The lid flips off Dominica

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 mobile rang as a bit of a laugh. I guess she didn’t expect an English accent.

Dominica is simply ‘raw’ island. No marinade, no seasoning, no fake tourist nonsense but just people, chickens and goats plus a couple of dogs going about their own business.

Two boat boys came up to me and said ‘I know you we came by yesterday’ to which we had a laugh and shook hands. They were very polite yesterday and very welcoming today.

One guy said to me ‘where’s your boat?’. I said it’s where all the chickens make a noise. ‘Oh yeah I know where you are’ he said.

As to security Desmond said your boat is 100% safe at night….after a while in the Caribbean you understand these codes; you have to spend time here to get it. It’s a bit too severe to try and translate on a blog and security arrangements here may not have a western world kind of equivalent. I guess the leader of the boat boys knows someone who knows someone that no one would want to know, if you get my drift.

We treated Desmond to a few beers and dinner which I reckon made the start of a good night for him.