Here’s a little taste of being on a catamaran going upwind. Of course, we didn’t film when it was really bad because we literally couldn’t stand up and move around safely. But you get the idea. Two solid days of this en route to the DR…
Once we recovered at the Marina Puerto Bahia in Samaná, a taxi into town was in order. First thing we noticed was not that so many people ride motorcycles, but that the bikes have such small engines. Almost all of them are 150cc or less and top out around 50 mph with just one rider. As a result, they ride on the shoulder when there is one. That includes the freeways! Another thing new to us was the prevalence of propane powered cars. All taxis and rental cars run on propane.
Samaná is not touristy as it is pretty far removed from the tourist destinations of Punta Cana and Santo Domingo. But it has a nice long pedestrian bridge to nowhere that connects a couple little islets to the mainland. Apparently there were once plans for a casino at the end but… There is an anchorage along the malecon (stone waterside esplanade) but it’s not terribly attractive. We found a very old Methodist church just letting out and they were more than happy to give us a quick tour. They are very proud that they predate the DR’s emancipation and the building is original. After the church we spent a couple hours on the bridge and got caught in an exceptional downpour on the way back. Of course, that was 1/3 of the way across the single longest stretch! It blew so hard that the front of our clothes remained perfectly dry while our backsides were soaked to the bone. As drinks were now in order, we found a great restaurant with huge fans. By the time we left we were pretty much dry.
A few days later we took a taxi to Punta Cana, four hours away for our flight back to the states for Alex’s graduation (see last post). Yes, there are a lot of huge gringo resorts there. There are probably some nice beaches too, but they are all sealed behind the walls of the resorts. Our opinion, and that of some friends, don’t bother unless you stay in a resort. The ride there was nice though. Central DR is very agricultural with a lot of rice paddies. As you move out onto the southeastern peninsula it becomes vast sugarcane plantations. Although there are apparently many old ruins, only one is set up for tourism and it was very far away.
On the drive, we kept seeing these white balls hanging from roadside food stands. We asked Pedro, our driver, what they were and he said, “queso de hoja,” aka cheese. He pulled over at the next place and we bought one for $3. The lady took a knife and cut the plastic between two of balls, asked if we wanted her to cut it up, no thank you (rusty knife and all..) and later ate it in our hotel room. It was like a tangy mozzarella. Quite good alone but would have been great on fresh bread.
When we returned to the DR we stayed in Santo Domingo for a few days. Christopher Columbus loved it here and thus set up the first Spanish capital in the new world. As a result, they have the first church, first fortress, first university, hospital, paved road, etc. The old city was very charming. The original city was on the east bank of the Ozama river but was destroyed by a hurricane in 1502. The city was rebuilt on the west side and remains today. Columbus’ son Diego was a longtime governor of the island and a massive home was built for him, called the Alcázar de Colón. Several generations of his family lived here until Sir Francis Drake sacked the town and the house (dude really was a ridiculously successful pirate!). We dined at a restaurant named for the pirate Pat’e Palo that overlooks the large square in front of the Alcázar. It was built as a guest house in 1505 for the engineers and architects brought in to build the Alcázar.
When we arrived, the country was in mourning due to the nightclub collapse a week prior that killed 232 people. Loud music was prohibited but it came back strong when the official mourning ended. We attended mass in the old cathedral on Palm Sunday. Nearby is an old Jesuit monastery that now houses the tombs of national heroes, complete with an eternal flame. We toured the first university, a convent and another tomb for the heroes of the Dominican war of independence from Haiti in 1844. A few years later a dictator returned the country to Spain but they finally got true independence in 1865.
Columbus stopped here on all of his voyages and was buried initially in Spain but moved back here in the mid-1500s when the first church/cathedral was completed. However, Haiti invaded the Dominican Republic seven times in the 19th century. Both before emancipation and the subsequent independence from France, and afterward, the French/Haitians captured Santo Domingo repeatedly. To keep the nasty frenchies from desecrating the admirals tomb, his remains were removed to Havana and then back to Spain. After that, it gets murky as his remains were moved several more times. The cathedral in Seville did DNA testing on some bones in 2006 and confirmed that they have at least part of Christopher Columbus’ remains. But don’t tell the Dominicans that! After 60 years of planning, the Dominican’s finally opened the Faro a Colón, aka Columbus Lighthouse on the 500th anniversary of the discovery of the new world. Whether he is in there or not, it is one heck of an imposing structure. Shaped like a massive cross and with a light shining upward that can be seen from space (doesn’t work any more…) John describes it as classic soviet concrete architecture. It was built with donations from every country in the new world and houses small displays from most of them. It is a must see just because of the scale of it! The tomb is a bonus.
As they go, the fortress here is small. It began as a simple tower and was expanded over the years to a large open and elevated walled space with a few buildings inside. There are hundreds of old cannons rusting away and an interesting second wall around the whole area that was constructed by the dictator Rafael Trujillo in the 1930’s. He and other dictators used the fort as a political prison for many years. Even Columbus himself was imprisoned here for abuse, mismanagement and generally being a tyrant. He was returned to Spain in chains and stripped of his governorship but eventually acquitted and given a fourth voyage. They have done a nice job of presenting Dominican history with a high tech series of presentations inside. It is clearly intended to instill pride in the Dominican people.
When we returned to the boat we found that John had inadvertently turned off the deep freezer before we left, so all of our meat had spoiled. It took us over a week to get the smell out of it! We used many different cleansers, bleach, vinegar and just plain sunshine but it finally cleared up. Even the crew that washed and waxed our boat were go grossed out that they took a crack at cleaning it.
We took a day trip with friends on SV Slow mOcean (Sean and Stephanie) to a nearby waterfall and then a lovely resort on the north coast, also a Mosquito Club property. There had been a lot of rain so the waterfall was in peak performance. By the time we arrived we were drenched in sweat as it was not only a jungle trek but very steep up and down. So, local beer was in order – in 22oz bottles. (Clearly not brought in the way we came!) Some of us swam in the falls but found it very hard to get under the main flow as the current was extreme. We then found friends from SV Bobin (Olly, Kate, Lara, and Zenna) at a second waterfall that was a little more kid friendly.
As always, we brought back new gear for the boat that necessitated a trip (or five) up the mast to install. We found a flock of resident flamingos that live on the marina property and we were actually able to get within 100′ or so! SV Bobin thought they had engine trouble on the way to the DR. Turned out to be a huge fishing float and line around one propeller. Several of us staged at a beautiful resort island for the predawn departure for Puerto Rico. It was just a couple miles from the marina.
Superb!!!