YOLO in Dominica, Feb 2017
We were only going to spend a night here and move on, but the Carnival started the next afternoon, so we stuck around. Jim and Linda from
Chesapeake and Jason and Karen off of
YOLO sitting on some shady concrete stairs, our viewing station for the parade. It started at 1PM, no 2PM, no 3PM.... it was a long hot wait
Jason acting as skipper as we sailed along the coast.
The cruise ship dock at Roseau, Dominica has big plastic/rubber fenders on it. You can see the ships have crushed some of them. That takes a lot of pressure to mangle these fenders.
Cruise ship fenders take a beating on this dock.
YOLO at anchor in Roseau, Dominica.
A little yellow tourist train sitting in the street waiting for cusomers in Roseau.
An obelisk monument in Roseau that we saw as we walked the parade route, watching the groups get ready.
A statue to commemorate the slaves who struggled for freedom and to make this country what it is today.
Gleaming bronze cannons outside the Fort Young hotel on the top of a hill where the parade was to start.
Girls primping to get ready to participate in the Carnival Parade in Roseau.
Jim and Jason sitting on the steps with a partially-costumed carnival guy in the background.
Jason and Karen in Roseau, Dominica at the start of their Carnival.
Jim and Linda, Jason and Karen waiting for the parade to start. It was a hot day, so we found a shady spot to hang out.
The Carnival Parade has started. The costumes are self-made and some are quite colorful.
It was hot and these guys were only half dressed in their costumes.
Dominica's Government House. A Canadian told me it "puts the White House to shame". Quite an elaborate building for such a small country, it was really very impressive.
And just a few blocks away, you find these kinds of homes.
Locals get to make all kinds of music and noise in the parade.
That's Dave and Mary from
Wandering Rose, a couple we met in Tobago and have seen along the way and become friends. They're from Canada, eh?
Even older women got all gussied up for the parade. The procession stalled to a halt several times for quite a while. I think they needed to work out a few kinks in the route and timing.
Mocko Jumbies, the stilt walkers were my favorites. These guys were the first set to show up in the parade.
The girls were working to music from the truck ahead. Someone tripped over the wires and disconnected the speakers and it went quiet for a while as they jumped out of the cab and climbed ito the truck bed to reconnect the wires. And behold, there was music to dance to again.
Balloons and a fancy paint job on this parade vehicle.
Little girls learning to be flag wavers. The moms hovered nearby at all times, so it was impossible to get a photo that didn't include them.
More mocko jumbies, this group included girls, too. They got hot and bored just standing around when the parade ground to a halt once more.
Minions in homemade costumes--cute.
Steel pan music is a staple from here and this beauty had the royal wave down pat.
Some of the vehicles were full of speakers turned up to mega-decibel level and Jason had to plug his ears. One set of speakers even pulled along its own generator to power up the music.
The costumes of the participants were something else, but these were just viewers standing in the crowd.
Another group of the mocko jumbies. Look how high those stilts are! Young girls were dancing on them and made it look so easy.
This chicken mobile caught my eye as a sort of float in the parade.
This chicken man was handing out candy to the kids.
This group of kids were all pushing homemade toys. They represented fathers and sons working and playing together. They all had matching straw farmer's hats and they carried bottles of water and snacks in their little push-along machines.
The chicken mobile is eyeing me.
The back end of the chicken mobile, with its tail feathers fanned out.
A homemade costume with the parrot that is in the middle of the Dominican flag on its back.
This rum float was giving away mini samples. Lots of drinking was going on in the truck beds, but this was one of the few that shared the goodies with parade route attendees.
A live band on a rolling sound stage.
The tail end of the parade after nearly two hours. A colorful ending. We enjoyed the Carnival in Roseau, but Mardi Gras and Rio have nothing to fear.
A cruise ship at the Roseau dock with a rainbow above it the day we left for Portsmouth. This was the view from our anchor spot.
We got to Portsmouth, Dominica and joined Jim and Linda and many other yachties for the Sunday night barbeque put on by the P.A.Y.S. group (Portsmouth Association for Yacht Security), a group of locals who formed an organization to patrol the anchorage here to keep crime down. Chicken legs and fish plus a rice salad and green salad were a tasty meal. That's a lot of drumsticks.
Linda and Jim at the BBQ with us.
Jason and Karen at the BBQ.
Roger, from
Equanimity, and Jason telling boating stories. Roger was part of a convoy of three boats who hired armed guards from the Maldives and headed up the Red Sea to the Mediterranean and have now come back across the Atlantic. The British ex-commandos were armed with sub-machine guns and there were two per boat for the trip.We met Roger in the Indonesia Rally, so it was nice to see him again and listen to the tales of getting thru the feared pirate alley.
That cooler was full of wickedly strong rum punch that was delicious! We stayed until it was drained empty.
The fresh dorado (aka mahi mahi) steaks that were the fish on offer this night.
The tables and benches were stored after dinner and the dancing began in earnest.
YOLO sailing across the channel from Martinique to Dominica, taken by
Chesapeake nearby.
Jim and Linda headed to Guadeloupe the day after the barbecue but we stuck around for another few days and did some shopping and relaxed and got some time on the free wifi there. The number of yachts in the anchorage grew as the following week was Yachtie Appreciation Week here.
Most of the bay had mooring balls put out by the PAYS group, but we anchored in front of this rusting hulk. It had been driven ashore recently in a storm and dragged off and anchored here while the owner looked for help for funding its repairs. My guess is that it will never leave.
