Dominica, Indian River

A little motorboat came out to greet us as we approached the anchorage, the guy at the helm introduced himself as Martin. We dropped anchor in Coconut Bay, Portsmouth. Martin is a local tour guide and offered to take us on a trip up the Indian river. We arranged for him to pick us up at 7am in the morning. We need to be underway again before mid-day so we are on schedule to meet Justin, Ed's friend who's flying into St.Lucia the day after tomorrow.
Sunday 15th June
Martin arrived promptly at 7am and transported us to shore where he left us to collect another group. We had hoped to have the tour exclusively to ourselves, however. He arrived back a few minutes later with another group of 7 people including 2 children. We all climbed into his wooden row boat (outboards are not allowed on this river) and set off up the famous Indian river.
Dominica has a population of 70,000 people, and boasts 8 dormant volcano's that provided the island with very rich soil, just about anything will grow here, and does. The list of fruit and vegetables is too long to list, just about everything you can think of, including just about every tropical fruit. Dominica exports its fruit and veg to most of the other islands, although Sugar, limes and many different varieties of bananas are the main crops.
Unlike other islands Dominica has no casinos,or multi chain resorts, at least not yet. The island is so unspoilt that it's said if Christopher Columbus were to return to the islands today Dominica is the only one he would recognize.
The attraction for visitors here would be the waterfalls, rain forest pools, and the 365 rivers. There are great hiking trails through the rain forest, also the diving is reputed to be spectacular. I wish we could spend more time here, to explore, I must plan for us to come back.
The Indian river we were on was named after the Carib Indians. As we made our way slowly up the river, Martin pointed out hundreds of red land crabs, that could almost be mistaken for fallen flowers on the banks of the river with their bright red backs and white claws. Hundreds of gray mullet swarmed in schools around our boat
we also spotted the occasional barracuda. The flowers from the wild hibiscus that had fallen into the river from the overhead branches floated like Lillie's on the surface. There were so many hummingbirds, Martin pointed out a nest which wasn't much bigger than a golf ball, he told us the chicks are so small when they hatch they look like large fly's. Hummingbirds are very high energy birds,needing a constant supply of nectar to keep their energy levels flowing. They cruise at 25 mph, and dive at 85mph. They are also very territorial and can often be spotted in battle defending their territory. Martin pointed out the 'Heliconia Caribea' a magnificent flowering plant that collects water that the hummingbirds use as drinking troughs. He pulled the boat over to the riverbank, and got out to demonstrate his skills at skinning coconuts, then gave one to each man on the boat for 'Fathers day'.
The river was picture perfect in its natural beauty, with shafts of sunlight breaking through the overhead canopy and reflecting off the water. The only sounds came from the insects and the gentle splash Martins oars as he rowed us further up the river. We passed an area used for filming scenes from Pirates of the Caribbean 2 The site had been completely restored to its natural setting following the completion of filming. We pulled in at one of the forest gardens and we all went ashore so Martin could show us around and talk about the plants and wildlife.
After our river trip we went to customs to clear in and out again, within the hour we were underway sails raised, and on our way to Martinique.

Iles Des Saintes to Dominica,

Our sail across to Dominica was really exciting as we spotted a humpback whale; the whale was basking in the sun blowing water from its blowhole, which is how Edi first spotted it. We watched for a few minutes before deciding to try and get closer, we brought the sails in as the wind had dropped to only 5 knots, and turned in the direction of the whale. The enormous flippers seemed to wave at us as it rolled and splashed among the waves, before diving, waving goodbye to us with its enormous tail. What a spectacular sight. A few moments later we spotted two waterspouts about 1000 yds behind us. Bob slowed the engine and we watched for a while as they appeared to be coming in our direction, we waited expectantly, hoping to get another up close and personal encounter with these magnificent creatures, but it wasn't to be, after a few minutes the whales turned and swam back out to sea. Bob cranked up the engines and headed for the shore. Some 3000 whales visit the warm waters of the Caribbean during the winter months to breed and calve. The Humpback is the most frequently sighted whale in these waters, and is often happy to put on a performance for passing boats, as did the one we spotted. The males can grow up to 57 feet in length, and the females up to 62 feet. They will often approach boats with little evidence of shyness towards humans. They do not pose a threat and there is no need to fear them should they approach, if you turn your engine off you may even be able to their eerie songs through the hull.
In 1988 Dominica was the first of the Eastern Caribbean islands to offer whale-watching tours. besides the Humpback, there are also Sperm whales, Pilot whales, False Killer whales, Pigmy sperm whales, Spotted, Spinner, Bottlenose, Risso's and Frazer Dolphins that regularly frequent these waters.
As we approached the coast of Dominica we all stood silently on deck, taking in the incredible beauty of the island. This was definitely the prettiest island so far, mountainous, lush and so green, the rain forests looked incredible, I couldn't wait to go and explore.