Wednesday, July 6, 2011

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

I have always thought that to truly appreciate and understand the multi-layers of Dominica, the landscape, the culture and the people, you have to get out of your vehicle. For me that normally means walking but the other day I saw Dominica from a totally different perspective. This time I saw the island from "Ma Honey", a motor cruiser run by Keith (Yardee) and Janet from Titiwi Inn.
The boat and crew can be hired for moonlight cruises, fishing, snorkelling or a little coastal siteseeing and that day Captain 'Yardee' took us on a fun trip from Citronnier to Scotts Head. This is a stretch that I drive down many times so I know it well from the road but it was eye-opening and interesting viewing from the sea and I loved this window into normally hidden Dominican life.
We glided by the fishermen in their colourful wooden boats, the young boys fishing on the traditional rafts called pwi-pwi's, our scuba diving operators, coastal hotels, bars and restaurants, lines of houses, the humble wooden traditional ti-kai's and the larger concrete newer additions, the Galion hillside decorated with red African tulip trees, the imposing Pointe Michel and Soufriere churches, watchful like village sentinels, the ongoing sea defence project at Pointe Michel, excited local kids being taken on a catamaran boat trip by Anchorage hotel, and visitors swimming at Scotts Head bay. All this was great to see but I also saw aspects of the island which were not so nice; rubbish and old appliances dumped off cliffs or left on the coast and the quarry, which I appreciate is an economic, "job providing" necessity but I still can't help but wince when I see this scar on our nature island landscape.
But these blots were by far the minority sights on what was a really scenic and relaxing trip and as we headed back home I wondered how much this stretch and the lives of those living and working on the coast, would change over the next few years.
Here are some photos of Dominica taken from the sea.
Boat trip from Citronnier to Scotts Head

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