Saturday 13th March
In Travemunde until May 2020
Nick Pochin
Sun 14 Mar 2010 10:13
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position 19.50N 70.44W
We arrived in the Dominican Republic on Tuesday
making a midnight entry into Samana.When we surfaced we were told that we
couldn't leave the boat until the Port
Captain, Customs,Immigration and Narcotics had
boarded us. We waited two hours with no sign and another boat said they had been
waiting for 24 hrs. We weighed anchor and left for Puerto Plata. We had time to
sail into the bay of Samana and search for theWhales which breed here from Dec
to March. They had gone! all but one who waved us goodbye as we set sail for
Puerto Plata.We did an overnighter arriving in Ocean World Marina in the
morning.This is a big modern marina with all the officials on site and
we had refuelled, checked in and organised tours by 10 am. DR is heavily
dependent on tourism with many resorts mainly aimed at the US. Casinos, Golf,
White water rafting, zip lining, beaches with snorkelling and diving.It is hard
to get to see the real people but they are there and are friendly and the
country is safe.Just across the border is Haiti and what a contrast. This is the
only country my insurance company excludes me from visiting!!
We spent three days with the highlights being tours
to Playa Plata and Santiago, a cigar factory, a pottery factory, a half day
zip lining and an evening in the Ocean World Casino with a Las Vegas show and
dinner.
On Saturday we cleared out and left DR for Turks
and Caicos. We were sorry to
leave.
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