Sunday March 30th ,  2014

Off Portsmouth, Dominica  ,   15 32.8N 61 30.4W

Today's Blog by David (Time zone: UTC – 4.0)

Dramatis Personae

John, Peter’s son, joined us in Martinique (yes, we were there!).  So we are now three.

In the absence of any mother for whom to prepare breakfast today, John  scrambled some eggs and bacon for his Dad’s breakfast. There were some left overs for me too!

Catch up

Since I last reported, we left Rodney Bay and sailed to Martinique.  It was as bouncy a crossing as i recall it last time (Blog: “Well, we made it” 20^th  Dec 2011).  It is a wonder the Chloe and Max (Grandchildren) want come sailing again!

Martinique is another French ‘departement’  (John did not go through customs or passport control on arrival from Paris – the stations were unmanned for this ‘domestic flight’).  We went to Le Marin which is the French yachting centre in this part of the Caribbean. There were perhaps 150 yachts at anchor and a further 300 or so in the marina  which seems to have every conceivable yachting support service and a very well stocked chandler.  Beautiful beaches (Club Med premium destination) and excellent restaurants. Perhaps not surprisingly, it was VERY French, much more so than Fort de France, the main town where the African influence is more evident.  

From there to St Pierre, on the North east end of the island.  It used to be the Paris of the Caribbean, with theatres,  an opera house and top rate retail opportunities. However, there is a volcano ashore which last erupted in 1908:  the pyroclastic downflow killed 30,000 people and sank every vessel in the harbour.  There was one survivor – a prisoner who was in a thick walled dungeon in the town.  Today, it seems to be a thriving town again – although we didn’t go ashore (because we had already completed departure formalities from Martinique).

A day sail to Rouseau, Dominica, where we arrived early enough to arrange a brief tour of nearby “sights” after we had checked in that afternoon,  some Scuba diving for the following day.

Diving Dominica

 Yesterday’s diving was among the best we have done. The  coral was beautiful:

And there were lots of new fish:

Two shots of  a  “Peacock Flounder” –  The back is covered in bright blue rings - like fairy lights -  when it moves which “go out” when it is at rest (centre of right hand picture, camouflaged to look like a stone)

These are “I forget what they are” fish, but there were a lot of them!

The obligatory Hawks Bill Turtle (who said turtles were endangered species – they are everywhere!) swimming alongside the only known predator of Lionfish – the right hand picture shows one skewered by our dive leader before it was fed to a Moray Eel

And now a first sighting:

The yellow thing in the middle is a Sea Horse (one that was distinctly camera shy!)

And another first:

A lesser spotted Flower Pot Fish

Restaurant Bills

For those of you who share one of my pet hates, I have news for you.  Where the Restaurant  Bill already includes tax and service, the practice of giving one a credit card slip with the opportunity to add a further tip has been one of my pet hates for many years. I have Humph! ed many a time as I have deliberately crossed through the empty box and entered invoice amount in the  total box.

Well, last night I discovered that I had been wrong. The Old Stone Grill n Rouseau provided excellent food with a disappointing wine list, but the Menu trumpeted: 

You heard it here first!

Erratum !!

Well dears,  would you believe it, my mailbag has been full recently!  Much of it routine, but many concerned with my misidentification of this pretty little chappie:

I described it as a Box Fish – I was wrong it is a Trunk Fish, or so  I have been told (and told again):

And this is a Cow Fish – (in Dominica, at least!) -   so called because of the small horns on the head)