Dominica was a bust – Portsmouth, Dominica, May 5, 2023

It was a beautiful 20 mile sail down to Dominica with dolphins and everything.  They have “boat boys” here as they did in Luperon which come out to help you get your mooring ball, will arrange taxi, tours, and help with anything you need.  It’s also cheap here as they are on the EC dollar and we are back to English as the language with makes things a bit easier.  When we initially got off the boat to check out the town, it also feels very Luperonish.  The poverty is evident, but the people are extremely friendly which was a great improvement from Guadeloupe where the attitude is much different.  I really wanted to like it here but the downside is the cat calling you get on the street and it’s kind of a shit hole since it was 90% destroyed after Hurricane Maria. 

After getting ourselves checked in through customs, we walked around a bit and there really isn’t much to the town itself but we found a little place to hang out and try the local beer & dinner.  Funny thing, there are no cows, here and lots of goats…this is likely to mean Sailing Hubby didn’t have a cheeseburger, but perhaps a goat burger…not good at all.  We will be eating on the boat from here forward so I decided to make some cookies except that when we refilled the sugar container with flour not realizing it was not relabeled…they ended up in the trash and I don’t think Ron will trust me on that one again.  Oops. 

Some interesting facts about this little island…It is the poorest in the Caribbean. It’s also a volcanic island and called “the nature island.” On the darker side, 58% of the criminal cases heard here are sexual crimes and women under the age of 16 make-up 52% of them. Even more disturbing, 47% of these young ladies are related to their perpetrator. Wow, it’s even worse that the DR which has legal prostitution at age 13 and struggles with sexual tourism as an industry there. I didn’t think that was possible but apparently if is. Scary.

Unfortunately, we struggled to rent a car but after getting one booked, getting Ron a local driver’s license we thought we were ready to go except that the anchorage was SOOOOO rolly that neither of us slept.  We decided it wasn’t going to work and it was time to bail.  We cancelled the car and headed down to the Capital city of Roseau but sadly, it is no better here.  It’s even too rolly to attempt the dinghy dock since I am unsure I would be able to get back in with the consistent 4 foot swell here due to the odd southwest wind we are not supposed to be having.  Time to cut bait and we are headed to Martinique tomorrow.  Maybe next year?  Happy Cinco de Mayo.