Not according to Doyle in Roseau

Just when things seem to be going according to plan, the cruising life will throw some curve balls! On Feb. 16th we left Portsmouth for Roseau, the capital of Dominica and main town on the southwestern end of the island. It was an 18 mile motor sail that took a little longer than it should due to low visibility rainstorms. According to the Doyle Sailors Guide, the yacht anchorage covers a mile and a half and has several dingy docks along the way. We picked up a mooring south of town, with Marcus, the boat services fellow in charge of security, and intended to go ashore for lunch and provisions. The Anchorage Hotel, with it’s own dingy dock, where the book said we could grab a bite to eat, get laundry done and have a short walk to the grocery store, unfortunately was still ravaged with damage from hurricane Maria and no longer existed, so we headed in the other direction towards town. Sea Cat, another boat services fellow, told us the closest dinghy dock was a 20 minute walk to town or we could go past the huge cruise ship and the fishery to find the dock in the center of town. Caught again in a rain squall, we tried to find the town dock but not sure it existed either.

Returning to the dock near our boat, we started to hoof it into town. It was 2:30 and we hadn’t had anything to eat since our light breakfast, so we were hungry. After 10 minutes of walking, a van stopped next to us and the driver flashed his “professional guide” credentials. He proceeded to tell us that everything in town was closed but he could take us into the mountains for a great lunch and island tour. Sounded like a scam but had hoped to see some of the island and we were exceedingly hungry so we agreed to lunch, a visit to Trafalgar Falls, a ride to the grocery store and back to the dock. The lunch was good and provided a spectacular view of what I thought was the waterfall, but turned out to be a power plant! Afterward, a short hike through the rain forest (in the rain again), we found the falls were quite pretty and worth the visit. Our driver, who identified himself as “just in time Justin”, hustled us back into the van and rushed back to town to drop us off at the grocery store for provisions and back to the dock.

When we got back to the boat, we told Sea Cat, who was checking in on us, what happened. He laughed and said that’s just in time for you... always looking to make a quick buck! We cancelled plans with Justin for the next day and arranged for Jones, a driver that works with Sea Cat, to take us to the gorge where Johnny Depp filmed Pirates of the Caribbean, and the sulphur springs, where we lounged in the hot baths built into the rocks and trees of the rain forest.

Our friend, Marcus, had taken our laundry and we were expecting it back that day. Since we weren’t finding much else to do in Roseau, we decided to leave the next day for Martinique but were concerned when Marcus hadn’t returned by nightfall. At 7pm or so we heard a motor approaching and the telltale whistle of Marcus’ arrival. He told us that his brother had died that day and he just couldn’t function but he had promised to return our laundry, so he got himself up and did so! God bless him!!