We arrived at sunrise. After endless small islands rising 100 feet at best, this was a sight to behold. It’s massive. Massively tall. Massively wide. Wow.
Our approach was pitch black, with a first-quarter moon that had set hours before. After sailing 60 nautical miles south from Turks and Caicos, at 2:00am we saw red lights all over in front of us. They appeared to be only a mile or two away, creating anxiety that we may hit something, but our chart plotter told us the coast was still 30 nautical miles away. Distance is impossible to gauge at night. We would later see that these were warning lights scattered on the tall hills lining the coast.
At 3:00am, we saw what looked like the lights of a large ship ahead on the left (Port side). There was nothing on AIS and nothing I could see on radar. As we proceeded, the lights grew closer and I was becoming concerned we would be run down. Eventually, it looked like it was directly to our side, bearing down on us. It felt like a horror movie, where the ghost ship appears out of the blackness and runs over shipwreck survivors in their lifeboat. I veered Starboard to give it a wider berth and eventually the lights began to recede. It was only then that I found it on radar, tiny and buried in the scatter caused by waves. As far as I could tell, it wasn’t moving and we had simply passed by, coming within a half nautical mile. Much closer than we like at night. We later asked around and searched online, but never found out what it was. My guess is that this was a large FAD (fish aggregation device), but I wouldn’t expect to see one that far offshore.
The sky began to lighten, concluding a glorious two night passage from Crooked Island in the Bahamas that passed through Turks and Caicos. We saw huge green hills extending in both directions as far as the eye could see. This was going to be different!
Ocean World
The Dominican Republic’s north coast is over 250 miles long and has only two primary areas to park. One area is Samana, near the east coast. The other has two options – Luperon Bay and, 15 miles away, Ocean World Marina. I chose to arrive at Ocean World because Customs is on-site, the city of Puerto Plata is close by, we wouldn’t have to deal with the dirty water in Luperon, and it’s 15 miles closer to Samana.
The marina lies behind a seawall and is open on one end. Surge – significant surge – is a permanent feature. We were being pushed all over, and particularly hard against the dock on our starboard side. After a couple days of tweaking, we ended up with twelve dock lines to hold us in place. Four would be more typical.
Ocean World Adventure Park
The marina gets its name from the attached adventure park and, lucky for us, marina guests get a free one-day admission! This marine park has dolphins, sea lions, sharks, stingrays, tropical birds, rain forests and lots to explore.
Teleférico de Puerto Plata
Towering over Puerto Plata, at 800 meters (2,625 ft) atop Ysabel de Torres Mountain, is the landmark Christ the Redeemer statue. Inaugurated in 1975, it is a smaller twin to Corcovado in Rio de Janeiro.
Getting you there is the Puerto Plata Cable Car – a must do! The view is spectacular.
When you eventually get tired of taking panorama pictures, there are almost 600 walking paths through the botanical gardens and nature reserve. We spent hours there exploring the gardens and spotting the many birds, lizards, frogs and turtles that call it home.
Puerto Plata
Puerto Plata is the largest city on the DR’s north coast. The beaches immediately east of it are also home to the DR’s second-largest collection of resorts, Punta Cana being the largest. On the day we went, several larges cruise ships were in, making for a crowded, chaotic, yet fun experience.
We made sure to cover all the touristy attractions. One city block was entirely deep pink. Another was covered in small colorful umbrellas.
The Amber Museum has an extensive collection of Amber stones, most with a critter encased ages ago. Dominican amber is known for being nearly always transparent and with a higher number of fossil inclusions. There was a long lizard, a scorpion, a centipede, wasp’s nests, butterflies, and two beetles mating, all dating back 15 to 25 million years. One mosquito-encased stone was used in Jurassic Park.
While in Puerto Plata, we made sure to visit a local pharmacy. Very little is regulated here and prices are excellent. Since Brenda is a retired RN, she knew what we wanted to enhance our medical supplies.
Samana
We stayed at Ocean World for two weeks waiting for the wind and waves to relax. This was not a good year for passage-making and the north swell got so bad the Armada (navy) closed all north-coast ports for two days. Finally on March 12 we departed at 2:00pm for what would be a very easy overnight passage. We docked at Puerto Bahia Marina in Samana at noon the next day.
Samana Bay is an established breeding ground for Humpback Whales. Despite being late in the season, we were excited to see humpback whales as we made the long approach into the bay! Unfortunately, the sightings always coincided with our setting the camera down. So big, yet so sneaky.
This was a very different experience from Ocean World. The marina is fancier, with pools, bars and restaurants, while the area is less developed and more tropical. It had one thing in common though – surge. Not quite as bad, but we were exposed on the back wall opposite the entrance and had to repeat the dock line adjustment dance.
One positive was the birds discovering that our dock lines going up and down from the surge made a perfect fishing spot. This guy sat on our lines for hours everyday. When the line lowered and he spotted a fish, he showed off split-second gymnastics that caused us to sit for hours watching.
“Gas” Car?
Car rental was super convenient with the marina’s help. They meet you first thing in the morning at the dockside parking lot, do the usual paperwork, and off you go. Or do you? What’s this about the odd looking gas cap and instructions to only fill at Tropigas. There was a bit of a language barrier, so I wasn’t entirely sure what that meant, but hey, I’ve been driving for over 40 years, I know what I’m doing.
Turns out this car runs on propane (LPG), not gasoline! And when you find a Tropigas to refill the car, they tell you everyone must get out of the car. Everyone. Because the whole thing could explode. Not joking.
Mercado Publico
Samana town has a fantastic open air public market, with everything you could imagine. We stayed away from the unrefrigerated chicken meat stands, but grabbed all the produce we could carry. After so much time in the Bahamas, where limited produce was on short supply, this was abundance. Avocado, papaya, mango, lime, pineapple, corn, lettuce, bok choy, broccoli, cucumber, … Heaven.
Dominican Treehouse Village
One day we drove to the northern side of the peninsula. On the map, it looked pretty simple. Just follow the one road heading north from Samana town, through the hills, and ending at the beach in El Valle. For much of that middle part, “road” was a generous term. My nervous passenger kept making that point, though in more colorful language. There were sections of dirt road, sections of large, deep holes scattered all around like a mine field, and a couple spots where the skinny dirt “bridge” looked like it might crumble as you passed.
There was a waterfall at the halfway point, with a trailhead just past a big zip line company. So we parked and headed out. The waterfall itself was dry due to lack of rain, but what we found more than made up for it. There, about a half mile down the tropical trail, was a gateway saying Dominican Treehouse Village. What a crazy and wonderful find!
Calling it an “eco-resort” doesn’t do it justice. This is an all-inclusive resort, with open-air treehouse cabins, joined by rope bridges, scattered deep in the jungle. Even the eating and community areas are high-up in the jungle. A secluded pool, swings, a large outdoor yoga and meditation hut, and jungle walking paths complete the experience.
El Valle
We concluded the drive north with an afternoon at the beach in El Valle. The beach is long and beautiful, with jungle-covered hills on each side.
