The Glamorous Life … Really?

The Glamorous Life … Really?

Tuesday 30th - Wednesday 31st January 2024

When we talk about our travels we do tend to emphasize the positives and I think it would be easy to imagine that we live a glamorous life. We recognize that we are extremely fortunate to be able to pursue our adventures, and there are plenty of times when it is simply wonderful. However, the last couple of days have reminded us that it isn’t always so glamorous. After returning our rental car we were looking forward to a couple of quiet days with more time on the boat, getting a few jobs completed, planning our next moves and relaxing a little. Then the weather changed, the trade winds wilted under the influence of a front that moved off the USA and into the Bahamas, and the anchorage became very “rolly”. After six days of top quality, smooth seas, we experienced really uncomfortable swells in the harbor. I’m not referring to a gentle rocking, I’m talking about a periodic metronome-like effect that made it difficult to stand or do anything constructive on board. Gloria and I took a sunset swim to cool down and were able to inspect the barnacles on the underside of the hull as Cotinga rolled from side to side. Last night we decided that we had to lower the dinghy (with engine attached) down from the davits because we weren’t sure that we could secure it well enough to avoid breaking something. As it turned out, the “Dainty Dog” was quite happy sitting in the water with the davit lines loosely attached to stop her drifting under the stern that was bouncing wildly up and down. However, the pin holding the block and tackle to the bow of the dinghy worked its way loose … not once, but twice during the course of the night … we have subsequently wired that in place. We both ended up taking Benadryl and retiring to bed shortly after 8pm. I decided to sleep in the main cabin, right in front of a fan. Did I mention that when the wind died it became oppressively hot? We did manage to do some laundry, always a joy when you are using a 3- bucket system, one for the wash and two for rinses. The good news is it didn’t rain and we were able to hang our washing on lines in the cockpit, and it actually got dry.

This evening I am happy to report that the conditions have improved. I can’t honestly say why, as the winds are still light and variable, but the rolling is greatly reduced. As a consequence of the weather outlook (light and variable followed by persistent winds from a southerly direction) we have decided to delay going south to Martinique and take the opportunity to go north to Marie-Galante and the Isle de La Petite Terre. The latter requires settled weather to enter the anchorage over a sand bar (more on that in days to come). This morning we went back to customs and immigration to complete a formal check-out from Dominica, and this afternoon we took a walk to the top of East Cabrit, a prominent hill to the north of Portsmouth. This is part of the old 18th century English Fort Shirley complex, which has recently been renovated and is now a National Park. 

I want to finish by mentioning our dinner this evening. Fresh tuna, marinated in ginger/sesame/soy and pan seared, served with a leek and scallion risotto, sautéed plantains and tomato and cucumber salad. It was excellent … if I say so myself! Fresh meat is really hard to find here, but yesterday we passed the fish market and were able to buy a whole, fresh caught small tuna (maybe 2-3 pounds) for 20 $EC or ~ $8 USD. We had the fish cut up into pieces (at no extra charge) and it will feed the two us for 2 meals. It was absolutely delicious.

The good news is that tomorrow we will be offshore and able to pump out our holding tank … if that isn’t glamorous, what is !!!!

I should say that we have loved our time in Dominica … great place, fabulous people.

Mike

Tropical Rain Forest from the Syndicate Falls nature trail ... during a torrential downpour!

Blue Headed humming bird

Sunset on Monday evening taken from the dinghy. You can barely see the swells that were causing the uncomfortable rocking

The view from the top of East Cabrit, with Portsmouth harbor on the right (with all the boats!)

The very busy dinghy dock in Portsmouth. It's helpful to use a stern anchor in addition to tying up to the dock

A yellow crowned night heron eating a crab on Portsmouth beach

A tiny hermit crab in a small shell (~ 1 cm)

A lizard lit up in the late afternoon sun. Most of the lizard photos I have taken used flash light. In this case it's all natural light (F16 at 1/20s keeping the camera steady by bracing it on an adjacent tree. this was the sharpest of 6 shots I took)

The amazing tuna dinner!

Dominica - Geography and Economy

Dominica - Geography and Economy

Saturday 27 - Monday 29 January 2024

It was a really good idea to rent a car. It has allowed us to tour the island and go to places we would not have otherwise visited. Dominica has many steep sided mountains, the highest of which, Morne Diablotin, is 4747 feet high. The terrain is extremely rugged and the roads are “exciting” at times, On two occasions we decided not to proceed further down a road because we weren’t sure that we could get back up. On one set of switch backs I had to do a 3-point-turn to get round the bend! Many of the smaller roads are single track with only sporadic places to pass. Today I ended up backing up a steep hill and off onto a side track to allow a tour bus, with it’s clutch smoking and screaming, to get past.

