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

The Indian River

Dominica is an extremely lush, mountainous tropical island. Today's picture was captured on the Indian River which flows from the mountainous interior and surges into Prince Rupert Bay where Christa is currently anchored. The Dominican people are very well organized and super super friendly. The local boat boys have organized into an association to cater to the cruising and charter boat crowd. They are all certified guides. They all have to take a six month course to become conversant as naturalists, they have standard tours so each group will essentially get the same experience for the same price as the next group. They appear to be very industrious in between blunts. They will get your water, they bring fresh fruit by daily and during these exchanges is when they let you know about a trip that may be forming. Each trip is a set price and it's wonderful that they go from boat to boat to maximize the number of tourists to keep the cost down.

But today, I wasn't so organized and I had to hire my own guide. His name is "Lawrence of Arabia." It is pretty funny because another boat boy's name is "Antonio Banderas." I get such a chuckle out of the whole thing and so do the guides. So today Lawrence rowed me way up the Indian River a bar set in the jungle. It is true jungle. In fact portions of Pirates of the Caribbean Dead Man's Chest were filmed on the river. The opening scene features Tia Dalma the Fortune Teller in a jungle house. Lawrence took me to the spot it was filmed. I should have the pictures and video uploaded soon. It was beautiful and really interesting and fun to do. Thanks Lawrence!

Capt Chris

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How Do I Steer Christa at Sea?

I have two methods for steering other than my deft hand. One is the Monitor Wind Vane and the other is a Tillerpilot. The Tillerpilot is used exclusively for motoring and only light wind sailing. My Monitor, named "Big Daddy" is an amazing invention and the evolution of the gizmo is a truly interesting story in its own right. You can read all about it on Scanmars website. I have heard stories over and over of how sailors become emotionally attached to their windvane's. I'm no different, I love my appendage. So with that I have prepared a video so you can see what is going on. Like I said, some of the plesure of self steering is it does take some skill and finesse to get the boat balanced and giggered properly so Big Daddy can function properly. For lazy sailors who don't necessarily want to trim sails properly or work for the correct sail combination will be forced to work the boat. This describes me up until recently. But now that I'm starting to "get it" my sailing experience is much enhanced. I have always been one to get a new gizmo, rip open the box, swiftly toss the instruction manual aside and get to it. This is always always a mistake. After initial frustration with BD, I revisted the comprehensive manual provided and sure enough every short coming I experienced has been swiftly delt with in the instruction manual. Note to self: Read the instructions.

Capt Chris
Anchored in Dominica

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

Video of My Recent Sail To Dominica

You can view all my videos by heading on over to my Youtube channel. Link provided on the right hand side of the page or click http://www.youtube.com/user/clallaire

Capt Chris

On the Anchor in Dominica

Capt Chris
Total Distance Last 24 hours: 105.3NM
15 34.8N 061 27.7W, Prince Rupert Bay Dominica

I set the hook around 7 am today. Here is a shot from Christa's anchorage. More to follow....must sleep......

Broad Reaching in the Trade Winds

Capt Chris
03/11/2009, 15 miles NW of Guadeloupe Leeward Islands

Wow what a difference a direction change can make. In fact it makes all the difference. I weighed anchor at first light today from Jolly Harbor Antigua with light northeasterlies. I shut down the engine after clearing the last set of buoys and have been sailing ever since. The winds were about 10 knots for the first few hours. Christa was having trouble keeping air in the sails with all the rolling around in the swell. I solved that by flying the cruising spinnaker. Man what a difference that sail made. It can be a handful for just one person and can really over power the boat if the wind gusts up. Once I set the green monster were were trucking along at 5.5 to 6 knots with the wind vane keeping Christa tracking. The wind gradually built throughout the morning and I had to strike the spinnaker and reset the Jib. The wind has been a steady 15 to 20 knots out of the NE with some surprisingly large swells.

