Portsmouth,

Dominica
15.34.872N
61.27.829W

Dale & Gerry made their way into the customs dock this morning about 8, while Nicky and I stayed on our respective boats and blogged it. They came back a bit later and said that the immigration official wasn’t in and they had to return to the offices after lunch when he came back.

Until then, Gerry & Nicky went in to check out the laundry facilities and the possibility of an internet connection. As luck would have it, right about the time that they returned with news of a WiFi connection, my computer picked up the signal. Apparently, the electricity was down in town earlier in the morning and when it came back on, so did the internet possibilities.

In the meantime, Dale tried to track down a leak in our water system. When the pump is on, it cycles about once every minute. We’ve also noticed that our bilge pump cycles more often. The only problem, the water system is fresh but the bilge water seems to be salt. He’s working on the problem.

I continued to blog it. For some crazy reason, I take an inordinate amount of time to create these posts. Then I have to edit, then re-edit when the spell check uses the wrong word, and choose pictures and then wait forever and a day to upload them. Once I found out that I could upload pictures from this connection, I went back to my last posts and added the photos that I had wanted to originally. That is, after I read and answered all of our e-mail. Can I help it if it takes me all day?

At 4 pm, Andrew, one of Jeffrey’s guides, came by to pick us up from our boat. The waves coming into the harbor made it pretty confusing to say the least. I dang near went in the drink just getting into his boat. Then we went over to Orpailleur where I threatened to take their picture if they fell in, knowing full well that Nicky’s camera was poised on me during my less than graceful crossing. Once we were all aboard, off we went to the opposite side of the harbor where we were deposited for the guys to go buy our tickets at the gas station across the street for the Indian River Tour. Nicky and I checked out the local crafts. When they returned, we all crawled back into the boat and made our way up the river.

Talk about a trip back in time. I think I mentioned last year that a curve in this river was used in the 2nd Pirates of the Caribbean movie. Where the witch’s cabin was. In any event. It’s a pretty cool ride. Andrew told us that although Dominica has boa constrictors, they usually don’t attack humans but prey on the local iguanas instead. There’s no doubt in my mind that a boa constrictor would find this area a nice hunting ground. As it was, Andrew pointed out the iguanas in the trees, the various birds and bird nests, the land crabs watching us glide by, as well as the various trees, bushes and flowers.

Dale and Gerry took turns remembering the Disney ride through the jungle and kept saying that around the next corner was where the elephants would squirt us or the hippo would appear from under the water.

One thing that was different from last year, was the end of the ride where a tall, thatched roof building once stood. Inside you could buy extraordinarily strong (rum) Dynamite Punch. Seems the owners either didn’t pay their taxes or didn’t pay their rent and their building was torn down. Looks like someone else is now trying to build on their property and has started with the thatched roof and a little stand selling, you guessed it, Dynamite Punch.