Week 3; Dominica : Roseau & Portsmouth

9 hour hike to Boiling Lake

During our week long stay in Roseau, Dominica we hired an experienced guide. His name: Sea Cat.  And let me tell you, we are sure glad that we did !  Sea Cat reminded us of our dear friend Doug, back in Ottawa. For those of you reading this who know Doug, you will know what I mean when I say that every moment spent in his company was an experience we shall never forget. With boundless energy and general mayhem every where he goes, this  wildly entertaining and fearless man really enriched our experience on every outing he took us on. 

Meg and SeaCat…Ya Man !

Victoria Falls.

It was not enough to climb 2 hours over boulders and through streams to get to the foot of the Victoria Falls (impressive in their height of +/-180 feet), but once there, SeaCat coaxed the inner Tarzan in us all to go outside of our comfort zone while taking every precaution to be safe mind you,  to push ourselves just a little more, each time! This is how he convinced us to swim amidst the thundering water, wind and spray, to sit on a shelf next to the falls, and jump down into the falls with Captain Mark (after thoroughly checking the surrounding water first) this is how he got  Meg to swing from a vine and for all of us to try a variety of new food, fresh  from the trees all around us. SeaCat is very knowledgeable about the plant and animal life of Dominica and is proud to share as much as he can with everyone. 

The delicious meal they served us at the RASTA-rant

After our hike we had a chance to eat traditional ITAL food with Moses and his sons. What a treat for us to eat with these superb people and their delicious “one pot” made with the ingredients from their impressive garden. The way that I was introduced to Moses was  quite special; I was taking a walk in the garden before the hike and saw a great little house, I stopped to take a picture and after I had taken the shot, I noticed a man looking out the window,he had been there all along watching me but I had not noticed him there when I was taking the picture seconds before. He was smiling and said to me : “Did you see me ?”He came out, beaming, introduced himself and then started to show me all the vegetables he was growing, such a proud gardener and, just the way he spoke, he reminded me so much of my father. It was a real treat spending time with him, in the peace of his company and admiring his garden, the rastafarian version of my dad !

Moses' house

Moses watching me as I took pictures of his house and garden

A pineapple

 

Moses

Boiling Lake.

40 000 steps.

That’s is how many steps  each of us had to take to get ourselves up to the impressive Boiling Lake here in wondrous Dominica. As I write this, 5 days later, my calves are still stiff and sore, but it was worth every second !

Valley of Desolation on the way to Boiling Lake 

Meg and Mom get a volcanic facial

It was a beautiful but challenging (23 km!) hike which took us up to 3500 feet above sea level to see the strange phenomenon of this crater lake which boils all year long (about 98 degrees Celcius near shore, center temperature unknown). During the 9 hours of our hike we walked up and down,  (&up and down & up and down), through a pristine rain forest, and then through the “Valley of Desolation” where vegetation is sparse and where we experienced strong sulfur smells and boiling mud puddles. Sea Cat gave us a spa treatment (mud facial) and even surprised us with boiled eggs to snack on (naturally boiled in the hot steam oozing from the ground). We had lunch on the crater over looking the lake, it really is quite a phenomenon, which is nearly impossible to capture in a photograph, there is so much steam around it but we were able to capture some video footage which Mark put together for you. See our youtube channel to see it. 

Titou Gorge.

Trafalgar Falls

After the long hike, Sea Cat brought us through an impressive rock formation called Titou Gorge, at the beginning we were all being a bit skittish and hesitating as our feet touched the cold water, we were carefully and slowly wading in, trying to manoeuvre around the rocks, next thing we knew there was a big splash beside us as Sea Cat  jumped in and then lead us in to the cold water and guided us to swim into the gorge, towering rock walls on either side of us, through what almost seemed like a cave, towards an underground waterfall then of course, we were told we just had to climb up to the base of the waterfall as our tireless guide took us , one at a time and held our heads under the water for a few seconds to experience water thundering over our heads !  

Trafalgar Falls. Another great hike, but mercifully shorter for our aching legs a few days later, followed by a dip in some picturesque hot baths.

Indian River

We had a chance to take a row boat tour down this spectacular river with ancient trees and canopy overhanging above our heads this, like the Titou Gorge, was another place where scenes for the Pirates of the Caribbean Movies were shot. It has been fun watching the movies again with the kids and recognizing the places we have seen. 

Trees along Indian River

Indian River

Culinary Courage:

We have been encouraging the kids (and challenging ourselves) to try many new foods and here is the list of things we have eaten over the last 7 days: lionfish, guava, cashew fruit (and fresh nut, but not the outer shell which is poisonous), pomerac, young coconut,  sea weeb (yes weeb not weed).

