Today as the sun rose, Sea Cloud docked at the Cabrits National Park Dock in Prince Rupert Bay in Portsmouth, Dominica, the Nature Island. Dominica deserves that appellation, as it is the most mountainous and least disturbed island in the Caribbean.
After breakfast, we disembarked and boarded taxis for the one-hour drive up Morne Diablotins for a naturalist-led walk through the rain forest on the Syndicate Nature Trail in the forest preserve. It was impossible not to marvel at the giant tress with their enormous buttresses and clinging lianas, and the silence, broken occasionally by the cry of a parrot.
We headed back down the mountain, and some of our taxis stopped in Portsmouth to allow us to have a short visit to the local markets, where we had fresh cut coconut milk and meat. Everyone we met welcomed us and wanted to be sure that we were having a grand time on their island.
After another sumptuous buffet lunch on Sea Cloud, we disembarked for a talk by our historian, Tom Heffernan, on the history of Dominica and of Fort Shirley in Cabrits National Park. We then walked up the trail to the fort where we examined several of the fort buildings, recently restored by a resident of Dominica. At one time, the fort housed 700 British naval personnel. We had a magnificent view of Sea Cloud, Prince Rupert Bay, Portsmouth, and the mountains and coast of Dominica stretching away to the south. Some of us then donned snorkeling gear for a view of the undersea life in the bay before returning to Sea Cloud for tea and then another grand dinner.
For me, today was a very special homecoming. During the summer of 1966, I spent 10 weeks here, collecting amphibians and reptiles for the Smithsonian Institution Biological Survey of Dominica and conducting research for my master’s thesis in comparative hematology. Back then, I visited Portsmouth and the ruins of Fort Shirley several times, and to see the Fort now, so beautifully restored, and to see that Dominica retains its fierce dedication to preserving its natural beauty is indeed a great pleasure.
