Portsmouth- Dominica

Well, as promised, we are back with an update and descriptions of our tour times on Dominica to date. We had arrived here on Monday and after clearing into customs and giving Martin our laundry, we made arrangements for him to come back on Tuesday to set some times for our tours. Well, bright and early (7:45!!!) Tuesday Martin was back saying that he had some time available if we wanted to do the river tour. Since morning is the best time, we said yes and 20 minutes later off we went. It was worth the trip!!!!

The river tour took us about 600 yards up the Indian River and into the beginning of the rain forest. It was absolutely beautiful - the only sounds we heard were the quiet rippling of the water and the songs of about 8 different types of birds, Martin was rowing the boat so no sound of an outboard motor. As mentioned before, all the tour guides have to pass tests to prove their knowledge of the country and all it contains and Martin did not disappoint. His comments were extremely relevant and he pointed out so many things we might have missed if we had tried it ourselves. The flowers, mosses and particularly the root system of the bloodwood trees (so named because the sap is red) were fascinating. Martin also told us a lot of the history of the island and the battles between primarily the French and the English, to "own" it. At the end of the travel in there was a bar set up where apparently people go, particulary at the full moon, to party but it was well maintained, clean and ecologically based so it didn't detract too much from the environment around it. You could see where oil lamps/torches made from wicks in beer bottles had been placed on the ends of bamboo and stuck down into the mud at the waters edge. The only thing really showing above the bamboo was the wick so again it didn't detract from the beauty of the trip.

After we finished the tour, we went back to the boat for the rest of the morning to swim, rest and do small things around the boat. In the afternoon we went into the town itself. It was a bit of a disappointment in that the feeling was of the waterfront of a marine port similar to what I have always imagined Marseilles to be like. We both remarked we wouldn't want to be there at night. Having said that, however, there were some interesting houses, one of which was totally strange but unique. We found out today it was owned by a Carib - the second inhabitants on the island (the first being the Arawak). Their history is somewhat similar to the natives of Canada except they are not as dependent on the government as in Canada.

Later on we went to the beach, which stretches for about 5 miles along the shoreline. It is not all accessible or usable beach as part of it is the town waterfront and part of it is taken up by the rusted shells of freighters that were at one time or another driven onto land by hurricanes, notably Dean last year and David in 1979.

Wednesday morning, 8:00 AM Martin came (expected this time) to pick us up to do the island tour. On the way over to the dock where we were to pick up Martin's mini-bus, we noticed July Indian, the boat belonging to Gary and Linda, friends we made from Toronto, had shown up so we hailed them and got them to come along on the tour. We had also toured with them in St Kitts

The tour took us around the northern end of the island into the rain forest, to the crater of a volcano that has bubbling sulphur pools that are cold. This is rather a unique phenomenon as when a volcano is still active and is sending up sulphur gases, the result is usually warm or hot water. Apparently there is so much water between the volcano and where the gases surface that they are no longer hot when they arrive.

One of the things that was/is truly amazing about this region and I guess Dominica in general is the farming that is done and how it is done. Bananas are their biggest export so of course there were all kinds of banana plants. They were easy to spot because the farmers put blue plastic bags around the bunches to protect. By the way, next time you pick up bananas at the supermarket, realize that you are not picking up a bunch, you are picking up a hand of bananas. If you have ever seen a picture of bananas on the plant, you will see that they grow up (because the ends are seeking sunlight) and consist of groups (hands) of bananas that are themselves grouped. Oh, forget it, just look it up but don't call the small groups in the store bunches!!

The second biggest crop for export is dasheen, a vegetable with a starchy kind of root that is edible and leaves that are somewhat like spinach and are used to make Callilou soup. This is a truly amazing crop, or should I say that the farmers who grow it are amazing people. Dominica is very mountainous but dasheen is actually planted and harvested on the extremely steep sides of the rain forest/mountain slopes. I remarked to Cheryl that the next time we hear farmers complaining about poor crops and asking for government money, we should send them pictures of how difficult a time the farmers here have in planting and harvesting (if you look closely there is a farmer in the top centre of this picture). Incidentally, to fill in the spaces between the dasheen plants, they plant banana plants and something I never knew before - bananas grow on plants, not trees, and the plants are only good for one harvest and nine months later they have to plant more.

Further to the tour, we went to see a place where lava had flowed to the sea but it was red. It looked like a landscape from the moon and the seas crashing below were quite impressive.

Since Martin had to pick up his daughter, another guide who works for him named Paul did today's tour and he was just as knowledgeable, informative and personable as Martin. He knew every plant, bird and place we asked about and we came to the conclusion that the vast majority of the plants on the island could either be eaten or used for some medicinal purpose. Absolutely fascinating.