Wai’ Tuku Buli – The Nature Island

…

We waited through two days of stormy, squally, windy weather, too windy for me to want to go out to sea. We sheltered in the unsheltered Marigot Bay, our best option for a spot to anchor in Iles des Saintes. On the third day the sky was clear. Well it actually was very hazy, caused by dry Saharan air full of desert sands wafting across the ocean. But the dusty skies often brings decent sailing weather, a more mild breeze, and no rain or squalls.

So today was our day to sail, actually it looked like the best sailing weather we could ask for! And we were headed for Dominica! Which is officially the Windward Islands and Dominica is a legendary spot. It is in the dead center of the Caribbean island chain, the heart of the Lesser Antilles, and it’s a place I always talk about visiting. I have been there once before, and it stands out in my memory as a rare unspoiled land… A place that is undeveloped, containing the last remaining old growth rainforest in the Caribbean islands. So finally today was the day that we get to go! A real milestone for our trip.    

We motored out of Marigot Bay, over the reef, and around into the interior of Iles Des Saintes’ protected archipelago. The hills surrounded us, and we hoisted the mainsail. We went out a passage between the islands, got the jib sail up, and shut off the engine. Sailing out. It really wasn’t too far to Dominica, only about 20 miles, and a good point of sail as well- a reach.

We cruised between the last small islets and chunks of rocks sticking out from the ocean, and watched the remote islands of Les Saintes fade into the haze. The windspeed was probably right at 15 knots, and the waves were small. Finally this is perfect! How relaxing, sailing through this Caribbean paradise. Today is like a reward for all the hard work we put in to get here!

We crossed pretty quick, it wasn’t long before we saw Dominica, and the island was huge! Massive mountains rising from the sea. When I was here in 2015 I took a 9 day backpacking trip and hiked across this island, and looking at it now, I definitely recognized it. I was so happy to be here again!

And we were joking around, because there was a proper sailing regatta going on! A race! 5 contestants began, and we were in 3rd place! The starting gun was fired at 7AM, whether we knew it or not, and unfortunately we got under way at 7:30 as usual. So in the lead was a catamaran, but it wasn’t long before he past the finish line of Portsmouth Dominica, became lost at sea and was disqualified. Behind us, the last place contestant must’ve shipwrecked and was never seen again, and the contestant in front of him (another catamaran) took a course way to the north. So we were racing against the small sailboat that had taken the lead, and after many hours we passed him! Hooray, first place! Oh wait, but then that guy who had gone north came out of nowhere, swooped in and actually beat us. Wow, good strategy, but he carried on past Portsmouth as well so- disqualified.

Portsmouth Bay finally is a safe harbor. The mountains shelter it, so the effect from wind and storms is less. It is a calm and peaceful place to anchor, with no crazy, hard to follow rules, no crowds, and no strong waves or ground swell to throw you all around. Doesn’t seem like too much to ask for, just a calm quiet bay, but these days they are hard to come by. As we approached it we were sailing fast, and all the mountains came into focus, the deepest shade of green on earth. And Portsmouth Bay is huge, 4 miles from end to end. Lots of space, we could anchor anywhere.

We went in front of the town of Portsmouth, which is a ramshackle place. Even though it appears small, it is the second largest town on Dominica. But it has a concrete wharf and fish market, with many fishing boats pulled up along the waterfront. We anchored not too far from those docks, out at sea enough to give us great privacy. And the water was crystal clear when I dived in to set the anchor in the grassy bottom.

The mountains were casting off pure clouds that seemed to bring the temperature down. The weather did feel very serene, and the water was still, with a light breeze blowing steady. Definitely it was more wet here than in the Leeward Islands, but it didn’t feel too humid. Just more fresh. Okay, we can end the trip here! I’ll stay in Dominica! They can get hurricanes here still, but less frequently, I’ll take the chance.

That was my feeling for sure, although I knew we had to press on eventually. But we’ll at least take a good rest here. And explore!

