Story and Photos by Hank Schmitt
There are two types of sailors in the Caribbean. There are those who come down and charter for a week or two and sail from beach bar to beach bar, taking a short break from life. And then there are cruisers who come to the Caribbean for the season and have several months to live the dream life. Cruisers tend to spend a week or more in as many islands as possible, based on how expensive they are and how much there is to see and do. The island that best meets these criteria is the less traveled island of Dominica.
Why Dominica? After all, there are no docks to pull up to so you can wash your boat, get fuel or provision with a dock cart. When I first visited years ago there were still rusting hulks littering the main shoreline of Portsmouth. How could an ex-British island sandwiched between the two culinary delightful French islands of Martinique and Guadeloupe hope to compete as a Caribbean standout destination?
Dominica got independence from Great Britain in 1978 only to be decimated by Hurricane Frederick in 1979. With no white sandy beaches and a small airport on the wrong side of the island, for many years, Dominica was passed over as a desirable vacation spot. Some European guidebooks still list it as a dangerous place to visit.
Nothing can be further from the truth. Dominica is a very safe and welcoming place to visit. Only recently, cruising sailors have begun to discover what the Discover Dominica tourism authority has been extolling for years. And others are taking notice. Travel & Leisure magazine has named Dominica the top island in the Caribbean for two years in a row, in 2022 and 2023. National Geographic Traveler included it in its “Cool List 2024.” Rough Guides listed it as a Best Destination 2024. And Time magazine went even further in 2023, naming Dominica one of the world’s greatest places.
To start with, entering the country is very easy. If it is your first visit to Portsmouth, ask one of the “boat boys” to bring you to the custom house. You can clear in and out at the same time if you are visiting for a week or less. It costs very little, $35 EC, which is about $15 US, and while you’re there, you can get a sense of how much sailing in Dominica is like sailing in the Caribbean in the early days: They still use carbon paper to make copies. When was the last time you saw carbon paper? If you want your passport stamped, you must go to the police station in town.
Dominica, the premiere eco-tourism island in the Caribbean, is 70 percent undeveloped. Everything grows there except apples. The island has the second largest boiling lake in the world, with the largest being in New Zealand. It has the only Indian reservation in the Caribbean, the Kalinago, formerly known as Island Caribs or simply Caribs. It boasts 365 rivers. The Indian River tour highlights the only Caribbean island river that you can travel up for 1.6 km. Years ago, the island was organized into fourteen walking trails called the Waitukubuli National Hiking Trails. They have not all been fully cleared since Maria, but some segments have reopened including number 2, which was cleared with help from volunteers from my organization, Offshore Passage Opportunities (OPO) Crew Network. The number 2 segment is not far from the Portsmouth anchorage.
New this year is a similarly numbered 14-segment 60-mile kayaking Waitukubuli Sea Trail, the first in the Caribbean. The sea trail, a collaboration between privately owned Soufrière Outdoor Center and the Ministry of Tourism and Discover Dominica, starts in the south at Scott’s Head. While some people take up to a week to kayak this multi segment sea trail, cruisers have more time and can pick nicer weather to see some of this more rugged southern and eastern shore.
Antigua has a donkey reserve for older animals with a tagline “Save your ass.” In contrast, Dominica this year created the first sperm whale reserve to the west of Dominica, with its own preservation tagline, “Saving the sperm whales,” and a mission to control ship traffic and interaction between man and whale. Recently featured in a segment on 60 Minutes, sperm whales visit Dominica in the winter to eat deep sea squid and calf their young. The Ministry of Tourism must balance access to the whales and protection of their habitat to perpetuate the mission of sustainability.
Catering to the cruise ship trade, Dominica is building a 4.1-mile cable car to hoist visiting cruise ship passengers up the Roseau valley to the Boiling Lake in about 20 minutes. This is far easier than the difficult five to six-hour round trip hike. To further embrace their image as an eco-tourism island, geothermal wells have already been drilled to harness the heat from the earth. This will create electricity not only for Dominica, but eventually for Guadeloupe and Martinique as well.