Cashew Nut (Dark outer shell is poisonous)

Delicious Fresh Guava

Pomerac

"Sea Weeb"

Cashew fruit (red), the nut grows on the outside (dark brown)

Lion Fish- Yum !

Custard Apple

Some call Dominica the “Nature Island”, and it is true that it is very lush and beautiful with seemingly untouched nature all around but what struck me the most was the friendliness of everyone, and this was most apparent when we arrived at the north end anchorage of Portsmouth. What a beautiful and relaxed atmosphere, it was sunday afternoon, the sun was shining, we took the dinghy to the community dock, there were local kids swimming and playing on the beach, music was playing and we watched a man who must have been 55-60 years old (but who had the body of a 25 year old) dance and do what I would label as advanced yoga on the beach for almost 3 hours without stopping !  

The dancing/Yoga sensation on the beach

 The kids were so happy to play on the beach, Meg tried out her kite flying (as part of her “Flight" Science Unit for school) and Matthew just loved swimming and playing with kids all around him. What can I say, we LOVED Dominica and we feel indebted to its people for showing us such a warm welcome to their island. We would love to come back one day!

Same family as the Banana

Turtle Beach on the East side of Dominica

Week 2: Martinique: St Anne, St Pierre & Roseau, Dominica

April 8 2014 

AmelieIV underway from St Lucia to Martinique

  Has a been a week yet since the last post ? Wow time is just flying by !! On April Fools Day we had a most beautiful sail from St Lucia to Martinique, hard to beat ! Beautiful skies, great winds, yeehaaaaha, life is good ! Of course, the seasickness was a bit of a downer for me. Oh, did I forget to mention that I get seasick ?  Yup, I have been afflicted with this landlubber disease since my 30th birthday, it’s not nice, but it is manageable for sure. I find that after the 3rd day on the water I feel much better. I have also found a nice medicinal solution it’s called “Stugeron” if you are wondering. So back to what I was saying, the quick 4 hour sail across to Martinique was pure bliss, interrupted by occasional thoughts of : “ok, so IF I have to hurl, which direction should I face?” Captain Mark then cranked on some tunes and just like that *snaps fingers* the sea sickness vanished !  Really! Makes me wonder about “mind over matter.” The songs he had chosen, (for once!),  were perfect and fitting to the start of our sailing adventure, actually, it got me quite “verklempt”, as a few tears of joy started running down my windswept face, and then, just when I thought things could not get any better, those most magnificent creatures joined us, DOLPHINS ! Actually, five or six of them playing at our bow, going under our boat back and forth as if we were not even moving !  It never ceases to amaze me, the way that dolphins bring out the best in everyone, when they are around we are suddenly filled with joy  and child like amazement and wonder, truly magical, every time I see them. They stayed with us for 10 minutes or so, just enough to make us feel like they were bidding us good luck on our journey.

Girls having a giggle on the ladies deck

Matthew happy at his post in the cockpit

As Martinique is a French Island, we have enjoyed stocking up on sausage, cheese and ridiculously inexpensive wine! The kids have enjoyed swimming and getting used to life on board. Meghan has learned how to do her new list of chores : Cleaning the heads (Bathrooms), hanging up the laundry, learning to do a rigging check with the captain and being “Sous-Chef” for dinner times. She has also been impressing  us on her rapid recognition of the flag of all the nations we are visiting. That flag book was a good investment !

Check out the prices!

Matthew is doing well,he is a happy sailor and he is learning his morning routine to get ready for the day. As always, he is the first one in the water when we anchor. As soon as the hook is down he asks permission to : “Go swimming in the pool” (To Matthew the ocean is just a REALLY large swimming pool I guess !) and within seconds we hear the happy squeals and giggles amongst the splashing.

Other than the yummy food provisions, Martinique is also a great place for us to pick up boat parts as Amel (our boat) is French made and there is a distributer of parts here. It is a good thing, because Matthew had just discovered that the little black knobs of our back locker come off and they are fun to throw into the water !  (And they SINK too !) Hm, So we bought extras. Since our arrival in Martinique Mark has replaced the water maker membranes and put in a new fridge, all in just two days and all while at anchor!  Pretty good start to what is sure to be a long list of projects ! 

The curious case of the missing black knob.

Meanwhile MC has started the safety briefings with the crew. We did a fire safety demonstration talk one night and a PFD drill where the kids got to try out the self inflating PFDs by jumping in. Matthew was quite surprised when his jacket inflated at first, but he did very well with it. 

