We didn't sleep much at anchor between the heat and the stress and then finally at 6:30a.m we were up. As soon as I grabbed my phone I noticed several missed calls and text messages from Sea Cat. He had arranged for a mechanic to look at the generator and the alternator and they would be there at 7:30a.m. Amazing! With no power I had no way to make my morning coffee so I got creative and put a pot of water on the grill and stood there waiting for it to boil to make my pour over. It seemed to take forever. Just as promised at 7:30am a panga full of men came to the boat. Sea Cat, a panga driver and the mechanic. And wouldn't you know it as soon as we tried to fire up the generator it started with no problem. Classic. We tried this several time and every time it started with no problem. Fortunately mechanics are used to this. He also took a peak at the alternator and told us there was corrosion but he didn't have time today to address it. We thanked him for his time and gave him a tip and kept the generator running most of the day in order to charge the batteries and cool down the boat a bit. We were exhausted from the all the drama and lack of sleep and spent the day resting on the hook.
View From Anchorage
View From Anchorage
Creative Coffee Making
Sunset- Roseau, Dominica
Since the generator was functioning for the moment we decided to take advantage of our location and enlisted Sea Cat's guide services. The next morning his panga met us at the boat and took us to shore where Sea Cat was waiting in his touring van. He was such a character with his long braids, smoking his weed and answering his phone to the ring tone of Bob Marley's Three Little Birds, "Every little thing is gonna be alright." First stop on the tour was the far south of the island- Scott's Head. Many months ago while reading the guide books I saw a picture of this stunning area and wanted to anchor here before learning it's prohibited in order to preserve the area and the sea floor. So I was more than excited to be visiting by car. The area lived up to the pictures. As we drove in things slowed way down and it became a single lane road. A small little fishing village with not a lot there. We couldn't drive for more than two minutes without locals shouting hello to Sea Cat. He was like the mayor. He drove us to the top of the hill and the lookout point to Scotts Head and it was stunning.
Scott's Head With Sea Cat
Scott's Head
Leaving Scott's Head
Government Building Along The Way
Buying Coconut Water From Local Guy
Beautiful Dominica
Our next stop on the tour was a place called Tito's Gorge. It's a natural slot canyon where you swim 5-15 minute through the green rock walls into a hidden waterfall. We had no idea how cool this was going to be. Upon arrival we were issued life jackets and told to plunge into this cool natural rock pool and start swimming into the rock wall. I became a bit nervous but just followed the other tourists doing the same thing. Once through the rock walls we were in this beautiful secret cave which allowed just a bit of natural sunlight to illuminate the water. As we swam through we were mesmerized by the beauty. After what felt like a short swim we made it to the waterfall. People took turns taking photos near it up the rocks.We just did our own thing and got close but didn't climb up. Such an amazing experience.
Entering the Pool
Getting Ready to Enter the Rock Cave
Inside
Sky View
Waterfall in Sight
By The Waterfall
Floating Out
After the falls we were starting to get hungry for lunch. I mentioned to Sea Cat that I was vegan and he said it wouldn't be a problem. He said he would call his friend Bob Marley and we could go to his place. Bob was a local who had a little restaurant and was trying to also make a b&b with his one room for rent. He was a very nice local rasta man who cooked us a delicious vegan lunch of callaloo stew while we soaked up the stunning views from his restaurant. It felt like being in an amazing treehouse. We had some local beer while we waited on lunch and then all three plates arrived with the same meal. It felt absolutely perfect.
View From Bob Marley's Place
Lunch With Sea Cat At Bob Marley's Place
Bob Marley's Restaurant
Bob Marley
Exterior Of Bob Marley's
The next and final stop of the day was Trafalger Falls. Twin falls located in the Morne Tois Piton National Park, a Unesco World Heritage site. A short paved path lead us down to the falls where a nice viewing area was set up for onlooking. You could walk sort of close to the falls but we chose not to. In addition to admiring the beauty of the falls we also watched rock climbers climb up to the top then take a rope back down to the bottom. Lots to look at here.
Walk Down to Falls
Trafalgar Falls
Rock Climber
From The Viewing Platform
Town of Roseau On Drive Back
Panga Ride Back to Boat
After a great day with Sea Cat back at the boat we decided it was time to head out and figure out what's going on with the boat. Unless we ran the generator the batteries weren't charging. The alternator was still out of commission. The next morning we made the trek from Roseau, Dominicia to La Marin, Martinique where we limped into the marina. Turns out they didn't have a converter for us to use in order to convert their Europen 50 hertz power to our 60 hertz American power. Luckily our marina boat neighbor had a spare for us to use which allowed us to keep the batteries charged but wouldn't work for anything else. We checked into a hotel. nearby and got nice and saucy to forget about the stress of the past few days.
The next morning bright and early we walked the 5 minutes to the boat and met with the mechanic who fixed the generator. Later another guy came to look at the alternator and tried to fix it but told us it might be shot. Back to the hotel we went and had dinner and went to bed.
March 25th 2026 back to the marina from the hotel and the mechanic who was working on the alternator the previous day came back and would go back and forth to his shop all day trying to fix the alternator. Again back to the hotel we went. This night we walked next door and had a nice dinner at a restaurant called Zanzibar.
Basically for the next 9 days and nights our life was on repeat. Wake-up, walk to the boat, meet mechanics spend the entire day there with them then walk back to the hotel hot and exhausted and go to dinner. Our hotel did have a nice pool (which was freezing cold but felt good after a long day of sweating it out on the boat) with a view of the harbor that we tried to utilize each day. The a.c. install which we ordered in December finally began on March 27th and by the 29th we needed a getaway. We rented a car and drove to Fort Du France (the capital city) which was gross and felt sketchy. We walked through Jardin De Balata and had a nice lunch there. The next day we had a good vegan lunch at Le Garden De Sante and drove to a beach via a dirt road that smelled and was full of squatters and naked old people.
Pool View From Hotel
Sunset From Our Room
Old A.C's Out
A.C. Guys Taking Old Units Away
Jardin De Balata
Jardin De Balata
Jeff Walked Through The Trees
Path Through the Garden
Fort Du France
Driving To The Beach
Path To The Beach
Beach
Finally finally on April 2nd, 2026 the a.c.guys finished the install and all of our boat work and projects were finished. The next day would be our final stay in La Marin and we decided to have a celebratory dinner at NAIA and would untie and throw lines in the morning ending our 12 day stay in La Marin. We were free with A.C!!
Dinner at NAIA