We were approached by a Rasta guy with long dreads in a boat that said “Spaghetti”. That was his nickname, and I knew it because I’d heard it before! Dad’s was here in 2003, 19 years ago, and I’ve heard the story time and again, and I’ve heard that name- Spaghetti! Dad befriended these guys, a bunch of tour guides here in Portsmouth, after his tour of the Indian River. Dad always told me about a guy named Cobra, and he had gone to big fisherman’s festival with them. So he asked Spaghetti, (who had become more of an old timer since Dad last met him 19 years ago!) about Cobra, if he was still around. Spaghetti told us he was, and we could run into him if we came by the tour shop.

We were also approached in a boat by a man named Darren and he was selling fruit. We bought some mangoes and avocados. After that, we had to go try to check in with customs.

We loaded up the dinghy and went over to the dock. We were confronted with a sign that said not to lock dinghies here, so we wound up driving in circles for a minute before we pulled the dinghy up on a rocky seawall and locked it to a small tree. (In the future we just locked it to the dock and no one minded.) First thing I noticed was a water spigot. Water!!! Oh my God. I never see this, never anywhere, actual public water. Portsmouth had them on the street corners, pipes and spigots for public water, some that were constantly running into the drains. The last time I had been able to fill my water tanks was in St. Martin. Typically the way I do it is by finding a marina, heading in by dinghy just before sunrise, the sneakiest time of day! And filling my four 6-gallon water jugs either from docks occupied by high roller catamarans or from work docks and boatyard areas. Wherever I can find the water turned on.

And I would gladly pay for water somewhere if there was any services to fill my jugs! But I can’t find that service, I’m sure some places have it, but no places that I’ve personally been to, on my minimalistic journey. Yup, I love Dominica. And we were the only white faces in the crowded, rundown street, lots of vendors, occasional people hollering at us from left and right to try to get us to buy something, or to welcome us to the island, and we had many conversations.          

The Dominica flag flies red, green and yellow, with a parrot in the middle! And the culture is born from Jamaica, the Rastafarians, believing in Positivity, Respect, and One Love for all people. You could see the culture in the residents of Portsmouth walking the streets, there were a lot of characters with huge dreadlocks, people with a hippy style, and people who looked fit and healthy from living a more natural life. Nobody is rich with dollars here, but their wealth is in the land, the rain and the perfect climate. Food just grows, the streets are lined with mango trees, breadfruit and papayas in the yards. And even though the place feels rough around the edges and looks very poor, everyone is so nice. And the nature is vivid green and lush.

Unfortunately the government in Dominica is still corrupt like all the rest. Maybe Dominica’s government is even slightly more dysfunctional than others. We took a bus to the customs house. We didn’t know where it was. It sounded like the covid regulations had mostly dropped in Dominica, from what we could tell from the internet, if you had the vaccine card… Well lets walk on in there and find out!

That didn’t work! We suddenly had to put some masks on, oh crap, hadn’t done that in a while! Not prepared. Nowhere else in the Caribbean had been wearing or requiring masks. I had two masks in the bowels of my backpack, but one had gotten so nasty with dirt that it really looked bad to put it on. I gave Dad the good one and put on the nasty one. There was a guard to talk to in front of the customs house, and people were walking through a metal detector.      

He didn’t know what to do about us. Lots of “um’s” and “uhh’s” and sideways glances of confusion from this guy. He told us he didn’t really know the process, but he couldn’t let us in. We needed a health clearance document. He told us, maybe, to go to the health department, and pointed away. “It’s over there?” We asked. Yes, supposedly it was over beside this warehouse somewhere.

Dad and I left, and went to go search out this health department. We walked down an old road… No it’s not down here. We walked another direction, still nothing out there! I would imagine it’s behind that fence he’s guarding along with the customs house and other buildings… In the end we just walked away.

