A Tale of Two Chemists: Indian River Tour ... March 14th 2018

Indian River Tour ... March 14^th 2018

Our arrangement with Avin (son of Albert) was that he would pick us up at 8:00 to go to the Customs office and from there to the Indian River for a tour. Therefore we set an alarm for 6:45. I was up at six and started working on coffee. After we had eaten our breakfast of bread and jam, we realized that we hadn’t run the engine (to cool the freezer and fridge). It all turned into a bit of a mad scramble. Avin was waiting for us to get our act together. Finally we tumbled into his boat (almost literally). I stepped from our ladder to the thwart in Avin’s boat and then down to the floor—that was one long step and I nearly lost my balance. Already present were Benny and Angie, a Swedish couple from a bright yellow boat. We zoomed over to a third vessel and collected Martin and Loz from Southampton (in the UK). Customs took a bit of time but was pretty straightforward. You can clear in and out with the same documents and you are allowed to stay for two weeks for a very minimal fee.

From the Customs dock we made our way to the dock at the mouth of the Indian River. Here we were able to buy a ticket for admission to the Indian River Park. Then we set off up the river. Once we had passed under the road bridge, the outboard was raised up and Avin began to row—no engines are allow in the park. We saw many green herons, several types of crab and three kinds of lizard. Most of all, though, we saw the signs of a Cat 5 hurricane. Our guide-book describes the river trip as passing under a complete canopy that is dark and cathedral-like. Now, the sky was plainly visible, the sun shone down on us and many of the trees had only a handful of leaves. At the furthest extent of the trip the river was blocked by fallen trees and debris (from before Maria hit). There we were able to disembark at a small dock and walk around the “flower garden area”. This appeared to be the remains of a plantation. An open-air bar provided libations—more specifically a rum punch that seemed to be 90% rum! We made our way back down the river and Avin dropped us at the dock with a promise to pick us up from a dock at the north end of town in an hour. We had a wander through the streets and then returned to the boat for lunch.

The rum punch may have delivered a TKO to Mike as he decided that we should have a lazy afternoon on the boat. I managed to do some sewing! Then for dinner we invited our friends from “S/V Northstar”, Ted and Shan, over for dinner. We had a lovely evening with them. We went to bed with the prospect of another 8 am start for a taxi tour of the northern island.

Ships off Portsmouth, Dominica

Boats off Portsmouth, Dominica ... with man peeing! (note: my brother in law Paul always said I didn't include enough people in my photos ... it's not fault what they are doing!)