We have seen several stunningly beautiful waterfalls and revelled in the amazing tropical rainforest. We also now realize that these thrive on numerous downpours every day. One walk that we took was up to Middleham Falls. The National Park ranger at the start of the trail said that it was 45 minutes each way. It took us closer to 2 hours to get to the falls and an hour and half to get back. The route involved a lot of uphill and downhill, with long steps, slippy rocks and a river to cross. This was our toughest hike here, but it was definitely worth it; the views were spectacular and we added the Red Throated Solitaire to our bird list, just one of seven new life birds we have added in the last five days.*

On Sunday we visited Emerald Pool and realized that it was somewhere that we had been to before on our brief visit in 2018. On that occasion we did an island tour with a guide and a minibus full of people. It was excellent, but we weren’t ever sure where we were and now we feel we have a much better sense of the geography. It was also great to see that the vegetation that had been devastated by hurricane Maria has now made a full recovery. Emerald Pool was quite busy because it’s a favorite spot for people from visiting cruise liners to visit. However, in the late afternoon we stopped at Jacko Falls, that was also really beautiful and deserted. We hadn’t planned on swimming, but the pool below the falls was so inviting, and with no one else around, we decided to go skinny dipping. The best way, absolutely marvelous!

The Dominica infrastructure has also been substantially repaired since the devastation of hurricane Maria. However, the country remains quite poor, and progress seems to be mixed. Tourism is clearly an important part of the economy and the country could do more to generate income from their incredible natural habitat, without spoiling it. For example, a weekly pass for the National Parks cost us about $10 US. I think they could charge wealthy visitors a lot more and still have them feel they were getting great value. We were told that over the past several decades the sale of Dominican passports has been a major source of revenue. Some of this is for foreigners wishing to buy land and move to the island. But some of it was to provide an alternative passport, that because of Dominica's former status as a colony, was recognized and accepted in the UK (and consequently Europe). These might have been used to facilitate travel and business. However, in some cases the process was was being exploited in ways that were probably illegal, and the UK government put a stop to the practice, removing a substantial source of income. Up until hurricane Maria in 2017 there was a Canadian American Medical School in Portsmouth. Apparently, this brought in 17% of the countries GDP. Unfortunately, the Dominican government tried to drive too hard a bargain in re-negotiating contracts and the school closed down and re-located to Barbados. The country is building a new “International” airport, that is quite controversial in terms of the perceived cost / benefit. It is being built with Chinese investment and resources. We also saw a new Eco-Lodge below Middleham Falls that was being built by a Chinese civil engineering company, and we drove past the new Chinese Dominican hospital. I'm sure all this investment is not driven by altruism, but part of a larger strategy of global influence. Whilst the USA continues to be embroiled in war, China seems to be taking a different approach. 

Anyway, my cell phone roaming session will expire shortly and I need to get this posted. 

• New life birds: red throated solitaire, red throated parrots, black whiskered vireo, blue headed hummingbird, lesser Antillean flycatcher, lesser Antillean swift and mangrove cuckoo

Mike

Here are some photos from Sat and Sun. I have more from today that I will post later as I don't have time to work them up now

A view of Emerald pool from behind the falls. I have other photos where I worked hard to make sure there were no people in view, but this is a more truthful representation of our experience

A young woman posing on the rocks behinds the falls at Emerald Pool. (Split tone monochrome)

Jacko Falls (wide angle)

Jacko Falls (telephoto - panorama

One of the beautiful plants of the tropical rainforest (created by focus-stacking a set of images)

A spider on its web (created by focus-stacking a set of images)

Dominica

Dominica

Tuesday 23 - Friday 26 January 2024

We arrived on Monday by late morning.  We immediately began the check-in process, first an on-line registration and then a trip to customs.  

On Tuesday, we took a trip up the Indian River with our guide, Martin, and a French-speaking group of four.  Compared to 2018, the vegetation seemed much more lush.  We saw several green herons, two yellow crowned night herons, a ringed kingfisher (a life bird), several cattle egrets, many crabs and mullet.  At the terminus of the river trip, our guide led us on a walk upstream.  Returning to the dock/bar area most of the party, including Mike, had a highly alcoholic drink of indeterminate origin. We chatted to the younger couple from France, who have a farm in Provence, and were visiting her uncle and aunt. On the trip back downstream we heard, but did not see, a mangrove cuckoo. Could that be a “life hear”?  

Wednesday was a quieter day, mostly spent thinking about our friend Lynn and reflecting on life and death. 

