The Dawgs do Carnival

On Friday, Feb. 17th, we had a nice sail from St. Pierre to Fort de France to meet up with a bunch of Salty Dawgs planning to attend Carnival, the annual (except during pandemics) celebration of European heritage that lasts over 4 days. We decided to pick up a mooring at a nearby marina instead of getting into the fray of boats anchoring and dragging on top of each other in the main bay of Fort de France. Many Dawgs successfully defended their territory in the mayhem and held their anchors without drifting, but we got there too late to be one of them. 

When we arrived at our mooring, we discovered our generator wasn’t pumping water, so once again (it happened in 2020 as well), we had a boat issue to trouble shoot during Carnival, when most shops & businesses aren’t open. Through our Texas friends that we met in St. Pierre, we were introduced to Antoine, a handsome, grey haired Italian man with a handle bar mustache that spoke fluent Italian and French, but not a word of English. With my bits & pieces of French (and a little help from Google Translate), we established that he could pick us up in his utility van the next morning and take us to the nearest marine store to see what we might do about the problem.

Sure enough, Antoine arrived ‘a huit heure’ the next day and showed us to our luxury ride. It was a former mini ambulance converted into a tool truck with two seats up front and a tiny EMT bench in the back. Guess where I rode!

Antoine spent 45 minutes in the store with us discussing the possible options with the proprietor, looking at parts online and making phone calls to other stores before we established that a replacement pump could be had in Le Marin, our next port of call. When he dropped us back off at the Marina he wouldn’t accept payment for his trouble (until I explained that it was beer money, with our great appreciation!)

That evening, we had a nice meal at one of the two marina restaurants and met a friendly Frenchman, who recommended to Andrew the Ti-punch (a shot of Caribbean rum served with a glass of sugar and a lot of lime) and a selection of very old whiskeys. 

The next day, Andrew had a cold and wasn’t feeling too well (I wonder why!), so I decided to go to carnival with John and Lisa (s/v No Mahala) and someone they had met in the marina that had a car. My pics probably tell all you need to know about my carnival experience this year, but suffice it to say 1) it wasn’t as exotic as in 2020, 2) it was very disorganized (with paraders coming and going from all directions), and 3) the Salty Dawg costumes were the highlight.

These are the Salty Dawgs:

These are the locals:

Clearly, some of those Dawgs are contenders for best dressed!!

More Dawgs in St. Pierre, Martinique

On Valentines Day, we said goodbye to Portsmouth, Dominica and hello to Roseau, our last overnight stop in Dominica, before heading off to Martinique where Dawgs were gathering for Carnival. Roseau has a nice supermarket but gets a lot of cruise ship traffic, so for us little boat cruisers, there’s no reason to stop except to break up a long day or to provision  in town.

We set sail for Martinique the next day and had a lovely voyage under a single reef & jib with 3-4 foot seas for the ~25 miles between the islands. Things got a little sporty when we arrived at the anchorage (puffing up to 30 knots), which always makes dropping sails and anchoring fun but we found a spot off the beach in St. Pierre. In short order, we had no fewer than 4 Salty Dawg boats (including Roxy, Kalunamoo, Pandora and Frog’s Leap) right next to us.

We put the motor on the dinghy and headed into town to check-in but found everything closed. We ran into another couple, Lisa & John from s/v No Wahalla, also looking to check in, but instead decided to have a beer together. Turns out, they were Salty Dawgs that happened to run into the group in Dominica and decided to join the gang headed south to Carnival.

After a leisurely morning the next day, we went to town, checked in, found a Digicel store for Andrew to get his Wi-Fi booster working and picked up a baguette and quiche from the bakery. That afternoon, I walked to the zoo, which was the most exquisite environment I’ve ever seen for a zoo. This little gem, built on the ruins of an old mill, had a decent collection of animals but the real treasure was to see them on such beautiful and natural grounds. Hopefully, my pictures tell that part of the story:

That evening, Andrew and I had a deferred Valentines dinner at Le Tamaya in St. Pierre. It was delightful! Peggy and her husband (the chef) have owned the place for about 10 years. We were the only customers in this tiny (maybe 6 tables), nautically decorated space attached to the kitchen. We ordered escargots to share (a brilliant choice) and dorado to be prepared in two different ways; Andrew’s in a vanilla sauce and mine in a sauce made of the locally grown green lemons, both yummy and all at a very reasonable cost.

