Dominica Hurricane Relief 2017

Second truckload

Oct 7 2017

Remember when I told you about feeling helpless in terms of the hurricanes but I also mentioned that the cruisers quickly mobilized?  Here in Trinidad, that effort was headed up by Jesse James and a few key cruisers. 

Third truckload

Jesse coordinated with several churches who were gathering donations.  The cruising community combed through our bilges to see what we had – used line and sails, torches and headlamps, food and dry goods.  Sarah (sv Cape) sat each morning by the storage area to receive the goods.  Willie (sv Liahona) collected cash donations.  Jackson (mv Shadowfax) and I walked around to the various businesses here in Chaguaramas asking to put up fliers about donations and asking if they had any.  Finally, Jesse, Willie and Jackson went shopping with the cash collected and purchased as many goods as they could.  This was not an easy chore according to Jackson, taking the better part of a day – picking items out, calculating the case price, then applying the wholesale discount and adding it to the current sum to be sure they used every dollar donated.  A small team of cruisers helped unload and store the items. 

Human chain moving the supplies

Solo sailor Patrick sv Foxfire volunteered to take all the gathered items to Dominica.  His destination is actually Panama but he volunteered to take this detour to help out Dominica.  “One hell of a detour” as our cruising friend Bev (sv Aseka) put it! 

Stacking it dockside for loading

The appointed sailing day arrived and thus the gathered donations had to be loaded.  Roughly 20+ cruisers along with the yard manager of Powerboats and a few workers showed up to help move all the gathered goods.  A human chain was formed to transfer the items from the storage unit (upstairs and down) to the Powerboats pickup truck.  Then this was backed down to the dock where sv Foxfire was tied up.  Another human chain formed to then transfer the goods from truck to dock and then onto the boat.  Captain Patrick and a few key people were aboard to help organized the final storage.  Even at 42 ft, some wondered where it would all go.  The goods kept coming.  A second and then a third truckload of relief supplies. 

Bruce checking things out topside

It appeared as we loaded the supplies, that most had really worked hard to keep the donated items to “items needed” – we had canned goods, bottled water, dried goods (rice, sugar, powered milk, paper towels and toilet paper) torches (flashlights), coloring pads and crayons, diapers, feminine hygiene items and such.  I only saw one small bag of previously owned shoes and NO clothes.  Clothing is the worse thing to send.

Bryn and Jesse passing items down to Captain Patrick for storage

We all watched sv Foxfire's waterline as we loaded, expecting it to drop below the water with all the weight, but it didn’t.  She’s a proper, sturdy bluewater sailboat.  Just over an hour after we started, everyone was sweaty and hot but the supplies were all loaded.  Now all Patrick needed was fuel and he would be off.  “Fair winds captain and thank you.”

The loading crew - pic by Willie Haskins

Final note -We received word yesterday 10-9-2017 that Patrick arrived safe and sound into Prince Rupert Bay -Portsmouth.  He was able to connected with the contact person who in turn rallied is people (a church group I think) to help unload sv Foxfire.  They are grateful and will immediately distribute to those in need.  

Sarah (sv Cape) doing her best Bethany pose in her memory

Dominica -The Boiling Lake

Warning - This blog posting is picture heavy.   Hey, this hike was a big deal.  Plus the beauty we saw, so... heavy on the pics can't be helped.  As always, deal with it.

Sea Cat

Sea Cat is a well established tour guide here in Dominica.  He is known to the yachties that pass through mainly because he has numerous moorings in the deep water anchorage in Roseau.  Our group was 11 total so Sea Cat recruited another local guide to assist.  Kenny is younger.  He could keep up with the faster hikers in our group despite the fact that he hikes barefoot.  YES - Kenny did the entire hike in his barefeet.  He told Diane that he couldn't afford all the shoes he would wear out otherwise so he just hikes barefoot.  We saw another guide hiking barefoot.  Totally makes me feel like a wimpy hiker for a few sore muscles.  

Diane and Ric early on - Kenny right behind them

In Dominica, tour guides go through rigorous training;  history, flora/fauna, geography, cultural, tribal/bush lore, etc...  This makes any hike on Dominica with a guide a learning lesson.  After years and years of being a guide, Sea Cat is extremely good at what he does.  He not only knows his stuff but can quickly get a sense of his current group - yachties that sit on boats + young adventure hiking Europeans means a challenging group.  But he handles it well.  Stops to teach us about a few of the 75 different ferns are also much needed breaks for those of us whose only climbing is 3 stairs into the cockpit for sundowners.

