Fw: Dominican Republic 19:55N 70:56.5W
Lotus
Thu 1 Apr 2010 13:55
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We left Punta Cana pleased not to have been fleeced
by the Dominican Republic navy (who turn up in a pair of jeans and tee shirt to
issue our despatchio). Having already paid $83 to check in
the DR is so far the most expensive country to complete formalities in.
Our overnight passage was uneventful but the next day we were treated to an
awesome display of hump back whales breaching; they were leaping out of the
water, which is an incredible sight for a 50ft long super fish, and thrashing
back down causing huge spray. After our 20min display the fishing reel
started to scream and we fought bravely to bring in a large Mahi Mahi, otherwise
known as Dorado or Dolphin fish. As we played the line the fish leapt out
of the water some 50m behind the boat, we could see it's silver blue scales
easily in the sunlight, but as we bought it alongside the boat ready to
gaff it, we could see that it had turned a deep almost fluorescent lime green
(we found out later that this happens when they become tired or stressed - it's
not only the Hulk that is effected in this way). The next few days we
feasted on Mahi Mahi for breakfast, lunch and dinner!   We had high hopes for Luperon as we heard it was a
meeting point for many yachtsmen, when we got there we soon realised that these
yachtsmen were deadbeat, pisshead yanks who just happened to have found a cheap
third world country to while away their time, some for the last 7 years, it
was the perfect example of port rot both boat and owner suffering neglect and
unlikely to sail very far ever again.
Luperon town was not quite a shanty town, but not
far off! When we went to Puerto Plata by car we could see the country
was extremely luxuriant, with green meadows and cows, it was almost reminiscent
of the English countryside save for the palm trees and poor black people
running around with their bums hanging out of their pants. The car that
took us to Puerto Plata was actually a taxi share with a set price for
individual legs of the journey. We were a little worried when we
stopped for another passenger especially as they had already crammed 4 people
including John into the back seat and two people on the front passenger
seat. It was most disconcerting when the woman opened the boot and seemed
about to climb in (the roads were full of pot holes and we imagined
arriving at our destination with a battered body in the boot). Luckily it
was only the taxi drivers wife putting his lunch in the boot for
later.
Despite the DR's obvious beauty the scruffiness of
all the towns and villages and the rubbish on the otherwise beautiful beaches
meant that we decided to leave after a couple of days. Our final
hurdle upon departure was obtaining our despatchio from the local Naval
commandant, who insisted that we were to pay $20 before he would furnish
us with the relevant document. Perhaps foolishly, we refused to pay,
knowing that this was a scam, as most of the Dr officials seem corrupt. A
10min stand off saw him getting bored before us and we were on our way, Turks
and Caicos bound.
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