Hosting John and Claire’s honeymoon 2.0, as Claire called it, was one of the highlights of our 2026 sailing season! We were thrilled to be able, for the first time, to share the untamed beauty of Dominica with guests!  In previous blog posts, I’ve shared past adventures on this island named Waitukubuli (meaning “Tall Is Her Body”) by its indigenous people, so this blog will mainly feature photos of the newlyweds and oldyweds enjoying places, people, and things I’ve written about previously!

We arrived in Roseau, Dominica a couple of days before John and Claire flew in so that we could provision for their visit.

After communicating with Mr. Beanz via WhatsApp, he arranged for his partner, Gaga, to put us on one of his moorings the evening we arrived. The next day, Gaga came and picked us up in his boat, Harmony, named after his 6 year old daughter, to take us to the town dock where we could check into the country and then walk to the grocery store to do our shopping. The plan was for us to call Gaga when we were done shopping, and he would pick us up in his car and then ferry us back to Nancy Lu aboard Harmony.  The plan went off without a hitch (except for me forgetting my grocery list). We assumed that Gaga would take us to the dive operation’s boat dock that is close to where we’re moored to load our groceries aboard his boat, but we hadn’t entirely thought through the viability of this presumed plan for self employed yacht service guys who have no rights to another business’s dock and own no dock of their own. Instead, Gaga took us to his mom’s house where we walked down the side yard and back to the shoreline where we waded through the water to board Harmony. This was fine for us, but we didn’t think it would be an ideal situation for John and Claire’s first experience boarding Nancy Lu.  We ended up arranging to pay Dive Dominica for the use of their dock to make for a gentler introduction to boat-life for Claire and John. That ended up working without a hitch.

Later, the evening of our grocery shopping, Mr. Beanz and Gaga stopped by Nancy Lu to visit a bit. From in the cabin, I heard Mr. Beanz call out, “Parents, I’m home!”

The next day, everything was set, and we were ready for the hour and a half taxi ride to the north end of the island to pick up John and Claire from the airport!  Mr. Beanz rode along with the driver he had arranged to take us…

And so our Dominican adventure with the newlyweds began!

Click here for the video clip of Claire doing her dance inspired by our new American flag!

John started the night sleeping in the cockpit due to some mild sea sickness which began with motion sickness brought on by the hour + long mountainous and curvy van ride back to Roseau with him sitting in the back seat. Further contributing to his seasickness was a delicious (and large) late lunch at Ocean’s Edge restaurant near the dock where Gaga picked us after which we boarded an excessively undulating Nancy Lu (what we call rolly) due to a large swell coming into the anchorage—not ideal!  John was a trooper, but I was more than a little concerned about his comfort going forward!  Spoiler Alert: He had no further issues the rest of their time on Nancy Lu! That night, he migrated from the cockpit, to the berth I prepared for him in the salon (the most stable part of the boat), to the v-berth with his wife, and that’s where he slept the rest of the time! WHEW!

The next day was a full and fun one!

First, Gaga took us snorkeling at Champagne Reef where the volcanic gas bubbles escaping from the bed of the ocean create a beautiful aquarium-like atmosphere and an eerie whooshing sound.

Next, we zipped around to “Bubble Spa”, the unique hot water pool created by those same volcanic gas bubbles right at the ocean’s edge. The temperature is made bearable by the cool surf lapping up over the manmade dam there.

We left Bubble Beach after some rum punch and headed to Scott’s Head for some more snorkeling. It was a rainy day which added to the “Jurassic Park” feel of our surroundings!

Unidentified Fish Species

Gold Spotted Eel

Deadly Poisonous  Stonefish aka Scorpionfish

We had a fun first day, which by the way, we shared with the mom and two kids from a live-aboard family from Hawaii. They were our neighbors on another one of Mr. Beanz’s moorings.

The next day was another rainy one (especially in the rainforest)…

We shared the day with our old friend, Jeremy, and his partner, Julie. We hadn’t seen Jeremy since 2020!

Our first adventure was a hike through part of the Morne Trois Pitons National Park to Middleham Falls!

I tried to take pictures of the treasures of nature that caught Claire’s attention along the way. She said the little blossoms on the trail looked like star confetti!

