Location: Portsmouth, Dominica
Today after four days in Roseau Harbor, we dropped our mooring and motored just 20 miles around the mountainous shores of Dominica to Portsmouth Harbor. We arrived around lunchtime and dropped our anchor before feasting on some sandwiches and leftovers. After lunch, we were picked up by Cobra Tours on Ocean Star for a river expedition. Dominica is known as the land of 365 rivers, one for every day of the year. The river we explored was the Indian River, named after the Carib Indians that used to inhabit the islands. Our tour guide, Jerome, took us through the windy river, pointing out crabs hiding along the banks, iguanas, and rare species of birds. We passed through the set of the ever so famous movie of Pirates of the Caribbean, where Jack Sparrow goes to Calypso’s shack. On the first boat, Steph, Devi, Peyton, Elle, Olivia, Lucy, and Duncan were up first for collecting salinity samples at various depths using a YSI device. As we hit our midway point, Jerome dropped us off at a local jungle bar that was serving ice-cold guava and Siteran juice. We got the chance to explore a bit of the area, taking in the beautiful flora and fauna. When the time came, both groups piled back into their boats to make their way back to the coastline. Along the way, my boat with Steve, Kelsay, Hunter, Matty, and Will got our turn with the YSI device for more salinity samples. We send this data back to the local park service, and they compare it with the data that Ocean Star has been taking over the last 15 years, yay science! When we got back to Ocean Star, we all took some much-needed showers and had a couple of hours to ourselves to do as we pleased. Napping and studying are usually what you would find us doing in the salon after long and fun days out in the sun. For dinner, Wiggy made us some delicious chicken, beans, potatoes, and green peas. Seamanship class followed shortly after dinner, and then we all slept happily ever after.