Category: Cruising

So after some research we think we may have zig zagged our way through the customs speak of 24 hours ago. Dominica is said to have the simplest customs arragement.The agreement at the top was that cruisers would check in and get a 14 day automatic permit and they could leave anytime within that period. But implementation is another issue. So Doyle’s guide says one thing, the government another and customs follow their own customised version of the intended rules. You can check in and out of one port with the same crew. But you can’t go anywhere. To go

And so it happens. This is an open and friendly island. After shooting some pool with a match against local islanders in French language we then met up with a whole bunch of residents keen to tell us about their world. We were then joined by our Boat Boy, Desmond, who is a really nice, calm and patient guy. We met the taxi drivers, tour guides, chefs and who knows who else from the island keen to tell us about life and have a good laugh. One of them put me onto a Virgin rep from Neckar Island when his

Just what we need to cool off. So we had lunch in a great setting                                                       The usually very good natured teen was a tad moody, sorry, tired today…but we had use of the pool so never mind. We suggested the buoys were keeping her up at night because half the time all we can hear in the 36m depth anchorage is the mooring buoy slamming up against the underside of the hull as

We drifted down to the Anchorage Hotel for lunch and they have a whale area for the benefit of diners. But who’s dining on who? One thinks of a whale as plankton sift but looking at these teeth a puny human wouldn’t  provide much crunch (given world statistics these days would probably be spat out for being too chewy…)  

So first of all we have a finger-off. OK my local guy wins because he actually lost his finger. But then does he? Maybe there are points to be won over finger style? So I show him mine and he says ‘ouch’ (that’s kid of what he said..) and then he shows me his…but I can’t say ouch that’s fantastic because it’s not there! I can only say ‘where is is it?’. Now this last happened with the witch doctor in Bequia who for a 5EC (£1.10gbp) consultation told me to bathe it in Epsom Salts. Then he said that’s

Fantasea took a couple of pictures of us as the sun went down anchored astern of them in Marigot Bay.

Don’t know why but the pharmacy downtown has racks of soya oil. End isle, centre isle, above and below the tills.                         Thankfully the pharmacy also ‘Sells Rum’

Rouseau in Dominica is a bit like a wild west film set handed over to a pop art expressionist. Here are the downtown highlights:

Checking in and where’s the customs house? Went past the heaving ferry terminal and hoped it wasn’t in there – bet it is though. We end up in the fish market and meet Big Dave who leads us back to the meleh of the ferry terminal                 Customs is often a kind of underground thing and we are led to a black door at the side of the terminal which is then unlocked and we are on a dockside. Customs is down the line. We meet the guys who are very unusually not

One of the ways to reach land in Rouseau, Dominica, is to land at Seacat’s dock. It’s big and looks fit for purpose. That’s step 1 over. Step 2 you arrive at his back garden gate and then go through his back garden, across his lower terrace, and up the side of the house to his front door then out onto the street. That’s odd and it’s even stranger coming back the other way.