We went ashore in Dominica this morning and walked into the center of Portsmouth. What a mess. Not to say that they hadn’t done a good job of getting back on their feet  – but what a mess!

There are spaces full of debris where a house once was. The forest beside the town is broken and battered.

A house used to stand here…

The destructive power of 200mph winds…

Chaos…

The beach beside the PAYS pavilion

The waterfront in Portsmouth…

But the people are still Dominicans. Still very happy and friendly. Still very pleased that you’ve come to their island to visit.

In the afternoon, we got together with Jeff, President of PAYS who look after all the moorings and provide security for the Yotties… He immediately set us to work and we dug a trench for a new kitchen wall and counter in the PAYS pavilion – where he’s planning that they will hold their first BBQ of the season on Christmas Eve – just 3 weeks from now. Bill on Alembic was in his element and quickly came up with specifications for the trench and set the whole thing up. Tomorrow we go back to PAYS at 08:30 to lay the footing for the new kitchen.

We’ve also got plans to assist them in refurbishing the pavilion itself which is missing some of it’s roof, we’re to build a new storage area (so he doesn’t have to store stuff in the Ladies room(!) ) and we’re going to start laying mooring balls tomorrow afternoon. There’s lots to do, and we’re planning on getting on and doing it! So far we have 4 OCC boats in Dominica for the express purpose of helping out – Toodle-oo!, Cranstackie, Alembic and Northern Star. We’re hoping others will be joining us in the coming days as there’s lots to be done! (If anyone is coming up from Martinique or down from Antigua, we need some Mooring Chain – 3/4″ stuff…

The items the various boats have brought to Dominica will be collected together tomorrow and Thursday and then distributed on Friday. Looking forward to that whole process.

We’ll have more details and photos tomorrow…