Botanical Garden, Martinique

Mount Pele, "the volcano", Martinique

PFD drills

Since we have been to Martinique a couple of times, we did not go exploring too much this time round, concentrating on getting ourselves organized and adapted to this new lifestyle. But if you are ever here you will want to see the beautiful white beaches on the South Side as well as the cool shallow swimming holes called “Fonds Blancs” on the Atlantic side. On the North End St Pierre is an interesting town, historically famous for the early 1902 eruption of Mount Pele which killed everyone of the 30 000 villagers all but one, the sole survivor, a prisoner who was locked in his stone jail cell and who was found by search parties almost a week after the event. The town still has many of the original buildings, in ruin to visit and a most interesting museum telling the story of Pele with many artifacts to see. The Botanical Gardens in the centre are also well worth visiting. 

For lovers of Rum, Martinique has a unique treat called; “Rhum Agricole”, which is made directly from fermented pressed sugar cane. I guess that this is the oldest method for making rum, as the other islands tend to make it from sugar cane molasses first.

Once we were done stocking up and fixing the boat it was time to go again. We pulled up the Anchor on April 5th. Stopping over night to anchor in St Pierre, in the shadow of Mount Pele, and we all watched that classic movie “Joe Vs The Volcano” which seemed fitting given the circumstances ! Love that movie!  

Love it when Tom Hanks yells : “TAKE ME TO...THE VOLCANO!” I just had to re-enact that scene a few times in honour of Pele, must have made the new neighbours wonder, those crazy canucks!

Local sailors, Martinique

St Anne Martinique, first night.

Surveying the coast of Martinique

We loved our dining room on AmelieIV

Onward towards Dominica !

The next morning we left for Dominica ! It was a fun journey, it took us about 5 hours...the waves were about 1-2 meters and the wind was behind us most of the way. We were following “Bella”, (a Halberg Rassy 46 with new friends we met in St Lucia on board). They were kind enough to take a few photos of Amelie underway, which was much appreciated ! 

Dominica is proving to be all that we were promised it would be, and more! We are on a mooring ball in Roseau right now and we plan to be here about one week. We had a nice stroll in town last night, after the cruise ship left, so it was very quiet and all the stores were closed, but we got to see how neat the building all are with beautiful balconies-reminiscent of New Orleans, even though I have never been there, Ha! -The people have been very friendly and welcoming with easy smiles and greetings as we walk by. 

Today (April 7th) was our first day back at school.We started at 8:30am and finished by noon. We have a plan worked out so that Mark takes Matthew at intervals while MC works with Meg and when Meg does her Independent work, MC works with Matthew. I think that it is going really well so far.

Making a sundial in Science

After school, we went for a snorkel in the marine park  just South of Roseau and it was pretty great!  The best part had to be the natural bubbles (Sulfurous gases) which come out from the ground underwater, it makes for a magical “natural aquarium” feel as you swim through, this area is  aptly named the “Champagne” snorkel, as you feel like you are swimming in a big glass of bubbly, without the headache the next morning.

 Our snorkel guide, Duane, found a fatally wounded parrot fish (it had been clearly speared and left to die by someone else earlier) He asked me to give him my finger and he stuck it deep into the gills of the Parrot fish, to feel the faint heartbeat !  Wow, what a feeling, I was speechless, (probably because I had a snorkel in my mouth).

Duane and his dinner

Meg's underwater selfie

Meg touching a sea cucumber

Bubbles !

You could tell that Duane was quite happy about his find, he had his dinner for tonight !!! He tied the fish to his swim trunks as he continued to tour us around showing us all sorts of neat critters. He brought us a sea cucumber to touch, even Matthew though it was neat. At the end of the snorkel Duane delighted us with a stop at the “bubble beach”,  where the same bubble phenomenon was found, but at the beach. Imagine this: you walk up to a small beach, where stones have been gathered to form a low barrier between you and the surf, you wade in and sit down in the shallow water, there are bubbles coming out of the sand all around you, as you sit and enjoy the heat, you occasionally get a jolt of extra hot water but cool down just as quickly as the surf comes over the barrier, we sat there warming up for about half an hour, enjoying some delicious home made coconut cake as we soaked!

Bubbly Beach (Dominica)

It is our second night moored here and we re just rocking and rolling as I write this, there is a bit of a swell and Amelie looks like a restless puppy at the end of a leash, as she sways back and forth, back and forth, we had to put up the lee cloths to stay in our bunks tonight, should make for some interesting dreams ! 

We look forward to exploring as many of Dominica’s treasures as possible.  We will have to pace ourselves as this island is just bursting with them. Dominica has the reputation of being the most naturally preserved of all the islands in the Caribbean. It has many hikes, waterfalls and other  wonders to discover. We look forward to sharing this with you in a week or so.

