The next stop on the cruise itinerary was on the island of Dominica (apparently pronounced DomiNEEca, not to be confused with the Dominican Republic (pronounced DoMINican Republic).
The ship docked on a Sunday morning and the Turtles took a stroll around Roseau, their capital “city”. The shops were closed as Sunday trading has not yet reached the Caribbean – the people are deeply religious and it sometimes feels like the towns we grew up in. All shops closed on a Saturday at 1pm and remained closed until Monday morning. Remember those days? A far cry from Singapore or Hong Kong where you can get your hair cut at 9pm on a Sunday evening. (Myrtle is writing in the same style as the Turtles’ stroll through Roseau – venturing here, turning there, not really going anywhere…)
They passed several churches at the end of the sermon and heard people, in their cute Caribbean accents talking: “Did you hear da Spirit talkin’ mon?” At their stop in the U.S. Virgin Islands they were in a taxi where a sermon was being played full blast on the radio – the pastor would say a few words and the organist would play a cord or two for dramatic effect. “And Gideon led the people…” Da-dammmmm…
During their short stroll through Roseau Tiny fell asleep and the Turtles headed back to the ship. Dominica is a beautiful island – reasonably undeveloped with a focus on adventure trips and nature. Unfortunately most of the activities were for people aged 6 and up so the Turtles didn’t partake in any of the adventures. Myrtle is acutely aware that, if they exposed Tiny to potential danger (like canyoning down a river or “foefie sliding” (flying fox) over tree tops), Myrtle’s mother would confiscate Tiny. And Tony and Myrtle have grown quite fond of Tiny. They’ve decided she (Tiny) can stay.
After the relaxed visit to Dominica the Turtles decided to plan better for their next stop: Antigua. So they rented a car as soon as they get there – but not before Myrtle made an utter fool of herself. After asking around about car rentals, the Turtles were directed to a woman with a Hertz briefcase. She confirmed that she was from Hertz and that we could rent a car. After walking around the corner, with the Turtles in tow, Myrtle realized that a dreadlocked man was watching their every move. He followed them around each corner and when the lady stopped and opened her briefcase to take out the rental contract, he stopped right there, took a seat on stairs opposite the road and continued watching us. This made Myrtle extremely nervous, especially since the Turtles were expected to produce a credit card. Myrtle mentioned the potential stalker to Tony, already envisioning the scoundrel following them around the island to a deserted spot to relieve them of their cash, cards and possibly, their lives. Eventually Myrtle couldn’t stand the suspense any longer. She turned to the Hertz lady and asked: “Do you know that the guy sitting over there has been following us?” The Hertz lady turned, looked and started to laugh. “Yes, she answered, he is da driver that will be getting da car for you…” Myrtle blushed, mumbled an apology and started talking to Tiny as if nothing paranoid was ever said.
After the formalities were finalized, they took off in their little 4WD and were grateful that they did not choose one for the small cars. The potholes were big enough to swallow cars whole or bend a smaller car’s chassis if you weren’t careful. The Turtles set off to English Harbour, about 20 kilometres from St John, Antigua’s capital city. English Harbour is the home to the only working Georgian dockyard (built in 1745) in the western hemisphere and is called Nelson’s Dockyard. The Turtles walked around staring at the “yachties” working on their vessels, hearing the hammering and working on boat hulls in the buildings and then sat down for a decent cup of coffee overlooking the harbor. There are still many Brits living in Antigua as Antigua only gained independence from Britain in 1981.
No comments:
Post a Comment