Tom enjoying the stream water after a fresh mango snack

Our first major rest stop (excluding the little educational stops) was at Breakfast river.  He and Kenny dug out 2 dozen or so fresh mangoes from their packs and submerged them in the cold, running water.  As we snacked on mangoes, he encouraged us to fill our water bottles from the river by taking the lead with several palmfuls of water for himself.  Cool river water - refreshing.  

Breath taking - looking back towards the NW

Sea Cat and Kenny explained the various terrains we were passing through;  scrub woodland, littoral woodland, tropical rainforest, montane (their spelling) and elfin forest and finally fumarole.

Diane climbing up, up, up

The trail was well maintained given the terrain.  Make no mistake, this is a tough hike.  Up and down steep hills with a fair amount of scrambling up and down rocks for added fun.  As I mentioned before, we had terrific weather with light cloud cover to keep us cool.  Rain is often a factor on this hike.  It would make the trail that much tougher so I am glad we didn't have to deal with that. 

At the top

Our second rest stop was at the top of Morne Nicholls - 3000ft above sea level!  Whew!  Strong winds quickly cooled our sweaty bodies.  Sea Cat distributed little glasses of delicious guava juice - aka natural sugar to give us a boost.   

Looking back up at our path down

The next section was our descent down into the Valley of Desolation.  Kenny headed off in advance of the rest of us, quickly disappearing.  This was another scramble down steep rocks, many times on our butts.  Soon we could see the steam rising from the hot sulfur boiling in the Valley of Desolation. 

Valley of Desolation

As we descended, the colors turned from green to rich orange and rust eventually to muddy grey and white sulfuric.  The Valley of Desolation looks like it sounds.

Boiling hot

We found Kenny sitting on a rock with a bag of fresh eggs tied to a sturdy stick and dipped into one of the many boiling potholes of sulfur water.  He had hiked ahead to make us hard boiled eggs.  How kewl is that!  I decided the Valley of Desolation should hence forth be called the Valley of Hard Boiled Eggs. 

Hot enough to boil eggs - note Kenny's barefeet

The eggs turned slightly black on the outside but were perfect inside.  Yes, they had salt for the eggs!  I am telling you, these guys are pros. 

Hard boiled egg - slightly black on outside, yummy on inside

Tom and Diane mud masks applied by Sea Cat, now ready to hike on

Sea Cat scooped up special Valley of Desolation...oops....Valley of Hard Boiled Eggs mud and applied it to all of our faces - the ultimate spa treatment mud mask.  Then he lead us carefully through boiling potholes and steam of the valley floor and up towards the Boiling Lake.

More down, then more up, then down, then up

There were a couple of streams that ran with black water.  I think it's from bacteria caused by the warm water but I am not 100% sure.  

Boiling Lake - we made it

Up and up and up, eventually we reached the Boiling Lake.  Ta-Da! 

Truly a boiling lake

It was very kewl!  Steam clouds rising off of it and the middle really does boil. 

Ridge behind Tom is where we climbed down from

Taking it all in

There is a flat area above the lake where we all sat down to rest and take it all in.  Soon a few other guides with hikers joined us.  None had groups as big as Sea Cat.  Of course all the guides know each other and some lighthearted smack talk started.  It was fun to listen in. 

Sea Cat putting the final touches on our lunch

YUM

Sea Cat immediately started putting the finishing touches on our lunch.  Fresh salad with tomatoes, onions, cucumbers and more that he made right there.  Fried plantains and marlin - homemade.  And rolls and juice.  It was delish.  We devoured every morsel.  Other hikers sat watching us with envy as they ate their sorry little PBJ sandwiches or whatever sad lunch they packed. 

The money shot

We all snapped pics and reveled in our accomplishment.  We made it! 

Packing up to hike back out - the ridge behind is where we are headed via Valley of Hard Boiled Eggs

But of course we still needed to hike back out.  Rut-row!  By now, some of us were feeling our hiking muscles.  Kenny lead the younger, faster ones while Sea Cat lead the rest of us.  *One young Swiss couple was really fast.  They passed me very early in the hike on the way up.  Okay, I get it, your young.....but did you really have to skip as you went past me on that incline!  And then at the Boiling Lake she pulls out a tobacco pack and proceeds to roll and smoke a ciggie.  Really!  Ugh - I'm old.  A Dutch cruising couple was pretty fast as well.  They are older but in great shape.  A fellow cruiser pointed out "I get the Swiss couple, mountains and all.  But Denmark is flat.  Give me a break."  The morning after the hike (early early), I spotted the Danish couple working out on the deck of their boat.  Overachievers! 

