Portsmouth

We just came off the Indian River Tour. Our guide was Raymond. This is where Pirates of the Caribbean was film!!! It was an exhilarating trip, Raymond picked us up around 0900, returning back around 1130. There are 365 rivers in Dominica, the Indian River being the deepest, getting it's name after the Caribs Indians. Who by the way do basket weaving from Coconut palms, not like the Bahamas, also from wild sugar leaves. They also use the Roseau, which is wild sugar cane, and it is not eatable and it is not sweet, mainly used for roofs, the leaves on top and the shoots for holding the leaves. Roseau is the capital of Dominica, where it got it's name from the wild sugar cane.
The river is not like any we know, we would have to say it is more like a stream, although in some spots it maybe 50 feet wide. The water was a little messed up this morning, darn rain! So tired of the rain and winds. We did see mullets, lot's of them, they barbecue them here, not smoked. The only snakes here are BOAS, fortunately we did not see any. There are 4 species of hummingbirds and 21 species of bats, which they eat, yuck! No gators. There is a government tax to enter the river, and there are no motors allowed, so Raymond rowed upstream 4 miles, then back down, with a stop at a restaurant-bar. This business is owned by a woman lawyer in Roseau, bet she had to pay through the nose, since that area is a National Park.
We had seen advertised in restaurants the "Mountain Chicken". Asked R what kind of chicken this was, hehehe, it isn't a chicken at all, it is a frog!
We did see some clearings in some spots, we were told this was where the film makers had build the sheds for the films. After the filming, the cleaning crew came in, it had to be spotless.
Checking in to customs yesterday was painless, 10 EC. Also, they check you in and out in at the same time. There are 2 atm's in this village, one is down and the other was in front of a bank, when we arrived there, walking like a mile, to find it was also out. Pete went into the bank, the woman was rude, but said she would fix it. 1/2 hour went by, Pete walked in again, the woman finally said ok, I will do it now. Our point was, if we could not access the ATM then we would not leave any money in Dominica, and like us there was 30 other cruisers in line. Stupid woman! Guess she finally got the message across. We have noticed several things about the English islands, they are rude, if they are talking with one of the locals they will continue, and damn the people waiting. This islands are dirty, with boats littered across the beaches. Most of these boats had engine trouble in 1995, so the hurricane got them. There they are, rust buckets. The French islands are very clean, and very polite.
The grocery store here is like a 7/11. They do sell hard liquor, unlike the US.
There is a system of weather over us, some kind of low. Producing winds in the 30 to 35 mile an hour gusts, the seas are high 10 footers, we saw several boats venture out this morning, just to make a u turn, and re-anchoring, all were French or German. We expect to be here till Sunday or Monday. Then we hope to go to Marie Galant Island, part of Guadaloupe. We missed it on way South, we know it is hard to get there, all upwind, so it is engine all the way! We read in the cruising guide that it is so remote, there are no tourists, and the carts are oxen driven! Lot's of rum produced there, the Agricole type.
Talk about rum, RHUM, "agricole" means it is derived from sugar cane, and it tastes awful, believe me. Then there is the "Tecnical", derived from molasses. This is a better rum as far as we are concerned. Most factories, or plantations as they are called here, go back a long way, and you can tour them without a hard hat, in shorts and sandals. OSHA would have a hissy! You actually get into where the crusher is, and how they do it, usually have a red arrow that you follow.

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