Our trail intersected with the Waitukubuli National Trail which spans from the southern to the northern tip of the island.

Click here for a short video to bring the above picture to life.

Click here for a video that displays the granduer of Middleham Falls a little better than photos.

Our guide, Armstrong, said that the waterfall was “a monster” that day, and I agreed! It was magnificent! Based on our memory, Mark and I had billed the hike as “an easy walk”, but our memory was WAY off!  It was strenuous, and the pouring rain added to the difficulty! What the hike lacked in ease, it made up for in awe-inspiring beauty all along the way, and John and Claire were up for it! Jeremy and Julie, not so much… We have history with steering Jeremy wrong on hikes that I won’t get into here except to say that after the one we invited him on with us in Grenada in 2020, he said something along the lines of “Now, I’ll introduce you to something that’s actually enjoyable.” That’s how I discovered the singer Sabrina Francis! The rest is history as they say! Anyone that has followed my blogs will know that I am a massive Sabrina Francis fan! We owed Jeremy and Julie a huge apology, but I don’t think they held it against us. We had the loveliest time on their new-to-them Catamaran, Next Turn, the next morning! However, Claire and John had a hard time trusting our assessment of any adventure from then on out, haha!

The stream we crossed to get to the trailhead about 2 hours before had become much more swollen and swift by the time we made it back and we were sopped!

Next stop (after a confusing situation where our guide had temporarily gone AWOL, leaving us stranded on the side of the road for about 15 minutes), was lunch.

we enjoyed a delicious meal at River Rock Café’, waterlogged as we were!

Then we were on to Trafalgar Falls…

Mama Fall on the right…

Papa Fall on the left…

In the past, Papa Fall has looked more like ribbons flowing down as the path of the water is deflected by boulders. in those conditions, we’ve been able to hike upstream through the river over boulders to where the fall plunges into the river, experiencing the hot water “Jacuzzi” up there. That was impossible the day we visited with the falls raging as they were!  What a spectacular sight!

Papa Falls made a majestic backdrop for portraits!

Our last stop that day was one of the natural hot sulphur spring spas.

We walked a little ways to see the source.

After a good night’s sleep…

The next day was a less adventurous day. Mark and I left the newlyweds on Nancy Lu for a visit to Jeremy’s boat. When we returned, it was time for a trip into town for a nice lunch, some ice cream, a visit to the small, unairconditioned museum, and a bit of sightseeing. The day ended with a visit from Mr. Beanz, Gaga, his daughter, Harmony, and Jeremy. This day ended with me under the weather including fever…Uh oh!

Bright and early the next morning, Captain Mark was the only one who witnessed a beautiful rainbow as he dropped our mooring and headed north to Portsmouth…

Thankfully, I was only out of commission for the rest of the previous night and all of that day.  I hated to miss the warm and gracious welcome Nancy Lu and crew received from our dear friend Martin Carriere, but Claire received the bountiful gift from his garden and created a beautiful arrangement with the exotic flowers. I’m afraid a couple of meals were peanut butter and banana sandwiches while I was in my sick bed…

I’m so glad I deemed myself well enough for the all-day tour that Martin had planned for us the next day! He is a tour guide extraordinaire and a delight to be around!

He let us all try out his new “toy”, a botanists eye…

Claire and I were especially  impressed with the familiar but giant, wild-growing philodendron we both have as houseplants back in Texas.

Another day, another waterfall! This one was Syndicate Falls. It really is an easy, flat hike (TRUST ME) made fun by crossing the river with the help of ropes a couple of times.

Oldyweds-Like-Newlyweds

Martin had a treat for us after playing in the water. He called the fruit apricot, but it is not what Americans think of as an apricot.

Goodbye Syndicate Falls!

We enjoyed what Martin called a “coconut moment”. He was constantly teaching us about his lovely island and its flora and fauna!

We traveled back through Portsmouth for an extravagant, locally sourced, made-from-scratch lunch with tasty homemade salad dressing in a waffle syrup bottle!

We hit the road again headed for the east/Atlantic side of the island.

We took a short walk (if memory serves me ) down to stunning Batibou Beach where Martin made Claire a bird out of a palm frond while Mark and I explored and she and John frolicked in the ocean!