On Thursday morning, we picked up a rental car and started to explore the interior of Dominica near Roseau, the capital.  Our first objective was the hot springs at Wotton Waven.  Based on a recommendation from Richard (S/V Sisserou), a boater we had met in Les Saintes, we tried to find Ti “something” Glo Cho.  The drive got pretty interesting! At one point we stopped to ask a lady if we were on the right road for the hot springs.  She laughed and told us we needed to go back down hill.  After asking few more pedestrians we found the correct turning and eventually the correct hot spring resort.  There were two hot pools, a mud pool and several cold showers along with changing rooms.  The hotter of the two pools was too much for me, but the “cooler” pool was great.  Clearly the owner was a real gardener.  Everywhere there were plants with colorful foliage or flowers.  There were many tree ferns, breadfruit trees, palm trees—a profusion that was fantastic.  

That afternoon we retraced our path and took a different fork low down in the valley to arrive at Trafalgar Falls.  This is a site within the National Park.  A short walk through rain forest led to the viewing platform where the two waterfalls could be seen.  The falls were magnificent.  On the left was the “papa” (taller) on the right was the “mama”. The sound of the water was astonishing.  No birds could be heard over the roar.  Mike walked up the rocks at the base of the falls to get a better view.  I sat and soaked in the atmosphere, figuratively and literally (it did rain). On our drive back to Portsmouth we were delighted by a rainbow that seemed to be in front of us for most of the journey.  

On Friday, we elected to drive along the north coast for a change of pace.  The weather was quite wet first thing and slowed us down a bit.  Very rapidly our route climbed steeply.  We spotted the sign for the “Cold Soufriere” and decided to take the short walk.  There was the pool of water with bubbles rising.  One imagined that the water would be hot, but no, it was cold.  What was extremely obvious was the sulfurous odor.  All those bubbles must have been H₂S or some other noxious gas.  Mike termed it an “olfactory offense”.

Our next stop was at the Bwa Nef waterfall that was recommended by some people we chatted to at the hot spring.  After only two steps along the path, you felt you were right in the rain forest with that lush profusion of vegetation.  We could hear the stream off to our left as we walked along.  We encountered the farmer whose property we were crossing.  He showed us the crop he was planting.  It was a ground provision that he called tania (?).  It grows underground and is starchy.  (We bought some at the market so we will let you know how it is.) Getting up to the waterfall required some wading and clambering over rocks but it was well worth the effort.  I think I would describe this as the Bridal Veil type of fall. 

After a bit more route finding problems, we arrived at our final destination, Red Rocks.  We remembered visiting this area in 2018 but could remember nothing about the approach.  The road ended abruptly at a chained off gate.  Signs suggested that we would be trespassing if we continued—so we carried on.  A short walk and some steps led to the area we remembered.  The smooth humped shapes of the red clay/rock had been sculpted by run off.  A view across the bay showed the swell breaking on the rocks and beach.  As we soaked up the view and took photos, the skies cleared.  We enjoyed a much sunnier drive back to Portsmouth by an interior route. 

  

Gloria

Apologies for so many photos but I gave up trying to decide which to include and which to leave out ... maybe they give you a sense of how beautiful and wild this country is.

Mike

A tributary off the Indian River

Martin, our excellent tour guide

Another group enjoying the Indian River experience

One of the streams at the Wotton Waven hot springs - such a beautiful area. Hot water was pouring down the orange bank on the left, and the pipe carrying water from one of the hot springs to a bathing pool can be seen in the background

There seem to be streams everywhere you look 

The vegetation is so lush it defies description ... we think this is a Coleus house plant! (shot at Wotton Waven hot springs)

Trafalgar Falls - Papa (125 ft high) on the left, Mama (75 ft high) on the right. To capture the whole area I needed to resort to a panorama, created by merging a set of five wide-angle shots. I like the result, but it doesn't really capture the scale of this area ... the falls are several hundred yards away and moving across the boulders and streams was very challenging.

Papa

Mama

The road across the mountains in the north ... driving is a little intimidating but worth the effort. At least we weren't too concerned about our speed ... the speedometer on our rental doesn't work!

The amazing Bwa Nef waterfall

 A cairn built at the base of the Bwa Nef waterfall

I think this lizard may be a Dominican Anole

Red Rocks on the Atlantic coast

 

Lynn Zemlin

Lynn Zemlin

Wednesday 24 January 2024

We were shocked and deeply saddened to learn this morning that our dear friend Lynn Zemlin suffered a heart attack on Monday morning and died. Lynn was an amazing person and we are devastated to realize that she has gone. 

