Volcanic Hiking in Dominica

On Assignment in Williamstown Ma
Returning to Grenada In: 32 days

One of my ongoing projects while ashore, has been to organize all my photo's and video's. I shot a fair amount of footage, downloaded it into my MacBook and pushed on. I've now started to get a better handle on how to assemble and present material. Certainly one of the benefits of retirement is the time to dig into the software and play around with it. While compiling video it became obvious my Fuji Finepix digital cam takes great pics at 8.3 megapix, but the video quality leaves much to be desired. Not to mention my camera skill is not so good.

I always endeavor to improve. With this in mind, I bought a Flip Ultra HD Camcorder. You can see my test video below. The Flip is really cool and shoots great video and is smaller than my Fuji dig cam. So I am jazzed about gathering up some good video for my fast approaching winter sailing season.




You may also have noticed I bought the domain, www.christianallaire.com. So no matter what I do in the future, which blog/website format I use, you can always surf on over to christianallaire.com and find out what is what. My own domain will eventually help with google searches. Even today, you can easily track me down with a google search.

So, please surf on over to My Youtube Channel and check out the videos, and don't forget to tell your friends!

Capt Chris

The Boiling Lake Hike in Dominica

The hike is not for the unfit. Sources say the hike is from 9 to 12 miles total which is not out of hand. What is difficult is the terrain. It would be considered the black diamond of hiking. Up one side of a muddy mountain and down the other, slinging mud, roots and hazards abound. Team Prudence described the hike as "the death march."



But here is the thing and this is a truism not just exclusive to the boiling lake hike. Most places that shock the soul with beauty are not easy to get to and pretty much is unreachable to most of the worlds population. The summit of Everest is just out of reach for me but I have experienced the ocean alone, not an easy thing to accomplish but that is what makes the experience and the memory so juicy. Dominica has been like that, very juicy.

Anyway, I left with Colin and Lindsey from SV Buxom and was picked up by "Dr. Love" who is the "Rasta Mon" coach driver and we raced at a significant clip, reggae blasting (a little early in opinion) toward the southern end of the island. We picked up two more folks, Laurel from the UK, but is Dominican and then a Dominican girl named Aunucia. The thing about cruising throughtout the islands is that things are really never clear. So for Americans used to itineraries and clarity, these types of days can be rattling. I am one that likes a plan, but am getting better with the ambiguity that ensues. It tooks us about two hours to arrive at the trail head. The ride in and of itself is full of adventure as you travel through the rural sections of the island and the Capital of Roseau. Dominica is a very poor country and the housing is shocking. I will pretty much let the pictures tell the story. You can click here to go directly to My Google Album and the Dominican photo folder. The hike was really intense. In the Desolation Valley, which is the inside of an ancient volcano, the earth has opened up with bubbling and boiling water. The smell of sulfer permeates everything. As the Rain falls in the mountains the water flows downward and becomes superheated and flows to the boiling lake which is fresh water being heated by fissures in the earths crust. Multiple streams flow and because of the sulpher the water turns an aqua blue. It almost looks fake. We bathed in hotsprings with water around 90 degrees. It was awesome and really awesome day.

Two of the girls really struggled to make it back from the boiling lake. Shaky legs and aching legs. I finally made it back to Christa well after dark and sleeped like a rock.

I'm still on for a move south to St Lucia. I'll leave early tomorrow and should have a wonderful broad reach. Rodney Bay sits on the NW tip of the island and is about 90 miles from my current location. I may do it in one shot or I may anchor for a night in Martinique. So that wraps things up here in Dominica.

Capt Chris

PS: You can check my position and track history by clicking "My Position in Google Maps" located under my Photo's, Video's and links on the right hand side. Expand the map out and you can see the amount of real estate I have covered.

Having a Blast in Dominica

I've been busy with touring around and meeting some good folks and even running into some of the old crowd from last year. Tomorrow i'm off bright and early for an all day guided hike to the boiling lake. I'll have a full report of course.

Looking ahead, I have a tenative plan to depart this coming weekend for a 24 hour sail to St Lucia to meet up with Team Sandpiper. Wahoo!

Capt Chris

I'm Fundamentally A Homebody

Sounds very strange given the fact that I'm moving amongst the Caribbean islands. But given that home is where the boat is, the status of homebody is easily obtained. I know I know, all these wonderful islands and cultures to investigate and draw a more rounded view of the world from. But what can I say, I love puttering about Christa for days on end with only a small itch to get ashore. Habits are so easily formed and I suppose I don't have significant needs, but the needs I do have are pretty strong.

Take my nearly two weeks in St Maarten. I didn't budge outside of the area known as Simpson Bay. When I first arrived I had every intention of doing some exploring. But on the first night sitting in the cockpit I was watching an incredible stretch of car lights that snaked through the hills towards Phillipsburg. I thought back to the bus service on St John USVI and begun to worry that I could be stuck for a substantial amount of time on my way to.....well I don't know where. Part of the cruising experience? You Bet. But by then I had my aforementioned strong needs readily taken care of right in Simpson Bay. So I fell right inline with my well worn habits of a great breakfast joint, wifi, bookstore and of course the infamous beaches. So really my exploring as of late has been linked to my running regime. These sojorns normally lead to some type of adventure.

I ended up generally doing the same in Antigua. I didn't budge outside of Jolly Harbor. I hide behind the fact I was only their for 4 or 5 days. So now that I am in Dominica I'm now on day 3 and have been off the boat only twice, once to visit Customs and once to stretch my legs down the main drag. So I'm now self consious of this and am going to make more effort to interact and get out and about. What can I say. It is not like I'm sitting in a room watching TV. The anchorage and the surrounding beauty is like Reality TV. So much going on and so much to soak up. I'm now saturated and plan on getting some serious hiking in this week. More Later.


Capt Chris

PS: Please check out My Photo Album and Youtube Videos