We needed a day to run errands and do the small stuff that always winds up taking an entire day while boating.

produce market

My first mission was to find eggs. Apparently the chickens operate on a hit or miss basis and I had been looking since Guadeloupe with no success. I went to the market first thing and of course found eggs. Sold without packaging – which meant I had to go an entire day with a plastic bag full of a dozen eggs in my back pack. Would you believe they made it back to the boat in one piece?

Trip’s mission was to print documentation and mail it to the States to update our mooring registration so we’d have somewhere to leave the boat when we get back. An hour of trekking through town and we found both a print shop and post office. Whew.

fresh eggs

Then out to Coco Mango where we had had a fabulous dinner with everyone just nights before. I had promised Peaches, the chef, some sourdough starter. The starter was looking a little bit worse for wear given all the jostling in my backpack all day, I reassured her that if she fed it, it would be fine. We stayed a while to chat and then headed back to town.

Shandy braiding my hair

That night PAYS hosted another BBQ, this time with an unusual theme. Lionfish have invaded the Caribbean and Dominica is no exception. All week the dive shop had been running excursions spearfishing for the invasive species, and Friday night was the grill off. I was bummed that we had missed the dives, but it was my first chance to taste lionfish. A bland white fish – fine with whatever sauce you add to it. We had a bit of a problem with pin bones, but another cruiser assured us it was simply due to sloppy butchering (they did have a lot of them to prepare for all of us) and that the bones are not normally a problem. Nothing that a bit of rum punch wouldn’t take care of.

Martin and beach side callalou soup

Saturday morning was the market tour. Martin, from boat Providence, took us through the market, teaching us about the local produce as we shopped. We then headed back to the pavilion for a cooking lesson. The PAYS team got us all involved and we proceeded to make fish cakes (locally known as accras) and callaloo soup, made with potatoes, local spinach, and coconut milk. After the class I headed back to the market, now knowing exactly what ingredients I needed for the soup. One of the things I learned about were seasoning peppers. At first glance, I thought they were a version of a habanero. Turns out they’re nothing more than a more flavorful version of a green pepper, in a tiny little form.

Kalinago elder

Saturday night the tourism authority from Dominica hosted a dinner for all the cruisers at Fort Shirley in Cabrits. This was an old fort built by the Brits in the 1700’s which has been beautifully restored and was a fabulous setting for a party. Dinner was the usual tasty assortment of fish, pork, chicken, rice and vegetables. Afterwards the DJ got going. The Dominicans like their music lively and loud. The first few numbers were local tunes (I wish I had Shazam on to capture the names). Then it turned into Michael Jackson night with a local who really had all the moves. I was excited to see Shandy, Martin’s wife (one of the PAYS guys), who had not only done laundry for me but also put in half a dozen tiny braids to my hair.

Dominica boy

Sunday was a full day out in the Kalinago territory. The Kalinago is the name taken by the local native population. Though small in number, they live on the windward side of the island in a small community and still observe many custom traditions. The day was tough. We had the chance to meet the local population, distribute donations (the area where they live had been particularly hard hit by the hurricane), and see a local performance. We did all that, but it felt more than a little forced. I did not go on any of the donation visits because I felt there were simply too many people (intimidating to say the least to have 6 white people show up on your doorstep with some donated goods). The performance as well felt forced, though I was still happy to have seen something of their local traditions. We were lucky enough to visit one of the shops where they sell their goods (straw baskets that the women weave) and I was happy to see everyone carting away some beautiful handiwork, adding a few more dollars to local hands.

Kalinago falls