Our plan was to leave sometime today, but there is absolutely no wind, it really seemed pointless to motor when we have no time constraints. We have until Friday 2pm for our PCR to be valid in Dominica. So we have decided to stay another night.
It was boiling hot on the boat, so we headed off to the north of the island that we have not seen yet. Rowan wanted to walk, but the midday heat, busy road and my lack of enthusiasm luckily changed his mind. We were soon in a taxi heading towards a very fancy foodie resort called Cap Maison. We discovered this was the smart section of the island, huge mansions all outdoing each other with magnificent bougainvillaea displays. We went to the little beach next to the resort, which has a restaurant called the Naked Fisherman that we were allowed to eat at, although we (and the locals) were not allowed to use the beach loungers and umbrellas! We went armed with loads to read and spent a very happy few hours reading in the shade on the beach. We were only peckish by 2:30 and sauntered over to the restaurant to discover they had closed early for a staff meeting. What a disappointment!
Flamboyant flower on the volcanic beach
It didn’t matter as we remembered we were invited out to dinner. An English couple are on an Oyster boat (this is only interesting for friends in Suffolk, as they are made there) living in the marina while doing up an old 1930’s boat in the yard. Turns out he is an OCC (Ocean Cruising Club) member and spotted our flag, he invited us to join them for an OCC get together with another English couple who are out in the bay. A great idea, our first club function.
We tried to wash the boat down as the ash is everywhere, it is gritty and sticky, really horrible. The marina is closing all the water tomorrow for maintenance, so this was our last chance for a hose down. Sadly we were running late so could only do a cursory hose down in the cockpit, hoping that it may rain and clean the rest of the boat.
Black grimy ash on the boat, from the volcano.
We joined our club members at the Thai Restaurant in the marina. These guys have all been sailing for many, many years and it is quite clear we are newbies, and sail a Catamaran, which is not really considered a sailing boat by the fanatics! In fact we have not fully qualified for the club as you have to do a thousand mile sail in a straightish line, and although we did over a thousand miles from Turks and Caicos to Grenada, it doesn’t count because we did a huge loop! It was a good evening and so nice to have a Thai curry. The other couple crossed the Atlantic seven years ago in their boat and have never left the Caribbean, she is South African, moved to the UK in the 90’s, it was definitely a second relationship. The main guy rather liked the sound of his own voice, and we heard an awful lot about his toys – Rolls Royce, open top mercs, MG’s, you name it! He was also very proud of his East London roots (UK!). They have circumnavigated the globe, via South Africa and St Helena, which I have enormous respect for. They are huge racing enthusiasts which I thank my lucky stars regularly, that Rowan is not into racing at all! His wife (also second wife) got Rowan on the wrong foot as she can talk without let up too, which gave Rowan no opportunity to argue against her curious anti vaccination views!
Luckily we had a good excuse to leave at a reasonable time as we are heading off tomorrow. We managed to sneak in a delicious ice cream on our walk back to our messy boat.
The only glimpse of the sunset, from the restaurant. Rowan looking a bit dazed by the amount of listening he is doing!
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