Fresh water pool to wash off our mud masks and trail dirt

Anyway, we slowly make our way back down to the Valley of Hard Boiled Eggs, crawled back out and up to Morne Nicholls and up and down and up and down and up and down towards the Titou Gorge and our starting point.  Sea Cat continued stopping to show us little things or tell us funny stories but we knew, he was really stopping so some of us could 1.) stop our legs from shaking 2.) quiet our screaming muscles for a minute 3.) keep our heart and lungs from exploding 4). wipe the 5 gallon of sweat away....you get it.

Finally we reached Titou gorge.  Tom and I changed out of our sweat soaked hiking clothes into our swimsuits and waded into the cold waters of the gorge.  AHHHHHH!  It felt so good.  We couldn't resist the unique opportunity to swim up the narrow canyon walls that make up the gorge to the first waterfall.  I didn't get any pics because I didn't have the waterproof camera.  It would be kewl swim up the gorge with one.  Maybe next time.

So there you have it.  Our Boiling Lake experience.  It was a great adventure.  Our warm up hikes were worth it.  Without those, I would have been in a world of hurt, literally.  As I mentioned before, even with those warm up hikes, I was sore for two days after the Boiling Lake.  Tom only one day.  We had planned for that so we just chilled.  I am really glad we took the time to make this hike.  Sea Cat and Kenny were excellent guides.  We look forward to coming back to Dominica and doing more hikes.  There are several of you readers that are hikers.  Have you started planning your trip to Dominica yet?  You really need to come here on holiday and experience this wonderful island.  

Dominica -Warm Up Hikes For What

The Boiling Lake really boils

Que the dramatic music.....dum-dum-dum....
The Boiling Lake.

Here is a description  -directly from the book Caribbean Hiking by M Timothy O'Keefe -
"This hike is awesome and deserves to be described in details.  As the Caribbean's best hike, it deserves such recognition...and respect.  The hike can be divided into three distinct phases.  The first hour is deceptively easy, starting with a moderate 25-minute ascent, followed by some ups and downs until you reach the Breakfast River at the end of about 60 minutes of steady walking."  "Phase II is a 45 minute walk up the side of Moren Nicholls, a steep and sometimes very slippery climb.  Phase III is the slow, 45-60 minute scramble descent into the Valley of Desolation (which itself take only 5 to 10 minutes to cross) then another 30-45 minutes to reach the Boiling Lake."

However, the hike actually started at Titou Gorge and the many steps up that run next the gorge leading to Phase I.

Base layer of rainforest. 

Steep trail

Another phase means different floral and fauna.  I forget the various names of the different stages of forest/terrain.  We passed through several types as we climbed.

In the clouds

Windy near the top, the view is often obscured by clouds.  We lucked out with light cloud cover that helped keep us cool but allowed spectacular views. 

At the top

3000 ft summit of Morne Nicholls

Hiking down into the Valley of Desolation from the ridge above

As we descended into the Valley of Desolation the colors turned from green to rust and eventually white and grey stained sulfur rocks with steam rising around us.

Valley of Desolation

Valley of Desolation is an active fumarole area.  Click the link if you want the definition.

Head up towards the Boiling Lake

More forest and green.

Boiling Lake

The Boiling Lake is believed to be a flooded fumarole.  The depth varies.  Temperatures around the edge have been measured between 180 -197 degrees.  The temperature in the middle of the lake where it actually boils is unknown as there is no way to measure it.  *Info taken from the below book.

Caribbean Hiking author M.Timothy O'Keefe's final words on this hike - "It was three days before my legs stopped hurting.  Everyone on the hike reported similar conditions."

Our warm up hikes served us well, especially me (Sabrina).  Even still, we were both tired and a bit sore.  I had two days of sore muscles.  Tom only had one day.  However, sore muscles were well worth it.  This hike is phenomenal.  But wait....there's more.  This hike was a big deal so I have another blog posting with additional details, personal thoughts and of course, pics.  Lucky readers!




 

Dominica Warm Up Hike #2 - Section 1 Waitukubuli National Trail

Closed?  We were told parts were closed.  Oops.