Fine, we won’t check in then. I was fine with that decision. But Dad didn’t really like that, and I didn’t either. Especially later when a coast guard boat cruised along by us (a large, fast powerboat that was actually donated to Dominica from the USA, they gave a few of these aggressive boats to a handful of Caribbean countries to help police their waters… great.) And that boat seemed to be interrogating our neighbors, a catamaran. Well we laid low… The coast guard boat cruised slowly by us, stopped, checked us out… but we were hiding. They left.

A little while later our friend Darren, (who sold us fruit), came by from that catamaran and asked for our help. The people on that boat lost their car keys in the ocean, but they weren’t divers! No problem! Dad and I went, jumped in the evening water, dived around, and quickly found their keys! They gave us a bunch of plantains for that.

We are pretty persistent people that’s for sure, so in the morning, we went back to customs. We’ll just try it again! We dinghyed very far to get there instead of taking the bus, and pulled up to their dock. And we had a different guard. We thought maybe things would go smoother for us just because it was morning time instead of afternoon, and it did! This guard seemed much more competent and told us we couldn’t enter the customs house. He said we need to go see Cobra! So funny, he actually was talking about Cobra the tour guide, a guy I’ve heard stories about for years. He said Cobra and the gang would be like our agents and check us in.

Ok, off to the Indian River tour guide house! It’s a ways down along the beach somewhere. On the way there the dinghy engine died though… It’s less than a year old, was brand new not too long ago, and has had many problems… (Operator error I would think, but it seems to be really a troubled engine!) I had thought it was fixed, since It’s given me no trouble for 3 months straight, but now these issues are back. We got it going, but it left us floating for a while…

We didn’t find Cobra but saw Spaghetti again, and he took care of us. He brought us into the office where there was an awesome woman who walked us through it step by step. It cost $50 and we gave her our passports. She photographed our vax passports, and then drove off to the customs house to check us in. I was actually standing barefoot in her office, so all in all this was the best customs experience I ever had! And we only waited about 15 minutes for her to drive there, take care of everything and come back. Although… We never did get a stamp from Dominica. And actually, aside from the USA and Canada, I’ve never crossed a country border without a stamp! Also she said we didn’t need to “check out”, we were done and could leave Dominica whenever. Hmm… We later wondered if this is a bunch of fake paperwork we got here, she did fill out these clearance forms herself, but who knows!

We were happy with that, and I went to take a walk! I had to go, had to walk, see the world out here. Dad just wanted to relax so I left him on the boat, after a funny misadventure where Darren came back and recruited me again to go and dive for his friend’s sunglasses. Found those real quick! And before I went for my walk they came by and showered us with another couple dozen plantains! Well, looks like plantains for breakfast, lunch and dinner for a little while! (We actually ate all these successfully before they went bad.)

Finally I was onshore, and was harassed by local beggars a little bit. I wound up giving a guy money and he gave me a sugar apple, which is a tropical fruit full of tasty white seeds that you suck the pulp off of. THEN I was walking. Portsmouth is so ragged, but it is a lovely town, I am a huge fan. I walked a quiet highway out from behind the town, which wound through the forest and into the mountains. There wasn’t any development after leaving the town’s boundaries, the forest was pure and I could see distant green peaks beyond the road. Then I would occasionally see houses, with incredible gardens. Each house I came to had a food forest around it, and some had a very idyllic scene; a girl sweeping her porch with her dog lazing around, the smell of baked goods wafting from the little blue house, which was perched on the edge of a canyon where a mighty river flowed by below it. I saw a beautiful, elfin house made out of concrete, with the tallest breadfruit trees I’ve ever seen growing along a winding river. Taro, plantains, bananas, coconuts and papayas throughout. I also saw fields of tomatoes and rows of corn, lonesome avocado trees growing on their own on the side of the road. All so deeply green, with the blazing sunshine gleaming off the leaves, and misty clouds billowing through the sky. I went through 5 minutes of sparkling rain at some point, which gave way to evening sunshine.

