Ashore in Portsmouth, Dominica

We spent most Saturday in Portsmouth with Tom and Kathy from the boat YELLOW ROSE. They are from Michigan and are the couple we mentioned in the previous blog who asked us for information.

We headed ashore right after breakfast to take in the Saturday morning market. It was just like the farmers market at home. There were some stands under a roof, but the majority of the vendors were set up at tables or out of the back of pick-ups along the road leading from the town dock. Lots of different fruits and vegetables. We stocked up on vine-ripened tomatoes, leaf lettuce, carrots and bananas. I decided to buy some Christophene to try. It is a bland vegetable that the locals in Trinidad use in stir-fry. We were also able to get some figs. You may remember from our blogs last year that figs in the Caribbean are small bananas that are very sweet when they are ripe. We haven't been able to get them since we were in Grenada. After the market we just walked around the town for a bit again and then headed back to the boat to put away our purchases and have lunch.

After lunch, Tom and Kathy picked us up in their dinghy and we went to Cabrits National Park. Cabrit is French/Spanish/Portuguese for goats. In the past goats roamed over the area. The park is situated on the peninsula of land that forms the northern edge of Prince Rupert's Bay where we are anchored. Originally the peninsula was two volcanic islands. Over the centuries wave action filled in between the islands and between the islands and the mainland. The British reinforced the area between the islands and the mainland when they built Fort Shirley on the western most peak. We explored around Fort Shirley a bit and then hiked to the top of West Cabrits. The hike was reminiscent of hiking in Waterton Park at home except for the difference in vegetation and the height of the hills. The highest peak on Dominica is 4106 feet and West Cabrits is 623 feet. When we got to the top all that was there was one old cannon that hadn't even been maintained. The view would have been spectacular if it hadn't been so hazy. On a clear day we probably could have seen all the way to Isles des Saintes and Guadeloupe.

The main part of Fort Shirley has been partially restored so we spent some time exploring there. It seems whenever we see cannons we have to kid around. This time Griff had a close target to aim at and I had an appropriately sized canon.

After a stop at the Purple Turtle Beach Bar for a Lemon Lime and Bitters(LLB) we got back to the boat about 4PM. We spent the evening doing our usual - watching an episode of M*A*S*H and an episode of Stargate - SG1.