While I am now playing a bit of catch up with this blog, as anyone speaking to me or on my facebook might know, Dominica quickly became one of my favorite countries and for a great number of reasons, making it worthy of many stories to come. In Dominica, I learnt you can make rum and tea from anything, they call it bush rum, or bush tea and it is all excellent. As was the rainforest I meant to spend 5 days in and wound up finding hard to leave after a week. The locals were friendly, the culture was uniquely interesting and the nature was perhaps the best I have ever encountered. However, like all stories, let me begin with where it all started, in Portsmouth, a town on the west coast, north of the capital Rouseau.
I began with meeting up with a couchsurfer Shahir. He is an American from Austin Texas, who is studying medicine at an American University, which seemingly keeps the town of Portsmouth thriving. For those of you who dont know, I am told, Austin, is the only democratic voting city in the entire state of Texas, making for interesting political conversation. Most especially with what is going on in Syria at the moment. However, this is neither here nor there, we began with a list. Titled ¨Shahir s top 10 things to do in Dominica.¨ I am proud to say, I covered all but one and added roughly 7 others, to this ongoing list. After a briefing on the country, we decided we would sail to Secret Beach.....
In doing we ventured down to the beach where a local was renting boats. While tying up the sails, the Dominican, commented ¨Mon, I have got to stop smoking so much guanja, I keep forgetting things¨ which to be honest, in hind sight, should have instilled a bit of concern....
After removing a stick from the boat, we hoped on and headed out to sea, Secret Beach bound!! It was not long before we noticed we had slowed down, and while the wind was not in our favor, it was not entirely the cause....with one side of the boat quickly sinking lower then the other, we pulled into Secret Beach with a bit of relief to have made it there.... Pulling the boat up onto the shore, the two of us quickly realized it was much heavier than pulling it off the beach where we started and it did not take long to realize that the plug was missing from the back. In all fairness, we had been warned....
Pulling the small sailboat further up as we allowed it to drain, we searched for a solution in order to make it back. With our patchwork of a sail and the wind slowing, we needed as much assistance as we could.....Finally finding a fruit which seemed to fit as well as possible, we plugged the hole, hoped for the best and set sail back to Portsmouth.
Arriving on the beach, we began to search for the man who had rented us the boat. Finding him lying down in a hammock under a mango tree smoking a joint, we approached him to let him know we had brought the boat back.
He asked how it was and we said it was great, except for the fact that the boat almost sunk. He looked at us with a curious glaze and I commented that he should be sure to put the plug back in before sending anyone else out on such an adventure. He commented ¨there was no plug mon?´ and then his face fell. ¨Oh, no, mon that was me! I took the plug out this morning, to let it drain on the shore¨. Shahir commented, that he thought it was him because he had left his stick which he usually carries on the boat, but that he had removed it and placed it next to the tree.¨ Seemingly forgetting about the lack of plug for a moment, the smile returned to the locals face and he asked ¨my bamboo?¨ But then realizing again that the boat was missing a plug he excitingly added ¨ Mon, I am so happy you made it back! You could have sunk!! What did you do?¨. We advised that we plugged the hole the best we could with a fruit and his smile returned. ¨well that is great, and now you know what to do if that happens!¨ As though, either of us might have this happen on a regular basis....¨I am really sorry Mon, I was distracted with putting up my posters¨ and with this he gestured towards a coconut tree. Glued to the tree, with what appeared to be the same blue adhesive holding the sail together, was a homemade poster, advertising what he did¨ I laughed at how it was not at all misleading, and thanked him again for his time before heading back to plan my stay. Time to explore Dominica!
I began with meeting up with a couchsurfer Shahir. He is an American from Austin Texas, who is studying medicine at an American University, which seemingly keeps the town of Portsmouth thriving. For those of you who dont know, I am told, Austin, is the only democratic voting city in the entire state of Texas, making for interesting political conversation. Most especially with what is going on in Syria at the moment. However, this is neither here nor there, we began with a list. Titled ¨Shahir s top 10 things to do in Dominica.¨ I am proud to say, I covered all but one and added roughly 7 others, to this ongoing list. After a briefing on the country, we decided we would sail to Secret Beach.....
In doing we ventured down to the beach where a local was renting boats. While tying up the sails, the Dominican, commented ¨Mon, I have got to stop smoking so much guanja, I keep forgetting things¨ which to be honest, in hind sight, should have instilled a bit of concern....
After removing a stick from the boat, we hoped on and headed out to sea, Secret Beach bound!! It was not long before we noticed we had slowed down, and while the wind was not in our favor, it was not entirely the cause....with one side of the boat quickly sinking lower then the other, we pulled into Secret Beach with a bit of relief to have made it there.... Pulling the boat up onto the shore, the two of us quickly realized it was much heavier than pulling it off the beach where we started and it did not take long to realize that the plug was missing from the back. In all fairness, we had been warned....
Pulling the small sailboat further up as we allowed it to drain, we searched for a solution in order to make it back. With our patchwork of a sail and the wind slowing, we needed as much assistance as we could.....Finally finding a fruit which seemed to fit as well as possible, we plugged the hole, hoped for the best and set sail back to Portsmouth.
Arriving on the beach, we began to search for the man who had rented us the boat. Finding him lying down in a hammock under a mango tree smoking a joint, we approached him to let him know we had brought the boat back.
He asked how it was and we said it was great, except for the fact that the boat almost sunk. He looked at us with a curious glaze and I commented that he should be sure to put the plug back in before sending anyone else out on such an adventure. He commented ¨there was no plug mon?´ and then his face fell. ¨Oh, no, mon that was me! I took the plug out this morning, to let it drain on the shore¨. Shahir commented, that he thought it was him because he had left his stick which he usually carries on the boat, but that he had removed it and placed it next to the tree.¨ Seemingly forgetting about the lack of plug for a moment, the smile returned to the locals face and he asked ¨my bamboo?¨ But then realizing again that the boat was missing a plug he excitingly added ¨ Mon, I am so happy you made it back! You could have sunk!! What did you do?¨. We advised that we plugged the hole the best we could with a fruit and his smile returned. ¨well that is great, and now you know what to do if that happens!¨ As though, either of us might have this happen on a regular basis....¨I am really sorry Mon, I was distracted with putting up my posters¨ and with this he gestured towards a coconut tree. Glued to the tree, with what appeared to be the same blue adhesive holding the sail together, was a homemade poster, advertising what he did¨ I laughed at how it was not at all misleading, and thanked him again for his time before heading back to plan my stay. Time to explore Dominica!
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