A Tale of Two Chemists: Touring Dominica by Car… Thursday 15th March 2018

Touring Dominica by Car… Thursday 15^th March 2018

Eddison, one of the senior PAYS guys, picked us up at our boat at 8am. Another couple, Martin and Loz (short for Lorraine) were already in the launch and we met Brian and Agnus on shore. We were greeted by Paul our driver and guide and set off for the customs and immigration so Briana and Agnus could clear in. After that we hit the road for a full day touring the northern half of Dominica.

The impact of Maria is visible everywhere. This hurricane rapidly intensified into the strongest ever recorded. Whilst the scale only goes to 5, indicating catastrophic damage to buildings and infrastructure, Maria would have been classified as a 6 or possibly 7 based on the extension of wind-speed. 35 people lost their lives, but it could have been much higher. Roofs were ripped off, buildings were toppled, bridges and roads collapsed, power lines were downed and villages overwhelmed by flooding rivers, and everything green was blown off any vegetation. Dominica is a mountainous and incredibly lush country. After the storm passed everything was brown. Six months later it’s impressive to see the vegetation recovering. The trees are still relatively bare, but there is new growth everywhere. With the extra light, vines and ferns have flourished covering pretty much everything. The government asked everyone to try and grow something and so fruit and vegetables are coming back on the market. There is a lot of work going on restoring power lines and most roads are open. We must have crossed a dozen rivers with detours over fords or temporary bridges, where the original structures were collapsed and in some cases swept away. Driving is not for the faint hearted; there are many sections of road where landslides have compromised the edges and ragged sections of tarmac form the boundaries of huge drop-offs. Dominica is not a wealthy country, but we were greatly impressed by the positive attitude of everyone we met. It is certainly one of the friendliest countries we have visited.

We travelled through the mountains and stopped off at a small chocolate making enterprise run by a Frenchman who was not satisfied with what he could buy locally. We tasted several kinds and they were amazing – we bought four bars (80% plain chocolate, mint coffee and tangerine). The gardens of the estate were also lovely. A little further on we stopped on the eat coast at “red rocks” which was really beautiful. It reminded me a little of Schoodic point in Acadia National Park, Maine. After that it was south along the east coast to visit a model village of the ethnic Carib people. Of the total population of Dominica (~80,000) about 5% are Carib (3000) and there is an area of the country set aside for them and they have representation in parliament. (A quick note: the current population is less than half the normal as many people have temporarily left to stay on other islands until damage from Maria is adequately repaired). It was mid afternoon by the time we stopped for lunch in a bar / restaurant high up on the hill overlooking the Atlantic. We had beers and fruit juices and a choice of fried chicken, smoked chicken or fish. The food was actually really good … as it always is when you are really hungry. As they say in Liverpool … “me stomach thinks me throats been slit”. Late afternoon found us hiking through the rain forest to a waterfall and the Emerald Pool. It was beautiful and very refreshing to have a quick dip. Our return journey took us back to the west coast and up through some smaller villages back to Portsmouth. It was 7 pm dark by the time we got back – a long day, a great trip and tremendous value.

It would be unfair not to comment on Paul our tour guide. What a terrific guy. I’m guessing he is in his early 60s and he seem to have all sorts of jobs including tour guide, taxi driver and teaching local security forces self defense. He is a 5-dan black belt martial arts specialist, but you couldn’t imagine a more gentle, informed and entertaining guy. When our food arrived at lunch, the six cruisers were all about to pile in when he held us up to say grace. He had 5 children – 3 boys and 2 girls – but sadly one of his daughters died last year in a car accident on the way home from college. He was a mine of information on the plants and wildlife on the island and also seemed to know people in every town and village. Thanks Paul – we had a brilliant day mostly because of you.

Mike