We hit the road again to a very special place…

Beautiful, other worldly, Red Rocks and Black and White Sands Beach…

Our day ended with freshly roasted plantains that Martin picked up on the ride home through Portsmouth to share with us, still warm, on the boat ride back to Nancy Lu.

He was back at Nancy Lu bright and early at 7:00 am the next morning to give us a paddling tour (no motors allowed) on his boat, Providence, up the Indian River.

Martin treated us to the Dominica National Anthem. He pointed out that the lyrics said nothing about war or power. It was all about unity and thanksgiving for their beautiful island nation.

Back to Nancy Lu for a little relaxation and lunch before…

Martin took us snorkeling at Toucari…

Balloon Fish

Orange Cup Coral

Sea Anemone

Claire dove to get a closer look at the sea anemone

Back on Nancy Lu, John snacked on some of the coconut from our coconut moment the day before.

Mark and John went into Portsmouth to add John and Claire to our crew list so that we could check into Iles des Saintes the next day. They stopped by the fish market for some Mahi-Mahi and got a little tour of Martin’s garden.

Martin joined us on Nancy Lu to share with us about his ministry in Portsmouth of sharing Jesus with his neighbors and helping feed and meet other physical needs of those who are unable to help themselves. He knows everyone! He also helped me out by letting me record a short message he gave for the children of my home church that I will use at Missions Time in VBS, + he filleted our fish for us in exchange for the fish head for his cat, Marty!

We had a nice sail to Iles des Saintes.  Mark was especially thrilled that we snagged our favorite mooring right over our favorite snorkeling spot at Iles a Cabrit where John enjoyed being able to snorkel right off the back of Nancy Lu!

We enjoyed a very different vacation-culture in the quaint little town on Terre-de-Haute.

Claire treated us to a short and to-the-point sermon, reciting John 3:16-17 in the pretty little Catholic church in town.

We all experienced another treat on the dinghy ride back to Nancy Lu from Terre de Haut, when a dolphin came right up to our dinghy and rolled on her side to look up at us!

Our second day in The Saints, we went back to Terre-De-Haut to visit Fort Napoleon.

Josephine and Napoleon

Dominica in the Distance

After probably the most gourmet meal of our time with the newlyweds, Magnums from the grocery store won out over ice cream.

Claire went for one last snorkel bright and early the day we left The Saints…

A sampling of other snorkeling at Iles a Cabrit…

Bright Red Sponge

Trumpet Fish

Pipe sponge and a pretty juvenile Queen Angel Fish

Finger Coral

Nassau Grouper

Motoring back to Dominica on a windless day…

We saw a sperm whale!!!

On John and Claire’s last full day with us back in Dominica we rolled a trip to the immigration officer to get them checked out of Dominica into a walk up to a swimming hole on the Picard River, which is a favorite of Mark’s and mine.

Mark and I first discovered the swimming in hole in 2017 after a difficult and hot hike which included part of segment 11 of the Waitukubuli Trail. It ended with crossing the Picard River over the suspension bridge which is now under repair from hurricane damage. That first swim following that swelteringly hot hike will always stand out in my memory as the most refreshing  swim of my life!

Late the next morning, John and Claire said goodbye to Nancy Lu and we said goodbye to them…Once again, I suffered through some days with a lump rising in my throat from time to time…

EPILOGUE:

The day after John and Claire left, we had an unexpected visitor to Nancy Lu—Dustin, the father of two of my sister, Jenny’s, former forest preschool students in the Pacific Northwest of the U.S where he still lives! We had never met in person, but earlier this sailing season when Jenny was with us, thanks to the knowledge he gained through her Facebook posts, at the time, chronicling her trip on Nancy Lu, he radioed to talk to her on the VHF as he saw on AIS he was passing us in the middle of the Caribbean Sea on the Catamaran he was delivering as part of his job!  So cool!!

That night, before we headed south to Martinique, we had Martin over for a spaghetti dinner and to say goodbye! Goodbyes are hard,but sometimes they lead to sweet hellos…

As I get ready to publish this update, we have made it south to St. Lucia where Mark will stay with Nancy Lu while I fly out to be reunited with Amy and fam. for my birthday and Mother’s Day!