Peggy spoke excellent English (and accommodated my attempts to speak French), so after dinner, we had quite a lengthy conversation about their sailing voyages from Europe and around the Caribbean along with an espresso and flan.

Early the next day, we took off (with the rest of the Dawgs) for Carnival in Fort de France, right after I took this picture of Roxy, with a lot of her bottom showing and her telltale pink flamingo flipped over off the stern, in what turned out to be a very rolly anchorage.

The Salty Dawg Rendevous in Dominica

February 9, 2023 started with a rainbow over the abandon hotel on Prince Rupert Bay in Portsmouth, Dominica. It was the harbinger of 5 days of eating, drinking, dancing, touring & telling tales with some of the saltiest sailors I know. A dozen Dawgs were in the harbor but by the end of the day there would be 30+ boats participating in the first annual Salty Dawg Rendevous in Dominica.

While I had some quiet time, I spent the morning walking through town, taking pictures of the beautiful flowers and shrubs along the roadside, the views of the bay and the humble abodes and business establishments along the main road.

The Rendevous kicked off that evening with a welcome from the PAYS community and the local tourism officials at a barbecue in the PAYS building on the beach. It was fun watching 20 or so dinghies pile up at the dock, as the Dawgs all arrived at the same time, trying to dodge the constant rain squalls.

Lynn, on s/v Roxy, worked diligently to schedule fun events for the week and the first one we chose was the Syndicate Forest Trail hike & waterfall. Driving to the trail, our tour guide Al, pointed out every variety of plant that they farm on the island including grapefruit trees, bananas, plantains, oranges, green lemons, nutmeg, avocado, coffee beans, etc. Here are some pics that give you an idea of the lush environment that we were treated to.

In the rainforest, we trekked over slippery roots and rocks amongst these giant trees with intricate above ground root systems and leaves that were a quarter the size of Andrew.

Before we made it to the waterfall, it started to pour rain. Most of us had raincoats but Al donned an enormous fern for an umbrella as we carried on crossing streams multiple times. We arrived at Milton Falls, an 80 foot stream of white water cascading into a luscious pool at the bottom. Given we were already wet, it was easy (for some of us who came prepared) to strip down to suits and jump in the chilly water. On the way back to the van, we were warmed up with home-made spice rum from the locals at a roadside stand.

On Feb 11th, I woke up to rainbows again as it has been raining, alternating with sunshine for a couple of days now. I missed the local cooking class since it was at 7am and that’s when I’m just having my first cup of coffee. Instead, I walked to the Saturday market, which is mostly same as every other day, except that there are 4 blocks chock full with vendors (instead of one or two here and there) all carrying the same things: tomato’s, lettuce, cabbage, eggplant, potatos and this big brown hairy thing that they serve as a side with everything.

That evening, there were at least a hundred boats in the harbor enjoying the sunset (including this couple with no clothes on). I thought we might see a green flash but it was just another beautiful sunset!

On Sunday, I paddled in to the beach on my SUP, did yoga with Salty Dawgs Doug and Marjorie from s/v Frolic and played dominos in the PAYS building all afternoon. That evening, we enjoyed a LionFish barbecue and watched the Philadelphia Eagles attempt to win another SuperBowl at Sea Bird Bar & Restaurant. We all know how that turned out!

On Monday, Andrew and I went in search of fresh fish for our stores on the next leg of our adventures. We had tried to find fresh fish before but you have to luck out and show up when a fisherman has returned with his/her catch. We met a young woman who had been out fishing with her boyfriend and they had caught a large blue runner. He filleted the fish right there for us (and $20 US). 

That evening, the Salty Dawg Rendevous had a farewell barbecue with the PAYS folks where we ate, drank and danced with new & old friends and said goodbye to some who were moving north as we continue our journey south.