In Dominica you want to get off the boat early in the morning before it gets too hot and get an early start on any of the many eco-tourism excursions. With Morne Diablotins topping out at 4,747 feet, there are many options in higher and cooler elevations to hike or swim in numerous waterfalls throughout the island. However, experienced cruisers will not leave their boats unattended if they think there is poor holding ground or suspect moorings. They also will not leave their boats if they think someone will come “borrow” something.
The boat boys in Dominica have organized themselves into PAYS, which stands for the Portsmouth Association of Yacht Services. This local group of fourteen original members, with help from the government, have a secure anchorage in the northern corner of Portsmouth’s Prince Rupert Bay. They have about forty moorings set in 15 to 40 feet of water in front of the PAYS pavilion and dinghy dock. They also have a shower and shoreside facility. Proceeds from barbecues held every Sunday and often additional Wednesdays in season go toward hiring a security boat which keeps watch at night. PAYS members are around to handle security during the day.
My connection with PAYS goes back to a chance meeting in 2012 with member Albert Lawrence. When I saw Albert was taking risks fishing well offshore on his small boat during the off-season, I offered to send materials to build a new and bigger boat. This led to a successful fundraiser from OPO, and a decades-long friendship with Albert. Other fund raisers for PAYS followed: An offer to raise money for a mooring field started in 2015, and a relief effort came after Hurricane Maria in 2017.
This winter, PAYS will receive thirty new moorings shipped from the Gilman Corporation in Gilman, CT. This will expand the PAYS moorings brand to other anchorages on the protected west coast between Toucari in the north and Mero, south of Portsmouth. Ten moorings will also be placed in front of the old Ross University in the southern, quieter corner of Prince Rupert Bay. These moorings are available to sailors for $12 a day. With a secure mooring field and additional materials donated by the Moran Tugboat Company Norfolk Station and mooring buoys donated by members of OPO, visiting skippers and crew can feel more comfortable leaving their boat for the day to explore Dominica.
Without PAYS, none of this could have happened. Past president Jeff “Seabird” Frank was instrumental in getting the first mooring field in place. Three years ago, Andrew “Cobra” O’Brien took over as president. Along with treasurer Eddison Lavelle, they continue to work toward making Dominica a safe and affordable place to visit. More recently, Minister of Tourism Denis Charles-Pemberton and Permanent Secretary Miss Lisa Valmond have taken a keen interest in helping expand the PAYS brand with a MAYS (Mero Association of Yacht Services) to copy the success in Portsmouth. Cruisers can see more of the island without having to go by car. Plans are to add a dinghy dock in Mero Beach next season and perhaps expand the PAYS brand to Newtown in the south.
By adding moorings in other anchorages in Dominica, the goal is to have cruising sailors spend more time exploring. Many sailors want to give back after having a successful working career. They want to enjoy life, but also not ignore those who may need assistance. Dominica is a great place to spend some time and volunteer for some of the community-based needs. The PAYS office can put you in touch with local humanitarian project leaders.
Houston-based Macario Advantage, a humanitarian group, can also provide direction for those who want to help. Co-founders Clair and Magoe manage the Eastern Caribbean islands to enhance the effectiveness of local organizations that serve the youth, elderly, abandoned, dispossessed, and homeless. Their belief is that we can all work together to alleviate some of the suffering associated with poverty and help give people hope that they will see a brighter day. Read more about them at macarioadvantage.org.
To get the word out about the moorings field, PAYS started a week-long event called Yachtie Appreciation Week several years ago. Last year, with government support, it morphed into the PAYS Dominica Yachting Festival. The secomd annual event will take place March 23-31, 2024. Moorings will be free for the week for those who sign up and take part in a full schedule of events planned for the nine-day event. There will be discount tours offered, several PAYS barbecues and a closing free dinner at the Cabrits Fort. On Thursday there will be a race to the beach community of Mero for a party that night. Sailors will race back Friday morning to be in Toucari for a mash-up street party that night.
To contact PAYS, visit paysdominica.com.
