Canadian Yachting October 2017 - 56

2: Dominica - Dominica is a volcanic
island so there are many hot springs.
After hiking all day, Sheryl relaxes in
mineral enriched hot springs at Tia's
Hot Springs.

Photo by Paul Shard

3: Dominica - P.A.Y.S. Events House,
BBQ on the beach. Every Sunday during
the season members hold a fundraising
BBQ here for visiting sailors and locals.
Photo by Paul Shard

anchorage, on the northwest coast of this
ruggedly beautiful and luxuriously green
island.
Dominica is officially called the
Commonwealth of Dominica and is a
sovereign island country. It is part of the
Windward Islands of the Caribbean and
lies between the French islands of
Guadeloupe and Martinique. It's a large
tall island with an area of 750 square kilometres (290 square miles) and the highest point is Morne Diablotins at 1,447
metres (4,747 feet) elevation. The population was 72,301 at the 2014 census.
Our first visit to Dominica was in
1992, 25 years ago (!) on our way home
after a 3-year Atlantic Circle aboard our
first boat. At that time, there was a lot of
poverty and crime in Dominica and we
vowed never to come back. But today it
has totally changed! We can't recommend
it enough!
Now there are members of P.A.Y.S.
(Portsmouth Association of Yacht
Services) based in Portsmouth who are a
group of trained certified guides and local
businesses who patrol the anchorage at
Prince Rupert Bay by boat 24/7 during
the winter sailing season (November to
the end of May). As well as providing
security, they help "yachties" with numerous services from picking up garbage to
organizing scuba diving outings, plus offer
guided island tours by van as well as tours
by boat, especially the wonderful Indian
River trip where scenes from Pirates of
the Caribbean II were filmed. We had
Martin from the boat Providence take us
on this river trip and also drive us out to
great hiking trails and waterfalls while we
were there.
P.A.Y.S members monitor VHF 16 and
when you arrive the P.A.Y.S. member on

Canadian Yachting

duty will come out and help you anchor
or tie to one of the moorings they maintain and answer any questions you might
have. They don't pester. They also have
their own areas of expertise. Some are
good fishing guides for example, others
know good music venues, some specialize
in bird watching, some are great hikers,
etc. You can call ahead (their contact info
is in the cruising guides) and your guide
of choice will meet you with his boat and
run you to customs for clearing in if you'd
like, or take your crew to a local restaurant and pick everyone up afterwards if
you'd rather use a water taxi service than
launch your dinghy when you're making a

late arrival. We did this with Albert who
also took 3 bags of laundry for cleaning
and brought it back nicely dried and folded the next day for about $8 US per load.
On Sunday nights P.A.Y.S. members
hold a fundraising BBQ at the P.A.Y.S.
Events House which is a great way to
meet other sailors as well as local
Dominicans. The tickets are $20 US per
person and there is a ton of great food,
music, and all you can drink rum punch
or fruit punch!
Be sure to make Dominica a stop if
you are sailing or chartering in the
Windward Islands of the Caribbean and
time it for Sunday night if you can!

OCTOBER 2017

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Canadian Yachting October 2017