The Waitukubuli National Trail is a trail that stretches the entirety of the island of Dominica. It starts in the south at Scotts Head and runs to Cabrits National Park in the north.  It passes through villages, farm land, old plantation ruins and Morne Trois Pitons. National Park World Heritage Site.  Terrain includes everything Dominica has to offer;  rain forest, dramatic gorges, waterfalls, rivers, steep volcano hillsides and coastline.  All total, the trail is 115 miles, split into 14 sections.  Some easier than others.  Hiking the entire trail is no easy feat.  Many local guides have not even accomplished that.  The trail itself is fairly new, started in 2007 and completed in 2011.  Very impressive. 

Landslide area

Previously we have hiked section 14 along the NW coast of Dominica. 

Detour with ropes to assist in climbing

We also purchased a book from the Dominica Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry - Wildlife and Parks Division that details the entire Waitukubuli National Trial by section.  A great book for anyone interested in hiking on Dominica.

Steep incline - huff, puff

After reading the book again, we decided Section #1 would be a good trail to tackle.  Further investigation online hinted that part or parts of that section might be closed due to landslides from Hurricane Erika last year.  We needed local, first hand knowledge.  We checked with our boat guy Greg, tour guides Sea Cat and Nahgie.  They confirmed that indeed part of Section #1 was closed but detours had been set up.  Ok.

Top of massive landslide area

We caught a bus to Scotts Head at the SW tip of the island.  The bus driver pointed us in the direction of the trail.  Getting dropped seaside, we immediately begin climbing up through the village of Scotts Head.  Up, up, up.  At the top of Scotts Head we found the trailhead for Section #1. 

Green pasture plateau

We kept climbing up and up on a very steep incline, no downhill break as often found in hikes.  I was really huffing and puffing.  It was steep.  After a bit we found the closed area.  The detour was very rough.  We had to negotiate our way across the landslide area and up using ropes to climb over rocks. 

Happy cow on the plateau

Still more up and more.  Never any down.  Sheesh.  Finally we came to the top of landslide area and plateau.  It was lush and green, filled with a few happy cows, half a dozen mango trees and a lonely guy acting as cow shepherd, munching on mangoes.  It was almost surreal compared to the last hour of hiking.  

More up

Through the grassy pasture, we entered forest again with typical up and down hiking. 

Any guesses?  Each section is fuzzy with a seed, so soft.  Balsa

The vegetation was fascinating.  Dozens of fallen coconuts, undisturbed spouted into the next coconut grove.  Fuzzy seed pods filled the ground in one area.  The pods were as soft as angora wool - softer.  We learned later these were the seeds pods from balsa trees.  Mango trees were everywhere.  We had to be careful of falling fruit. 

Coconuts sprouting - coconut grove

In populated areas, the coconuts don't have a chance to sprout because someone is there to cut them down.  The same is true for the mango trees, someone is collecting the fruit.  However, up here it's much less populated.  We saw only a handful of locals, usually tending small farms as we hiked Section #1. 

Another landslide/washout area

Section #1 end at the Sulphur Springs (their spelling).  What a bonus.  Four and a half hours later we happily hopped in one of five warm pools to sooth our tired muscles.  While the water was yellow - brown, luckily it didn't smell of sulfur. 

Sulphur Springs (their spelling)

Refreshed we walked down the hills to the seaside village of Soufriere.  Tour guide Sea Cat had told us that near the church we could find the Bubble Beach.  Hot steam escapes along shore in the shallow water.  It mixes with the seawater and creates a warm, bubbly bath. 

Bubble Beach

Actually the bubbles were really tiny so it didn't really bubble to anything significant.   But the water was warm.  It was nice.  Our tired muscles were really getting a nice treatment, first with the Sulphur Springs and now the Bubble Beach - ahhhhhhh.

Bubble Beach

We wondered through town and found the bus stop along the sea wall.

Boat builder - yes, really

Tom waiting for the bus - new dinghy prototype

As we waited for the bus, we took in the local scene of people coming and going with the dramatic backdrop of ancient volcanic hills shrouded in clouds.  Beautiful.

View inland

The bus came and we made our way north again to Roseau, carefully traversing the one lane washed out areas of this main road.  Dominica is still recovering from Hurricane Erika last year.  The massive rains that accompanied that storm, caused many, many landslides.  Roads, bridges, houses, and small villages were wiped out.  Even now, evidence remains of the destruction.