It is so beautiful. The boat is sailing on its strongest point of sail, off the wind on a broad reach. Westsails are very seakindly, meaning she rolls a bit but it is obvious that the hull design is meant specifically for these types of trade wind conditions. The Monitor Wind Vane takes practice and is part art and part science. Since I have done little downwind sailing my knowledge of setting the vane gear correctly on this point of sail is limited. So I have been playing with the sail balance, sail trim and actual setting of the vane gear. A combination of tweaks to the gear, sail trim and course result in finding the sweet spot. Once you find the sweet spot, the self steering does its job incredibly well. It is possible to stare at the thing for hours on end. Most people have a name for their vane gear. Mine is Big Daddy. So other than the poetry of the boat in motion I have the deep blue sea to stare at and the peaks of Guadeloupe appearing over the horizon.

The plan is to continue on sailing past Guadeloupe and make landfall in Prince Rupert Sound on the NW coast of Dominica. Right now I'm struggling to keep about five off of Guadeloupe as the island is so big that is casts a huge wind shadow. So If I'm in to close I lose all my wind. But at current pace I should be off Dominica around 2 or 3 am. I will be sailing under a full moon which is beautiful in its own right, but provides some nice illumination for a night time landing in The Dom.

Capt Chris

Important Update Regarding Sailblogs

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Capt Chris, 80's, NE 15-18 Knots
03/10/2009, Jolly Harbor Antigua

I have been working on a new blog to eventually replace sailblogs. Christa's New Website can be found by clicking on the hyperlink. Also Christa's New Website can be found by looking under my sidelinks. I am a fan of Google and use many Google products. iGoogle, Gmail, Google's electronic health record, Google reader, Google maps, Google earth and Google photo album called Picasso. So Blogger is also a google product and simply superior. I can do much more with Blogger than sailblogs and Blogger is free and is intergrated to maximize all of Google other products. This is the same reason I am a MAC user. Apple also arranges things, such as iTunes and other Apple products to work together. I like that. The thing that really has compelled me to change is Sailblogs chokes all the time. As a cruiser wifi is an unknown in each port. Many times you have to pay for a signal or deal with weak signals. Sometimes I'll sit and watch a sailblogs trying load a picture only to have it time out. It happens over and over again. Doesn't seem to happen with Blogger. But expense aside, the ability to click on pictures within the Blogger site and have it expand is wonderful. I would enjoy some feedback from you all regarding Christa's New Website. So I intend to maintain both sites simultaneously and then at some point leave the forwarding link within the last sailblogs post. I will be working on moving all the archived blog entries to the new site. A big undertaking, but a great way to retrace my recent history.

I have been surprised at how important the blog has become. Chock it up to one of those unforseeables prior to leaving on a cruise. I really enjoy maintaining the blog and passing along my adventures. I think their is some kind of deep phycological need or desire to document one's life. So having more tools to document my life and sailing trip is great. Speaking of things of a phycological nature.

I have been thrilled since arriving in Antigua to know that basically all of my easting is now done. I need to do only a slight amount of easting from here. Nothing hard on the wind, maybe close reaching. The difference between the two is night and day. Thus far, since I left in September of 2007 I have traveled about 3500 nautical miles. Just about all of it to windward. Clearly the most difficult thing I have ever done in my life. Making progress to windward has been a mental anvil weighing on me for 16 months and now I can relax about it a bit.

For example, I plan on leaving for Dominica tomorrow. Of course I check the weather but I don't need to study the details and calculate departure and arrival times on a micro scale. In fact, I very well may be broad reaching for the foreseeable future and enjoying the classic trading wind sailing in deep blue water.

So with that I'll check out. Please check out Christa's New Website and leave comments on the new blog. It is a work in progress and some things may still be a little Jimmied up. I'll correct mistakes as I go along.


Capt Chris

A Video From Jolly Harbor Anchorage

Capt Chris, 80's, NE 15-18 Knots
03/09/2009, Jolly Harbor Antigua

I took this nice panorama yesterday of Christa's current spot.

Enjoy!

Capt Chris