So I walked all the way up and up, to the apex of the highway before it started descending the other side of the island. From up there I could see the Atlantic Ocean, the east coast of Dominica in the distance. Then I turned around.

…

Got back to Mary Jo right after sunset, right before dark, and I started making dinner. Dad told me that a very eccentric character named Tim anchored next to us, he had come by and chatted and made friends. Although Dad seemed to think this guy was some kind of idiot, and his boat did look pretty crazy! It was loaded with stuff, a tiny boat just piled high, I couldn’t quite make out all the junk in the darkness. Clearly a bunch of whacky systems, and above it all was flying a gigantic flag, red green and white with a gryphon or dragon on it. I learned later it was the Welsh flag. Tim was an older guy and had a British accent.   

Dad mentioned Tim had anchored right ontop of us, and I looked and said, he doesn’t look too close! Dad looked out in the darkness, oh yeah, he’s not really TOO close to us. Huh, maybe he dragged, Dad thought. He seemed to be too close when he anchored earlier.

But of course I hadn’t seen the guy or met him. Dad told me that the guy seemed to really love beer and drinking, that’s mostly what he talked about, and maybe he mentioned something about girlfriends, talking about multiple different girls or something? He said the guy went back to have some drinks on his boat, went down below and he hadn’t seen him again. Anyway, that’s fine, I started cooking dinner.

However, as I was cooking I went out and looked towards Tim’s boat again. Oh! Wait a second, it’s all the way out there!! Oh my goodness! It’s really far away now!

So he definitely is dragging anchor, somehow, even though the wind is very light. It comes down in a strong gust occasionally, he must just be effortlessly dragging away out to sea every time the gust hits. Huh, and he doesn’t seem to notice that he’s gotten VERY FAR away!! I pointed my bright flashlight out to his boat, which had become pretty small in the distance now! So he had mentioned to Dad that he was having some drinks or something, and it would seem that he has gone down below and fallen asleep!

Typical! I swear, people like this are so bad! People who don’t know how to sail, come on in to an anchorage, and just immediately go to sleep. Not checking the anchor, not knowing what they’re doing, And I’ve sailed with people like this before. Reminds me of Captain Malcolm, or “Mally” and he was actually British too! And his boat was also hoarder style. I bet this Tim guy is old and stupid just like Mally! Hmm, so okay, how can we help. We pointed our flashlight at his boat and yelled for a while. “Tim! Wake up! You’re dragging anchor!” No response.

Should we get in the dinghy and drive out there to wake him up? No! Why is this my problem? Our dinghy engine isn’t working, and we don’t have our oars working right now either. So if the motor quits we won’t be able to get back, Tim’s gotten pretty far. No, maybe we would if the engine was working, but no. We’re in the middle of cooking dinner. I’m sorry Tim, but I can’t help you! You’re gonna have to learn from your mistake this time, the ocean isn’t a place you can just goof around.

I went back to cooking dinner, and Dad and I tried to forget about it. Then we ate and had successfully forgotten about it. Tim would wake up at sea when he started bouncing in the waves and could deal with it then. …This isn’t my responsibility!

Oh but it certainly was! Can’t ignore a mission from God! As we were sitting there after our meal, a lone row boat quietly paddles up, with Tim rowing. “Hey chaps…” his voice asked nervously, “‘Ave ya seen me boat…?”    

Oh my god! Ummm, ummm, “Yeah, uhh, aren’t you anchored right next to us? …We thought you were dragging maybe! Um, but we thought you were onboard!”

“No I was on shore… Where’s the boat now?”

I got my flashlight, “Oh it’s right here somewhere,” I pointed the light around. Nothing. The boat, with all the guy’s belongings, had drifted out to sea and was totally gone from sight.

“Yeah, uhh, It’s gone!,” I said. “It was here earlier!” Oh man, that’s so bad. Here was Tim, holding onto the side of Mary Jo, standing there confused. Imagine the way he felt, I was witnessing it; imagine floating there in a dinghy at night to find your home, your bed, and all your belongings had suddenly vanished. Wow and yup, we gotta help now. Can’t turn him away. Are we going to have to fire up Mary Jo, go out to sea and look for his boat? That’s crazy! That won’t work!

