Chapter 5: Sperm Whales & Ft. Young Hotel & Town and Country
Named for Sir William Young, 1st Baronet
In 1632, the French claimed this island but in 1660 they, along with the English agreed that it should be left as neutral territory and not be settled. Again, since there was little in the way of natural resources to be had. But in 1727 a French commander, M. Le Grand finally set up a colony. In 1761, a British expedition forcibly took over the island. Seven years later, Sir William Young, 1st Baronet, Antiguan-born planter who was appointed as the first non-military governor of Dominica and established Fort Young to defend it. The Fort Young Hotel, my lodging here, was built upon that site.
A month ago, fifteen students from the Michigan College of Optometry at Ferris State University visited here bringing "35 duffel bags full of thousands of pairs of donated eyeglasses, readers and sunglasses, cartons of eye drops and equipment for conducting eye exams." As one who takes eyesight aided by glasses, then surgeries, then more of both who can now see wonderfully, I can only imagine the positive impact those students had on the local population.
Back in April, the High Court of Dominica ruled making this island nation the sixth in the Caribbean to decriminalize same sex relations, advancing civil rights for LGBTQ people. The others are Belize, Trinidad and Tobago, Antigua and Barbuda, St. Kitts and Nevis and Barbados. Much of the remaining conservative Christian Caribbean holds onto the criminalization of gay sex, including Jamaica, Grenada, Guyana, St. Lucia, along with St. Vincent and the Grenadines where prison sentences are still on the books. Penalties range from five to ten years to life in prison.
In March, the China's Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress Zhao Leji met with PrimeMinister of Dominica Roosevelt Skerrit in Beijing saying, "The NPC of China is willing to strengthen friendly exchanges with the parliament of Dominica, carry out experience exchanges on state governance, and provide legal guarantees for bilateral cooperation in various fields."
The embassy sure has a lot of telephones. The Chinese are building the airport here and working on a lot of other things as well. I watched this happen in Sri Lanka and several other third-world countries. The locals are always enthusiastic at first. But the bill always comes due eventually.
The United Nations reports that Dominica is planning to become the first small island developing State (SIDS) to stop using fossil fuels for energy generation. There is a powerful volcanic power source below the Roseau Valley. It is clean, renewable and might even provide enough power so that some could be sold to neighbor islands.
What is not clean is the town of Roseau. Trash is everywhere. The waterfront is radically underdeveloped and mis-developed. Cruise ship passengers who do not quickly board a bus to an interior nature spot will be highly disappointed. And, everywhere you look hurricane remains remain. On my first morning here I walked 2.5 miles before breakfast and there was not one "nice" thing to linger over--with the possible exception of the President's house.
There is a dearth of good restaurants. Service behaviors are not part of the culture and it would appear are not being well trained. However, even though there is poverty everywhere you look, there is, reportedly, very little crime. Patrick has some stories about all of this but I'll not quote him here.
As for me I have determined to make a change in my plans.
On my first day in the water, upon re-boarding our boat, I banged my left shin into the ladder when I mistimed a small wave or swell. It hurt. I figured it would hurt for a while and then, as these things do, abate. It hasn't abated. On my second day in the water, upon re-boarding our boat, I banged my left hip on the same ladder when I again mistimed a swell. It hurt. I figured it would hurt for a while, and then, as these things do, abate. It hasn't abated either. On both days in the water, we all sat on hard side-facing bench seats. The ocean can get rough at the northwest tip of the island so the ride isn't Mercedes Benz smooth and the seat is concrete block hard. That being said, my bottom was taking a bit of a beating at times. I folded up a towel to use as a cushion and that didn't help. I grabbed a life vest to use as a cushion and that didn't help either. As a result, my butt hurt. Remember, my body is 75 years old.
Last night, there was no prone position I could find that did not hurt. As a result, I slept very little. Getting up in the middle of the night, I limped to the bathroom and tried to picture myself heading out on the water again today. It was not a pretty picture.
So around 3:00am I got on the American Airlines app to see about possibly flying home early. They had a seat on today's flight. I made a snap decision to grab it.
Here's how I see it. I came to Dominica to see and swim with sperm whales. There were six swim days in my itinerary. Knowing that it is entirely possible that one could come all this way and see nothing on the first day or the first and second day or the first and second and third day, the agency books this as a multiple day trip. We had great luck. We swam with the whales on both day one and day two. I came, I saw, I conquered. I am only a bit sad to not share these final days with Tony and Mark and all the crew that worked so hard to make everything perfect for us.
The only thing they could not make perfect was providing perfectly flat seas with no swells. Could they have provided more comfortable seating for our six hour daily trips on the water? Sure. And the three of us will recommend that for future outings.
I will be with the group in spirit. We created a WhatsApp Group where they will post photographs from the days I am missing. I will post a few of those so you can miss those experiences with me.
I expect to be getting a B4 hug around bedtime.
