Photos: Portsmouth, Dominica

Position: 15° 34’N 61° 27’W

Portsmouth, the main town in the north, is a few streets of houses busily rebuilding after hurricane Maria’s devastating impact 18 months ago. The entire island suffered terribly from some of the strongest winds ever recorded on earth. Moving slowly, the storm took nearly eight hours to pass. It took roofs off houses, dumped 24 inches of water into steep ravines, causing floods and landslides, and tore the canopy off one of the world’s densest jungles. Recovery relief has come from the UK, the United States, Venezuela, and China, among others.

Historically British, Dominica is sandwiched between two French islands, Guadeloupe and Martinique. No fools, the English built fortifications and look-out towers all over the island. Fort Shirley sits in Cabrits National Park just outside Portsmouth. Originating from 1765, restoration began in the early 1980s and the fort seemed in good shape when we visited. You can hike all over the Cabrits headland and nature preserve. Maria toppled trees around the ruins of the Commandant’s quarters. Before the storm the large Georgian manor must have looked like something out of a 19^th century romantic landscape painting. You know, towering hills, dramatic skylines, and trees growing out of abandoned Gothic towers. That whole Caspar David Friedrich vibe.

At its height, the fort housed over 600 soldiers and over 70 guns. Today the remaining cannons rust quietly in the hot sun, while the crumbling outbuildings overlook newly built, yet unfinished, hotels.

Making Chocolate

The next day we took an island tour, the highlight of which was a stop at the Pointe Baptiste Estate and Dominica’s first chocolate factory. Its founder, Alan, inherited the 25-acre estate established by his grandparents. He moved permanently to Dominica 11 years ago. A few years after relocating, he realized no one on the island was making chocolate. With cocoa trees growing happily on his land, the inspiration formed for a vertically integrated, mostly organic, chocolate business.

Cocoa pods are sourced locally and processed on the estate. I didn’t know you could eat cocoa beans raw. When I say eat, it’s in the mangosteen or pomegranate manner. You cut open the pod with a wooden hatchet, then take a mouthful of beans and slurp off the sweet, milky stuff that tastes vaguely chocolaty.

Making cocoa is more involved, with nature doing most of the hard work. Loaded into boxes, the beans ferment thanks to natural yeasts and then turn to vinegar. After a week they’re turned out to dry. Crushed whole, cocoa is separated from husk via a Rube Goldberg vacuum cleaner. Sugar is imported since it is no longer produced in quantity on Dominica.

To make chocolate, you dump your ingredients into a Russian-made spinning/mixing device for four or five days and voilà! – you’re ready for packaging. Alan produces small batches with a wide variety of flavors, including local favorites like tamarind and lemongrass.

It’s good stuff, too. And like most good stuff it’s made in such small quantities that exporting it makes no sense, especially with an uncertain ‘cold-chain’ in such a hot climate. We have bars, though. Come visit. If you’re nice and you hurry, we’ll give you some.

Fort Tour

Chocolate Factory