water.

Finally, after an unsavory looking guy paddled up to her boat, a couple of PAYS boats came out and wrestled her into some clothes and took her away. The police got involved and hopefully found her some help. A couple of days later, two or three of them came out to the boat with a PAYS guy but they were only aboard for a moment - maybe to get passports??? - but other than that we haven't seen them since.

So there the little naked boat sits. We have drawn up several scenarios. Might be the basis of our first novel. Don't know what happens next.

Naked French boat

Dominica!!!

I'm sorry. I've been very neglectful of this blog. Too much fun? Too much rum?

Anyway, here we are in Dominica.

We left Antigua a week ago after lolly-gagging around with Quest (Sid and Cate,) Aurora (Harry and Marijke and WindSwept Dreams (Ed and Ann.)

It is hard to entertain more than 6 on the boat at once so we have arranged for several beach meetings. Fun to talk to a whole bunch of people who like the same things as us.

Island Packets in Five Islands Bay, Antigua

Beach party!

Who brought the meatballs?

Mr. Bo Jangles and his buddy

Home, Sid!

Our sail from Antigua was spectacularly uneventful - BUT WE DIDN'T CATCH A MAHI. What the hell?! We always catch a mahi in that stretch. I don't know what Pam was doing wrong.

WindSwept Dreams under sail to Deshaies - another IP38 just like Blue Pearl!

Master and Commander

It is cool getting to Deshaies... very french. Good thing I am fluent in French. We bought some French beer, went to French restaurants, wandered around the French grocery stores buying French wine and cheeses and listened to wonderful French music drifting from the restaurants. So nice!

I had the fish

Pam had the marlin brochettes

Breakfast on Blue Pearl

Snorkelers at Pigeon Island

Checking the anchor

Catching a rainbow

Deshaies to Les Saintes is easy-peasy for the first 12 miles. The last 7 is a bitch. It's like being in a washing machine. I hate it. Need to figure out a way to avoid that - without selling the boat, Pam.

Lunch in a cute Les Saintes restaurant 

Heard it was snowing at home?!

Our weather window for Dominica was yesterday. After that, the winds are getting up and it will be no fun out there. So off we went. Our sail down was great, averaging more than 6 knots. For the most part the waves were 3 to 4 feet but in some sections they were up to 8 feet. They were nicely spaced out so we didn't do any crashing and smashing.

Of all the places we've been with Blue Pearl I think Dominica is my favourite. Just like all of the other islands, there are tons of things to do and great things to see. The best part of it is that the people who make money from cruisers like us don't beg and hassle you. They are organized and have a code of conduct that they follow. They patrol the harbour at night so we feel very secure at anchor. They will arrange to get your clothes washed, take you on tours, deliver food and ice, help you with anchoring and more. All for a fee but you really don't mind paying a reasonable amount for good service.

Love Dominica!

First day... hike looking for a thermal pool. Never found it!

We were sitting in some shade waiting for friends and a local guy said to Pam, "Where are you from?" She said Vancouver - which we always start with before narrowing it down to Abbotsford. He said, "I'm from White Rock." Turns out he was born here and spends 6 months up there and 6 months down here. And, on top of that, apparently his kids go to school in Abbotsford. So we are all over that. Going to see if any of our school friends know them.

Small world!

Climate Change

That was then...

Ugh!

Snow - gotta love it (No!)

Do you want to build a snowman!

Closs kids love skiing!

This is now!...

Almost ready to go!

Murphy the dinghy... ready to launch

We both came back with wicked colds so we are working slowly through that and enjoying the heat.

We got in on Sunday and only had a few things to do before we launched. As usual the folks at North Sound Marine were fantastic and the chores we had left them over the break were done perfectly. We just needed to slap on a coat of bottom paint and we were able to splash Tuesday afternoon.

Ed and Ann are here on Windswept Dreams - another IP 38. They are just in the water so we were able to have a couple of fun days with them.

Having a car is great. We were able to get tons of groceries (mostly wine) and spend a little time touring around. We found a great little Lebanese restaurant and enjoyed shawarma, falafel and other weird and wonderful dishes.

Supplies - mostly wine

We decided to take a tourist day with no boat jobs. Pam, the expert on Antigua attractions, took us first to Betty's Hope - the premier windmill on the island. It is being restored by volunteers and is quite impressive.

Betty's Hope

Remains of Managers house

Ed harvesting "dumps" - a citrusy fruit like a cherry

Then on to Falmouth Harbour for a quick boat errand, some fruit and ginger beer.

Lunch was at "Dan's." Dan normally only does dinner but he is on holidays from his regular job so he served us lunch. Pam told us that Dan's is recommended as a great place for local food and guess what?  It was.

Fish and Rice with a Presidente

Chicken and chips

View from Dan's

Our final stop was at a fish farm - Indies Greens. We've seen this before at home... fish growing in tanks. The effluent is used as food for plants - in this case lettuce which filters the water for the fish. A closed system for great lettuce and great fish. Tres cool!!!

Tilapia in the net, lettuce growing hydoponically in the background

Ann and the lettuce

More lettuce

We finished the day back at North Sound getting our accounts organized and spent a quiet evening changing out the chain so Pam doesn't fret all night when the wind comes up.

We see a kilo of rust around the windlass every time we pull the anchor. Pam is concerned that it is so compromised that some great gust will snap us away from our anchor at the worst time. Pshaww I say... until I remember that a happy Pam extends my time on the boat.

New chain at the top, bitter end in the middle, stuff that is always in the water at the bottom.

(bitter end: that part of an anchor cable which is abaft of the bitts and thus remains inboard when a ship is riding at anchor)

OK... maybe a little compromised

We pushed off a couple of days ago and we've moved about 100 yards from North Sound. We are doing little jobs and resting... trying get rid of these damned colds.

More power - for all your USB phones and stuff

Solar breaker

New meter for the solar panels - 23 amps WHOOOPEEE!!!

Heading south soon.