Cruising lesson learned this week: Shut off your fresh water valves while doing a crossing !  When we arrived in Dominica, we found that one of the taps had been left running (accident ? Something may have knocked it on) and we had been pouring our fresh water supply into the ocean for 5 hours !  (Water loss : 400 Liters, lesson learned ! It’s a good thing that our new water maker membranes work so well, we have since made up the amount !

Captain Mark

Have Autism…..Will Travel…...

You may be surprised to hear this, but there are actually MANY people out there doing what we are preparing to do. It is not unusual at all......yes....even right here in Calgary: not a city known for its abundance of sailors, we have met or heard of many families who have either done this or are preparing to do this.....

The people who know our family have so often asked me about what it has been like for us and how we came to this decision to sail with our kids, despite ‘everything’….
So today I have decided to tell you all about it.  You see, the way that we might be a little bit different from the average sailing family is that we happen to have a son who has autism. 

Now, I would not be doing anyone any favors if I just stop the description there. Because, as you may know, autism is a spectrum and it comes in all forms. So I would like to be clear, especially for any parent of children with autism out there who may be reading this and who, trust me, would need to know:  Matthew does not have a “Sprinkling of Autism” nor is he what some describe as “High Functioning”, nor does Matthew have Aspergers. No, our amazing Matthew who happens to be one of the most courageous young men I have ever met,  also happens to be “highly affected” with autism or if you prefer: he lives with a very “large dose of Autism” or  some others  would say he has “classical autism” , you know: “text book autism”. 

This means that everyday Matthew faces enormous challenges because of his sensory needs, his “unusual” self regulating behaviors, his social and communication differences.He has difficulty “decoding” language and social rules.  Matthew was diagnosed at a very young age (17 month) and today at the age of 14, Matthew still faces many of these original challenges. But that is not all that defines him;  Matthew  is a shining star in our family !  Not only has he been an excellent traveller from the time he was a baby, but he is also very affectionate and loving. He is hyper sensitive to other people’s moods and emotions. He loves music,  loves to laugh and to play pranks (like throwing all his pillows and toys out of his bedroom window) and like so many others, he loves water, in all of its forms : rain,ice,fog, shower, snow,baths,rivers and ....of course, the ocean!

So, what’s it like traveling with a child with autism? Well.....first of all: it’s intense! You need to be vigilant, you need to be quick (Matthew is a runner) and I would say that you need to have the courage to let go of certain things that don’t matter....Things like “Decorum”, “Proper Etiquette” in public places or “Anonymity in a crowd”. For us it also means that we have needed to actually let go of material things too....things that can be dropped, broken, bitten, thrown out of a window or over board ....haha....hehe…hm...

It may be hard for someone to hear or to believe (especially if you are a parent of a child just receiving the news about your child having autism).......but, most of the time, we feel grateful that autism has come into our lives.......it has changed our perspective of what is important, what is worth celebrating (everything !).... And we have learned to laugh ! You don't have a choice, if you want to survive. Sometimes we cringe, we scream and we cry , but then....invariably, at some point... we laugh......and everything looks a little bit brighter after that .

Before we had children, Mark and I used to talk about one day living on a boat and traveling. When Matthew was diagnosed with autism, Mark told me he felt that our dream, that dream at least, was over for us, that autism would be our new path in life. It wasn’t until many years later, after we had “adapted” to living with autism, that I asked Mark one day: "Why does that dream need to be over, exactly?" He could not come up with any good reason, (there were reasons, but none that we could not work around)….So we just looked at each other, realizing for the first time that we might be able to pursue our dream after all....

The reason why I felt compelled to write about this was that I thought:  If our story helped even one family living with autism, if it gave just one mom or one dad hope that life with autism is not a death sentence and that things would be okay.... If we could inspire just one family or one individual living with autism today to continue to work towards their own dreams….then…. I would be ecstatic!

Things that parents of children with special needs often ask me about:

How is he on long plane rides ?  We are lucky in that Matthew has been traveling with us since he was a baby. He likes to look out the window and likes take off and landing the most. When he was younger, there were times when he would get cranky and loud....during those times, I would go into “Fully Present” mode...where I would take it one second or one moment at a time and not worry about how long things were going to go on for. I would block everyone out and stop worrying about “what other people might think” and just focus on Matthew and his needs....The plane ride is also a place where I would pull out any and all new tricks out of my “hat”. (A bag of exciting new toys and treats that I keep just for the airplane ride.... just in case)

Does he like the boat ? Yes…. He does not mind (in fact he seems to seek out) small places, so he has always seemed to be right at home in a cabin. He LOVES the motion of the boat and, where as on land he needs to move all the time, when the boat is underway, he stays still, pondering, looking out into the waves.

