Catching up from Batalie II

Return to Le Marin - 16 April

Bébert et ses fruits

After family visits and business we returned to Raconteur mid-April. 
We rented a car and provisioned the boat at the big Carrefour near the airport, then took a tour of the Diamant peninsula, stopping at a great fruit juice stand (Bébert) on the way to Anse Dufour.
We  enjoyed a walk to Anse Noire and lunch Chez Marie Jo in Anse Dufour.

Anse Dufour

We also completed some minor repairs on the water circuit, minor interior joinery for a new hatch to the new, bigger windlass and sewing repairs.

Les Anses d'Arlet - 21-24 April

We left Le Marin on the 21st in the morning and had a nice downwind trip to Grande Anse d'Arlet where a large mooring field has been installed. The little village is very nice and quiet and has a number of beach restaurants that come to life in the evening. 
We had lunch there the following day and looked for the cafe where customs clearances used to be, but it was closed. We apparently needed to go to the other Anse d'Arlet, where a bigger village sits.

We moved to Anse d'Arlet on the 23rd, 2 miles south, and picked up another mooring. We visited the town and had a very pleasant lunch at Le Littoral waiting for the customs office to open. We cleared for the next day and returned in the evening for a pizza on the beachfront (Caraibe Pizza), a real local with a row of guys sipping their rum in the back of the terrace.  Delicious pizza too.

Dominica - 24-30 April

We started early for a 55 mile trip to Roseau on the 24th and had a nice crossing of the Martinique channel at 8 knots. We picked up one of Seacat's moorings, and his assistant Desmond took JP to customs to clear in. In the evening, we arranged an excursion to Victoria Falls and Moses' "Rastaurant" for the next day.

The Victoria Falls excursion was a real fun trip. We meandered in the small villages of the south of the island, 

Zandoli Inn garden view

Grand Bay with its delightful Zandoli Inn, 









Petite Savane, a village mostly known for
distilling bay rum, but which boasts several
less publicized but delicious local products, 

Tasting local products

Bagatelle, Les Delices, tasting fruits along the road and bread from Manny.











We arrived at Moses' property on the junction of two rivers around 11 and visited the gardens, meeting members of the family. 
We shared stories and  some Rastafarian hospitality and were therefore in a great mood when we launched on the climb to Victoria Falls around 1230.

Moses at his open, riverside house

The Victoria Falls climb is a bit different from other Dominica hikes, which typically involve many hours of up and down steep hills. This is a very short clambering over rocks and boulders and crossing the river five times, sometimes up to mid-thigh even in this relatively dry weather, with only a few hundred feet to climb, most of it in the final rocks before arriving at the cascade basin.

The cascade experience is exhilarating and is like swimming in a hurricane. The volume of water is such that a violent wind and spray are perpetually blasting the basin. We swam across the basin against a very swift current and caught our breath in a small cave. 




Seacat then helped JP swim behind the cascade, which is only 15 meters away but directly into the current. 

The impression is fairly indescribable, but you definitely learn how to breathe water. After a victory yell, we drifted back to the cave and the back across the basin.

After clambering down the rocks, we had a very simple and delicious Rastaurant lunch, a wonderful medley of vegetables and starches from the farm, cooked in coconut milk and eaten from a calabash bowl with a coconut shell spoon.










We closed the day by visiting a very beautiful black sand beach before returning to Roseau.