Well, Tim had his phone with him, it didn’t work, but he borrowed mine so that he could make a phone call. He called a fisherman who he knew. The way he asked for help was so blunt too, kind of mannerless, he really did remind me exactly of Captain Mally!! But surprisingly, the fisherman with his small powerboat came through for him almost right away!

So Tim, (I soon started calling him Mally), paddled back to the concrete wharf where the fisherman was meeting him. I offered to tow him to the wharf with my dinghy so he wouldn’t have to paddle, (I knew if the motor quit then I could make it back to Mary Jo from this direction. But the motor ran fine.) So I brought him to the dock. The fisherman was standing there, and the two of them made a plan. Going out to sea to look for your boat. Do you have a flashlight…? They had one that wasn’t too bright. Mine was almost out of charge as well, but still bright. “Is he coming?” The fisherman asked about me…

“Yeah I’m coming!” I offered. Oh boy. Gotta help these guys, I’m young and know how to handle boats in the ocean after all! Now my fate is sealed!

So I went back to Mary Jo, told Dad I was going with them. What?? He thought that was a bad idea, but agreed it had to be done! I popped the flashlight on the charger for a few minutes, grabbed my phone in a dry bag, and at the last minute, grabbed my satellite emergency beacon, the Spot Messenger. Put that in the dry bag. Yeah… going out to sea in a random boat at 10PM, could need that!

They pulled up to Mary Jo in the fishing boat, I stepped onboard for the adventure. We left Dad and headed out to sea. The first thing I noticed was the fishing boat was a little beat up and couldn’t travel very fast. Hmm, this might not be fast enough, because once the drifting sailboat hits the wind and waves outside the bay, (which could have happened hours ago) it will start blowing pretty fast away towards Guatemala. But we motored out to sea and stayed positive.

It took maybe 20 minutes or half an hour, and I spotted a boat with my bright flashlight in the distance… Is that it? Is that a boat? Hmm… Yep. I think it is.

Thar she blows!!! In the distance there was a peninsula, a mountainous point of land called Cabrits Point. It looks like Tim’s sailboat was hung up on rocks or something, and floating off the tip of that point. So we went over there.

There it was! Wow, extremely lucky, I thought. Because there was absolutely no wind or waves in this area. The current must have carried it here, and it got hung up in a reef or something. Fortunate that it didn’t wash up on the beach, or float off to cross the Caribbean. It was pretty far away from Portsmouth, and the city lights had dwindled in the distance. Ok well, time to get it back. Me and Tim jumped on board. The fisherman said ok, he was gonna head back now, we got it from here. But, Tim obviously was a cheap bastard, just like Mally, didn’t offer the fisherman any money. So the guy had to ask, hey, you got some gas money for me? Time gave him 100EC, which is like 35 dollars!! What a cheap bastard!

And now, I’m stuck with him! Oh god, the fisherman’s leaving? Well… let see. Usually, when a boat’s anchor is stuck on a reef, it’s STUCK! Like, that’s not going anywhere until you get in the water and free it. I realized that immediately after the fisherman left and there we were, floating calmly off Cabrits point. Well, lets try to get back.

Another awesome stroke of good luck. I went to pull the anchor up, and up it came! No problem, not stuck, amazing! There was a large, rusted, flimsy metal window frame hung up on the anchor that I pulled up with it. Now we just have to get back. So we did! We motored right back, had a bit of a hard time finding Mary Jo and the part of town we had been in front of. Dad flashed a light for us to guide us in to the area. Then Mally goes and anchors right ontop of us. Again!! Ok buddy, that’s too close, you gotta re-anchor. Because we were planning to leave and explore Dominica tomorrow, and I can’t have you dragging down onto us while we’re gone. I told him so and he did re-anchor, did a much better job of it!

