Day 170- Portsmouth, Dominica

Dominica, not to be confused with the Dominican Republic which is approximately 500 miles north of here, is an independent country with British roots.  We had a great sail here from Les Saints with two new Finn friends as crew.  Dominica is noticeably poorer than other islands we have been to and surprisingly expensive.  Upon arrival we were visited by numerous "boat boys", all with catchy nicknames like Cobra, Lawrence of Arabia, and James Bond, selling pretty much any goods or services that we might be interested in.  They come to the boat on anything that floats and we've bought grapefruit, mangoes, papaya, a whole stalk of bananas from them.  The island is known for all the fruit that grows here and the fact that the Pirates of the Caribbean was filmed here. We toured the interior rainforest, saw banana, coconut, pineapple, cocoa, and coffee plantations, went swimming under one of the many waterfalls and visited the Carib territory.  The Carib are the original inhabitants of Dominica, the indigenous people of the Caribbean, their ancestors arrived from South America before Columbus landed here in 1493.  Their features are surprisingly Asian.

Downtown Portsmouth

Indian River

Downtown Portsmouth

More messing around on the beach

Local kids messing around

Hope they don't all ripen at once

Cobra showing us a banana plantation, the blue bags protect the bananas from pests

Laundry day at the river

Carib casava bread bakery