We had heard that our friends on the catamaran Independence were in Dominica. As we rounded the point of the bay in Portsmouth, we saw them anchored in the calm waters along the edge of the national forest. It felt good to be back among the cruisers.
Dominica is known for its “boat boys”, men who paddle out to greet you and sell local fruits, arrange tours and collect your garbage. As soon as we had dropped anchor, Aluicious paddled up and offered us some passion fruit and avocados. He also informed us that the weekly market would be open the next morning at 5:00 a.m. and to get there early before the locals bought all the good stuff. Phil and I could not resist.
We arrived at 5:00 in the morning, and the vendors were already all set up. The produce selection was remarkable as were the prices: 6 star fruits 75 cents, avocados 15 cents, passion fruit 6 for 75 cents, fresh cut ripe pineapples $1.50. Phil and I loaded up on fruits and veggies and headed back to the boat for a small breakfast feast.
After breakfast, the boys and I headed for the rain forest. We followed a road out of town, then climbed a steep rocky road up the mountain into the forest.
Banana and pineapple farms were nested among the thick jungle. We wanted to see more and we cut through several banana fields heading deeper into the woods. I think we startled a local farmer as we traipsed along the edge of his field. He wanted to know if we were lost and needed a guide. I explained that we just wanted to explore on our own and asked if it would be okay for us to proceed along the edge of his field. “No problem, just don’t get lost.” With that we walked deeper into the woods.
We came upon a valley with an incline so steep we had to hold on from tree to tree to make our way down. As we descended, the babbling of a mountain stream become louder and clearer. Now we had found something cool. When we reached the stream, we found ancient cypress trees with buttressed walls of roots straddling the stream. It’s not every day you get excited about a tree, but even the boys were dully impressed.
Following the stream back to the village seamed to be a good idea at first. We gingerly made our way down the valley following the banks of our brook. We paused for a photo. Phil was about to start heading down when I saw a large boa constrictor about 3 feet ahead of him coiled up in a sunny spot on the bank. Phil flipped out: “I almost stepped on that thing.” We took a long stick, a very long stick and poked at it. He struck at the stick with a huge wide-open mouth, then slithered away into the under brush.
This seemed like a good time to change our plan. We would return back up the hill rather than follow the snake down the river. Going up that hill was a challenge, but no-one complained. We were all happy to be getting way from that snake.
Back at the banana farm, we told the famer, Philistine, about our encounter. He belly laughed and said he knew they were out there, but he didn’t want to keep us from our ”mission.” We all got a chuckle out of it.
On the way back to the boat we headed down the gravel road and found a mango tree and wild sugar cane growing along the side. We stocked up on them both and headed back triumphantly to the Adamo.