Then Dad tried to come pick me up and the dinghy motor wouldn’t start! I resigned to pack the flashlight in the dry bag and swim back! Right before I jumped in though, Dad got the engine started. He came and got me, and the silly night finally ended around midnight.

…

Time to explore!

Early in the morning we got up, and went to grab our rental car! Lets go! To the Boiling Lake, the Valley of Desolation, one of the most amazing places anywhere. Dominica is volcanic, and up there, deep in the jungle, in the extinct caldera of the volcano, they have hot springs, and even a large muddy lake that is boiling away! It’s a long hike, and everyone will discourage us, but we’re doing it, and no we don’t want a guide. Time to plunge into the jungle!

Driving the roads was insane! The steering wheel was on the right, and they drive on the left. Oh I didn’t like that “left handed steering wheel!” European type stuff, that was weird, not used to it, and some of the roads through the villages were crazy narrow. The driving was harrowing! But the roadside scenery was gorgeous, the highway followed along green sloping mountains with cliffs that dropped down to the ocean.

Driving up into the mountains was absolutely spectacular, with huge ravines of lush green rainforest, rivers and even waterfalls. Massive steep peaks were all around us. The road was cut into the side of the mountains, the pavement cracked and potholed, and the drive was very precarious. I drove most of the trip here from Portsmouth, Dad started us off, and there were some moments where I was a bit too close for comfort to either a guard rail, cliff, ditch, or other car. But we made it, and it was probably at least ten degrees cooler up in the mountains. It was greener, and wetter.

And… oh boy, a bunch of tourists, and hustlers selling things at the trail head. A big sign that read, Boiling Lake trail closed! But I definitely expected all this, it’s the way the world is these days everywhere you go. C’mon Dad, hurry, lets get on that trail. A young guy approached us. “Hey, you want to rent a life jacket?” There was a swimming hole around there. “No we’re good.”

“Are you hiking? The trails closed though. I could take you as a guide. It’s too late in the day to hike. It is very dangerous.”

“No we’re good thanks, we’re just gonna hike in a little ways and turn around.”

“Ok…”

Then a busload of tourists happen to pull in! Perfect timing! We were packing our bag. Our hustler friend was distracted, and the other people selling trinkets were suddenly overwhelmed with customers picking through the wares. Meanwhile, we slipped off onto the trail!

It was a gorgeous hike, with huge old growth banyon trees and then exceptionally high mountains. All so green, and misty clouds were flying past, obscuring the scene entirely and then clearing to reveal it again. The higher reaches of the mountains were a lighter shade of green, more of a lime green or swamp green color in that high altitude rainforest. Also called a cloud forest, it is constantly among the wet rain clouds, and the cold rain started coming down off and on again. There are plants up there the likes of which we had never seen before!

The trail had so many excellent views of the stunning area. Then it would be blanketed in cold, driving rain, that would soak us completely and end as quickly as it started. The sun would be out but just for a few moments before clouds would sweep past again. And then it would rain again! Over and over, and the trail was becoming muddier and slipperier as the afternoon progressed.

We met another couple groups, with guides who seemed to think we ought to turn around. As they usually do. Bye! And when we got to that gnarly notch between peaks, standing above the geysers and steam that rose from the valley of desolation in the caldera below, we started down. There’s a couple ropes to help you down the steep slippery path, and soon we were walking through the valley!

There was steam everywhere! And I was barefoot, actually for the whole hike! I love hiking in the rainforest barefoot, it’s the way to go. That’s how I handle the muddiness. But I gotta be careful in this part, because I could feel the rocky earth was warm! Warm with water boiling beneath my feet somewhere, and venting all around us! We saw little pools of violently boiling water.

Then we found the magical stream. And we found our own hot pools and had a great soak!! We tried out many pools, some hotter than others, and they had waterfalls like jets, with a huge volume of water.

