Personal accounts of community-based tourism

Ode Editors | April 2009 issue

Boat hopping through the Caribbean

By Holly Gee, from www.3mphroundtheworld.com

An alternative to cruise ships.

Photo: Holly Gee

Most people go to the Caribbean for the holiday of a lifetime in an all-inclusive resort, or they tour around the turquoise waters on a cruise ship hosting 3,000 other sightseers. If a break is what you're after, then I´m sure both these trips provide you with exactly that. However, we opted to travel down the Caribbean a little differently, without flying, and in doing so discovered its people and charms in a way that I’m sure most visitors miss.

On the 21st January, after 30 days at sea, crossing the Atlantic on a rickety old sail boat, we arrived in St Maarten. This sun-drenched island, no bigger than Greater London, is shared by Holland and France and sits at the Northern tip of the Eastern Caribbean island chain. Within a month we had made our way down the chain to Venezuela using only local boats and buses. At the outset we were a little nervous about this challenge. The Caribbean is famed for rich resorts and there is little, if any, backpacker infrastructure. Surprisingly, there are also very few ferry services between the islands. In the end, this just made the whole experience even more rewarding.

From the moment we looked into getting South from St Martin it became apparent that talking to everyone and anyone we met would be a key ingredient in boat hopping down the islands. Tourists fly or cruise their way around the Caribbean and so any passenger boats tend to be reserved for locals. Our first tip off was during a rum-fuelled conversation at a local bar. Whilst we were getting sympathetic back rubs from the owner Rose, we explained the situation. At first she didn't know why we would want to leave her beautiful island, but after explaining the challenge we had undertaken and getting the cook involved, we find out that there is a cargo boat leaving for Dominica every Saturday and it might take passengers. So with slightly sore heads the next morning, the trail to find the boat begins...

Next step was to ask at Bobby's Marina, the point of departure for inter-island ferries. We are told there are only ferries to the next island, St Barts, and not beyond. The ferry was then pointed out to us. It was slowly gathering dust 20 yards away with a flea-bitten dog asleep underneath it. It wouldn't be leaving anytime soon. So next step was a bus to Marigot on the other side of the island. A walk to the tourist office and an embarassingly sweaty conversation ensued, and it was more of the same. Only to St. Barts, not beyond. This was then echoed by ferry operators, restauranteurs, hoteliers and everyone else we met until we spoke to a guy who signs people out on the St. Barts ferry. 'Maybe you get a ferry from de commercial port along de way'. Cue another long sweaty walk to the commercial port forty minutes out of town. We get there, chat to the guy under the tree playing the harmonica who tells us to follow a very fat man on a forklift down to the quay. There we meet Mano, captain of the M.V. Emmanrick. HE TAKES PEOPLE TO DOMINICA ON SATURDAY! If he hadn't been a slightly shifty-looking guy flanked by 6 scarred-looking sailors on a very rusty boat I would have kissed him. How much? $115. Well under the $200 quoted by harmonica man. Great.

The next day at 3pm we arrive at the dock with a little anxiety, not quite sure what to expect. After three hours watching the comings and goings of the commercial port and some rather entertaining drunken debates between sailors, we are on the banana boat and underway. 24 hours on the M.V. Emmanrick was an extraordinary experience: unexpected in the main, but also friendly, beautiful and hard. Nestled amongst about 10 other passengers, 6 or so crew and lots of boxes of everything from nappies to bananas, we were two 'crazy white folk' that had clearly got a little lost on their trip around the Caribbean. Nonetheless we were welcomed warmly, receiving a bed to sleep in and even getting 20 or so strong dolphin fly-bys in the morning.

Since we had spent the last night with so many locals we had great tip offs about local guesthouses, what street vendors to eat from and what to do when we got to Dominica. This happened the whole way down the chain, so we merrily hopped from local boat to bus to guesthouse to exploring beaches and jungles at our own pace rather than being limited by a guided tour.

Yes the Caribbean has beaches, sun, rum, rainforest and all that, but what makes it really unique is the bizarre mix of people that hang out here. Something we would never have appreciated had we plonked ourselves in a big resort.

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