What will you do about school ? Before we moved back to Canada (where Matthew goes to a specialized school for kids with autism and has a home program too), we used to run his home program and have learned some tricks of the trade. We have become the “experts” on how Matthew learns: what motivates him and what works. Just like for his sister who will be doing school while traveling, we will be pursuing Matthew’s goals onboard. His will mostly be self-help or daily living skills,  but also speech and communication skills . We will also work on play skills, sports, some fine and gross motor skills too.....and we also hope that being exposed to so many new things, new environments will as be beneficial to him as they will be to his sister.
Looking on the bright side: I can say that I for one,am NOT disappointed that Matthew is not following a typical curriculum...that means that I do not have to worry about teaching him Grade 10 Math or Language Arts !!!  

Are you not worried about traveling with someone with such high needs ?  Well you know, I have given this a lot of thought and the way I see it: life is hard for us no matter where we live. There are dangers for Matthew and obstacles no matter where we are. So why not take this life and its challenges "on the road" with us ?
To be honest, we would not want to do this trip without him.... he brings so much richness to this already rich experience.....he always keeps things interesting and fresh... never boring....and sometimes, when people we meet are confronted with his differences it opens a door and they come and speak to us, share their stories......it can be very heart warming !

What about his sensory needs ? When we are at anchor, Matthew gets plenty of time to run (on deck or on land), the swimming helps alot too. He gets his squishes with his blanket in his bunk everyday and we try to have plenty of chewable things for him on hand.

What about safety issues on the boat ? Matthew (and all of us on board for that matter) have self inflating PFDs with harnesses. When ever we are on our way, we wear them and are clipped in to the cockpit.Also; Matthew will never be alone on deck while underway, there will always be a person on watch. I should also point out that Matthew is an excellent swimmer and that we have a Man Over Board drill that we have adapted to our special circumstances, but out goal of course is always prevention. 

Are there any behavioral outbursts, any running episodes ? 
Any public embarrassments?  OH YES....This is where the “sense of humour” I was taking about really comes in handy...Where do I start ? Matthew goes through “phases”, some of which are easier than others. Last year, he was in a “Grabbing” phase, where out of no where he would seem to get scared and tightly grab hold (a tight bear hug) of any person beside him. We were waiting in line at a small grocery store in Martinique when he had one of these sudden “episodes”....he grabbed hold of the lady who was standing in front of us. She was a little bit scared at first but then she looked at me and by that time I had taken Matthew off of her, and I hardly had to explain anything, she was already telling me not to worry, and that she understood....Another thing Matthew is known for is sudden bursts of energy, where he runs away... yelling or singing loudly......I can tell you that this is one of those things that keep me fit and on my toes, ready for action, any place, anywhere.....I am getting pretty fast myself,(It’s part of my fitness program!) but as he gets older, and thanks to years of work with his therapists, Matthew is becoming more aware of street safety and listens well to our instructions to be careful and to stay close to us. 

So far, It has been my experience that no matter where we have been in the world, people tend to be very understanding and accepting of Matthew and his many quirks. 

Of course this means that we: his family,  have developed a thick skin and not much will embarrass us anymore....we tend to just try to anticipate his next move, but he never ceases to amaze us with new and interesting ways to explore his surroundings and to express himself. Always an adventure, like I said : never boring !

We find that a little bit of humour and some gentle explanations can go a long way. There was this one time in St Lucia, when we were walking with Matthew in a kids playground....a little girl and her father walked by us, and a few seconds later I see that Matthew is holding a huge clump of pink cotton candy…."where did he get that ?” I thought as I look back , I see the little girl holding what’s left of her cotton candy, looking quite sad.....we ran back and offered to buy her a new one, we asked Matthew to say “Sorry”, and she felt better, her father just laughed and said that he was happy to have her share !  These kinds of things happen almost on a daily basis, and we have learned to smile and laugh....also, I feel that this is always a good opportunity to increase awareness about autism with the people we meet. So far there has not been a situation that we haven’t been able to fix with a sincere apology, some explanation of the situation,a little bit of pocket money and a smile. 

Looking ahead : I have no idea how our family will do on this adventure. I have a feeling that we will experience many ups and downs; some hardships,some feelings of pure bliss, new adventures and memories for a lifetime...but one thing I can be certain of is that our blog will be filled with  “funny Matthew stories” just as much as it will be filled with all the rest. We will keep you posted…..