It rained off and on around us as we soaked, the moist air was chilly at this altitude, and I even found one pool that was EXTREMELY hot but still soak-able. This one would get you lightheaded after two minutes in it. And then we went on to find a big waterfall with a deep hot pool, the best and most picturesque one.

We loved this river so much we never even made it to the boiling lake!! It got too late in the day! And the lake was a couple miles further through this valley. We soaked all the way until 4PM before we turned back, and got back just barely before dark…

Oh, and I had missed a call. A Dominica number… who could this be? At 6PM I called them back, it was the fisherman from last night. Good ol’ Tim, well his boat had drug out to sea again!!! And he had been obliviously on shore again! Wow. They had already recovered it again though. Just wow.

We saw his boat there when we arrived that night, but in the morning it was gone, and we never saw the guy again. And then we left as well! Time to go! And we cruised down the Dominica coast.

It was a beautiful day, the mountains blocked most all the wind so we just motored down the coast. Had a scenic tour and watched the entire nature island pass us by. It got a little squally later, but no waves, and we tried to sail a while, with the squall wind, but had no success. The wind was just too light overall.

We went to the far southern end of the island, a placed called Scotts Head peninsula. We would try to anchor here? Although its possible that anchoring is not permitted here, we heard. We would grab a mooring.

The coastal scenery become incredible after we passed Roseau, and accompanied by many rainbows, we approached the southern end of Dominica. It was getting late in the day, and we moved in really closed to the mountainous coast to appreciate the scenery and find a mooring ball. We were going to a town called Soufriere, that I really wanted to check out. And we were purposely passing over the “Champagne Reef,” a place with underwater hot springs that make bubbles from the seafloor, so you can snorkel around all the bubbles! The reason we were passing over it… Is because of a tall tale Tim had told us…

Tim said, as he was passing over the Champagne Reef, a huge bubble came up from the sea floor! This bubble, allegedly, was 100 feet wide and 10 feet deep! So as it hit his boat from beneath, suddenly his boat and him dropped in a free fall through thin air! Then the displaced water collapsed inward, washing over his boat completely, covering the deck with seaweed, and filling the cockpit with seawater. He bounced right back to the surface though and suffered no damage. But, you see, Dad and I had already discussed this phenomenon IN DEPTH, with the possibility of bubbles coming up from underwater volcanoes. So to hear Tim claim that this actually happened to him, was a bit far fetched, but amazing if true.

In that case, we would purposely pass over the Champagne Reef to hunt for bubbles. No such luck though. Along shore there was a massive pillar of sandstone, rising over 100 feet high out of the ocean! It was awesome, and we did see some mooring balls, although upon closer inspection they were either buoys for fish traps, or possibly moorings for small power boats. Not for us…

We rounded the corner to see the town of Soufriere and it was incredible! Behind it was a rugged, volcanic valley, with a massive ridge rising into the clouds behind the town. And the town was build at the base of the dramatic valley, with the pillars of stone on the left and an ornate old church in front by the sea. It looked like there were mooring balls in front of the town, and we assumed there would be some on the opposite side of this bay, where a large, pyramid shaped rock called Scotts Head marks the exit to the open ocean.

Well there were no mooring balls for us. There was only one mooring ball, and it was certainly intended for a dive tour boat. We saw it and tried to take it… But I noticed the readings on our chart looked very strange for the area. It says there’s a spot or two right around here with a reef just inches below the surface! How can that be! My depth sounded says the water is 300 feet deep here, just a very short distance offshore of the town. Definitely impossible to drop an anchor here, that’s for sure.

As we closed in on the mooring ball, boat hook in hand, ready to grab it, the depth sounder climbed fast and erratically. 200 feet, 75 feet, 30 feet, 18 feet, 50 feet! Then I saw it right in front of us, and another to our left. Right around the mooring ball, there was a reef inches below the surface in the clear water! Dad was driving, and I pointed to the right, TURN AROUND! He did that. It was like that sandstone pillar onshore! There were pillars underwater, 300 feet high!! They rise from the depths right up to the surface. Wow, we’d have to come and dive here.