We first met Lynn and her husband Lee Trimble at River Dunes Marina in the autumn of 2012. We had gone in to check out this highly recommended marina, and ended up staying a week as we sheltered from hurricane Sandy. We bumped into Lynn and Lee at the pool and became good friends almost immediately, or to be specific, speaking for myself, it was when I tasted the butternut squash soup that Lynn had cooked for us on our first visit to their boat that I realized this was a serious friendship! As well as being a talented musician and an accomplished pediatric physiotherapist, Lynn was also an incredible cook. Many of our favorite recipes are ones that Lynn has made for us. At that time Lynn and Lee were living aboard their sailboat Serendipity, along with their dog Maggie, and were also heading to the Bahamas. During that winter, as we both headed south, we met up with them again a couple of times in Charleston, SC and then St Augustine, Fl. The following spring we spent a wonderful couple of weeks buddy-boat cruising with them in the Bahamas. In the years that followed, we not only stayed in touch, but our friendship grew. We have great memories of visiting Lynn and Lee in their apartment in Manhattan, and they also came up to stay with us Sudbury. Most recently, last March, we had a fabulous week staying with them in Guanajuato, Mexico. 

Lynn was one of the warmest and most interesting people we have ever met. She loved to laugh and had a wicked, irreverent sense of humor. I think that it helped that we all shared similar views on politics and the world in general. She loved to learn new things and we had so many fascinating conversations on any number of topics. Together, Lynn and Lee were an incredible couple. We were always impressed with their energy and imagination in pursuing so many different adventures, from cruising to “dirt-cruising" (car camping) around America; from winters spent in various parts of Mexico, trying to perfect their Spanish, to multi-day canoe camping trips in the Adirondacks. Lynn was far too full of life to pass away so young and our heart goes out to Lee and the rest of her family. We will miss her greatly.

Gloria and Mike

Lynn, Maggie and Lee at Cambridge Cay, Exumas, March 2013

Serendipity departing Cambridge Cay, Exumas, with Lynn at the helm, March 2013

Taking a dinghy ride up the creek, Emerald Cay, Exumas, April 2013

"Smile for the camera!" ... Exumas Land and Sea Park, March 2013

Double mugshots, Charleston, SC, Nov 2012

Trying to be serious .... before the ice cream sugar rush! Guanajuato, March 2023

Les Saintes, Guadaloupe to Dominica

Les Saintes, Guadaloupe to Dominica

Monday, January 22, 2024

The forecast for the journey to Dominica was suggesting 6 ft waves with a 6 second period.  Alongside the waves, the wind was forecast to be about 18-22 kts with gusts to twenty-five kts. To my mind this sounded like a repeat of the conditions from Guadaloupe mainland to Les Saintes a week ago.  The seas and winds were predicted to be building during the day (and continuing to build during much of the week). We were keen to make the passage today and to depart early.  We had some foredeck work to accomplish—removing the three lines to the mooring and bringing the anchor back on board.  Once those steps were accomplished we were on our way.  Initially conditions were fairly mild until we got outside the islands that make up “The Saintes”.

Once into the more open waters, the waves and winds increased noticeably. (I was glad to have slapped on a scopolamine patch, reducing the worry about seasickness.) Because the wind had turned to the northeast, the angle to our direction of travel was just about 90 degrees.  We had one reef in the main and the stay-sail flying.  This sail plan seemed just about right for the conditions, which mirrored the forecast pretty well. Our average speed was close to 7 knots with a maximum speed of 10.5 (surfing off a wave, I presume). It was a pretty good sail except for the occasional dousing with seawater.  Personally, I was tucked up behind the dodger, so the helmsman took the brunt of these errant waves.  When Chris Parker talks about “salty sailing”, I imagine this is exactly what he means. 

We saw a number of boats coming north toward Guadaloupe and several on a similar path to ours.  Once we entered the bay at Portsmouth, a PAYS (Portsmouth Area Yacht Services) guide approached us.  With his help we were able get tied onto the mooring and found out what we had to do to check-in.  After completing the on-line portion (via SailClear), we traveled by dinghy to the dock at the Customs office.  Several groups of boaters were in line when we arrived, but the process seemed to go pretty smoothly.  By early afternoon we were back on Cotinga, enjoying lunch.  We are both tired but happy to be here!

Gloria

Don't forget you can see where we are on our Predictwind tracking page

https://forecast.predictwind.com/tracking/display/Cotinga/?mapMode=useAtlas&windSymbol=BlackArrow&weatherSource=ECMWF&trackDuration=0

Departing Les Saintes shortly after sunrise

The clipper ship "Star Flyer" with Dominica in the background

An additional shot of "Star Flier"

We thought the forecast today was spot on ... but what do 6 ft seas really look like? Photos and videos tend to make the ocean look quite benign, but this shot of another passing sailboat gives you a better sense of the seas. We saw some larger waves today that I estimate were approaching 10 ft, but Cotinga handled it all brilliantly.

Approaching Dominica ... this is not a B&W shot, just the high contrasting light as the camera saw it.

This is a B&W photo of Cotinga closing in on the north west corner of Dominica. B&W gives you more latitude to adjust brightness and contrast when the lighting is extreme (as it was here)