At 4.30am we are all awake as Johanne and Steve are getting ready to leave. It’s not a tearful goodbye this time as Mike and I are both going back to the UK in a few weeks so will see them then.
Mike takes them across to the dinghy dock by the Purple Turtle and the taxi turns up on time a few minutes later. Phew. That was their main concern – missing the first Liat flight.
Mike and I were going to head straight off for Martinique but he has a really nasty headache so instead he takes some tablets and we go back to bed for a few hours. Waking up again around 8am it means that we won’t have time to make it to Martinique today. Instead, we will go to Roseau, towards the south of Dominica, and set off for Martinique early tomorrow morning to make it by nightfall.
Before we leave, Mike attempts to get internet connection using the $10 worth that he has paid for. It is absolutely useless. We get a signal then it goes almost immediately. The signal strength is brilliant but the connection has problems. It is so frustrating. While he is fiddling with it, a boat boy arrives on a surf board and just hangs around outside until Mike eventually gives up and goes outside to see him. He offers to take our garbage away for a fee. We agree, somewhat reluctantly, and just hope that it ends up in the right place and not dumped on the beach somewhere. We were going to do it properly yesterday and ask Albert, but forgot.
Photo: The Fort at Cabrits
It takes us three hours of motoring to get to Roseau. There is not a breath of wind and the sea is absolutely flat calm. The only people out on the water are local fishermen.
Arriving in Roseau, a boat boy arrives, and we are pleased that he is one of the reliable guys mentioned in the cruising guide again. His name is Pancho and he is a real charmer with a twinkle in his eye. We tell him where we want to park Jeannius and he advises us not to go there but to go further down the shore to an area called (appropriately) Anchorage. Apparently there has been some trouble around here with yachts being robbed, but he says if we go where he advises we will be safe as we will be moored between his house and Sea Cat’s house (another reliable guy) and they will keep an eye out for us.
He takes my lines, one at a time and ties Jeannius to a mooring buoy, nearly being garrotted a couple of times by the stays on the bow sprit, but eventually we are on safely. I actually couldn’t have done it without him as the eyelet on the buoy had sunk right down – I wouldn’t have been able to grab it with the mooring hook and I sure as hell wasn’t about to dive in for it!!!
We pay him $40 EC – 30 for the mooring fee and 10 for his help, and shake hands. He’s a sweet chap.
When Mike and I nap in the afternoons, we usually leave the main doors open, but here, unfortunately, I feel the need to lock ourselves in. It’s not good for business when robberies happen. The locals suffer as, understandably, tourists don’t want to come back if they have a bad experience.
When we get up, the light over Anchorage is beautiful.
Photos: Sun setting over Anchorage houses
Photo: Anchorage sunset
Mike cooks us some of our lovely tuna for dinner and we watch a film. The door and hatches are firmly locked tonight. What a pity a few have to go and spoil it for the rest of the locals and tourists alike.
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