But for now the sun was setting and we didn’t know where to go. We got out the radio, and Dad tried asking the void where we could anchor or grab a mooring. A voice came back, some kind of park ranger from a nearby dive center. He told us that the whole area of Soufriere Bay was a national park and off-limits to anchoring or mooring, so we’d have to leave. He told us we could go 3 miles or so north, to place called Newtown.

I was mad about that for a couple minutes but then realized it was fine, and Newtown wasn’t too far. We had our evening coffee as we cruised back over the Champagne Reef, got there as twilight was just fading away, and grabbed a random mooring we found. Cool, it’s practically dark, so even if we aren’t supposed to be on this mooring for some reason, no one will bother us until tomorrow probably.

Not the case! Immediately a guy boated out to us and told us he was the security guard. We couldn’t stay here, but he’d take us to a mooring we could use. He did, and I was happy to be finally at rest. We paid the man $20 for use of the mooring, and he asked if we could give him a tip, so we gave him another $20 which made him really happy. We chatted with him for a long while. And I remember Newtown, I stayed in a hotel here in 2015. I remember the place being kind of like a ghetto but being very friendly. We’d explore it in the morning.

The night was completely still there, with fires onshore from the village built steeply into the coastal mountains, and the smell of burning plastic. In the morning the place was dark green accented with the colorful houses and flowers in the gardens and trees, hot and dripping wet with steamy sunshine. We went to shore at the dock, where we were told by the security guard not to lock the dinghy. “It makes you look stupid!” He told us. “Nobody steals dinghies here!” That was kind of cool, and sure enough other dinghies were parked there unlocked. He said he’d be keeping an eye anyway, and there were other fisherman all hanging out around the shambled Newtown waterfront. There were marijuana cannabis plants growing right on the side of the road! That was cool.

The town had a very kind and friendly vibe. We loved it, and then we hitchhiked in the back of a truck to check out Soufriere. It downpoured rain as we road in the truck bed, being pelted violently by the water drops and getting soaked. It was beautiful though. We got out in a small village and even gave the driver some money, and then caught another ride and paid that guy too. Why not!

We hiked through Soufriere, what an epic place! Absolutely gorgeous, and we went down to the church by the coast. There was a bubble bath on the beach! It was a hot springs full of bubbles! The ocean water was hot, and walled off into a pool on the side of the beach! There was a sign calling it the “Bubble Spa,” that was cool. And after setting ourselves up behind some cliffs and rocks, at the foot of that sandstone pillar from the day before, we went and dove the underwater pillars!

It was insane how they dropped off right from shore, straight down into oblivion. I did the deepest free dive of my life that day, up to probably 50 feet! I also tortured an octopus for a while trying to get a good picture of him, never seen an octopus before! It was very cool. Couldn’t get the picture I wanted though! After that we took a long walk around the beautiful volcanic valley behind the town, really appreciating the nature island, Wai’Tuku Buli. That’s the original native name of Dominica, and means “Tall is her body,” in the native Kalinago language.          

   

And we chatted with the fishermen for a long time when we got back, I talked to rasta guy, and he told me that Dominica is protected from development because of how extreme the nature and terrain is there. A hurricane hits, and mudslides wipe out the development. He says that inside the mountains it’s all diamonds, but they can’t get to them. Dominica is too beautiful, too rugged, and for people like us who live outdoors, in harsh but luxurious nature and the extreme elements, this place is home. Nature protects this place, and the nature island is sacred. Our security guard friend was sad to see us go, he told us to come back soon!

We talked for so long that the sun was truly setting as we got in the dinghy, and rowed back slow and leisurely with broken oars to Mary Jo. The rain came down through the deep gold rays of sun, the double rainbow encircled the land. We just sat there and drifted in the gentle, warm rain, watching it for a long time.

That night between heavy rain, lightning cracked and exploded though the sky, with thunder booming and rolling down the mountains.