S/V Midnight Sun II and III: Puerto Rico to Dominican Republic

Mona Passage

The Mona Passage is the narrow piece of the Caribbean Sea between Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic and has a reputation for being a treacherous piece of the ocean. We were fortunate to find ourselves ready to cross on a benign day. We had light winds of 10-15, but still a 5 ft swell. I could see how this area could become nasty in bad weather. The wind was dead behind us, so we motor-sailed the entire 72 miles. Not the most fun, but we did get across in daylight - which is always a good thing!

Marina Cap Cana

We hailed the marina and were given a slip assignment. As we arrived, the DR Navy representatives were already waiting for us to check in. Soon the other myriad of officials arrived - department or sanitation, department of agriculture, immigration, etc. We had heard stories about this - very much like our trips to Cuba. And often the officials expect a "gift" or "donation". However, none was mentioned and everything went smoothly. Soon papers were stamped, we shook hands and politely thanked them all - oh they did confiscate our oranges and a pineapple. We forgot we had some fruit on board.

The marina was not quite what I was expecting - kind of a large development of condos around a series of canals and basins that for the marina. The place has something of a Venetian feel, with an area of restaurants, condos, and a hotel. We decided to stay a couple of nights and relax a little. We did not venture outside of the development here as we were told that it was a $30 taxi ride each way with not much to see. However there were numerous nice restaurants within the development, pools, bars etc.

After 2 nights, we ventured on to Samana.

Samana

Samana is a town and a very large deep bay, knows as a breeding ground (or was it birthing ground) for whales. The season being January to March 30. It was March 31 - would they have al been give their despachio and left? :)

We got a brief glimpse of one large humpback whale on the way into Samana Bay - but too quick for the camera. It was large!! and about 100 yds from the boat. Yikes! hope they know whats around them.

We arrived late in Samana - just after dark and could not raise the marina, so we anchored in a small bay off the town of Samana. Hmmm......sketchy place, it took 5 tries to get the anchor to catch. Seems like a rock base to the anchorage and many small tour boats on moorings. Finally we got a hold and stayed the night but decided to move on to the marina the next morning.

The marina was nice - a little pricey for the DR, but that was ok. We stayed 2 nights and enjoyed their pool. Also took a car rental and visited El Limon (waterfall) and Las Terrenas - a touristy beach town of ex-pats.

The marina staff were very helpful.. The check-in process is a bit like Cuba - you need a despachio for each stop in the DR, which is a bit laborious.

But nonetheless, the marina was very nice!

The next morning we moved on to the National Park known as Los Haitises. Now that was beautiful and worth a visit!

Absolutely gorgeous scenery, with a shorelines of caves and riverlets to explore in mangroves an with steep rock faces. I understand parts of Jurassic Park were filmed here.........and I was waiting for the velociraptors to appear!

This was worth the stop in the DR......I would love to come back and explore some more!

Luperon

Our next stop was Luperon. I have heard cruisers rave about Luperon, but some reviews on Active Captain were not too great. I am not sure what we were expecting.......but, hmmm. There are some places that cruisers seem to congregate for differing reasons. Cheap prices - always a bonus, and tht is Luperon for sure! $2 mooring fee; you can get a meal for $3-5. Poverty here is high, but the people are friendly. Quite a few semi-derelict boats in the mooring field - some look abandonned.

I will not pass judgement, but we decided it was not a place we wanted to stay too long. To me, its a bit of a "Boot Key" feel, with much cheaper prices.

Main Street - Luperon

Papo and Handy Andy seem to run the mooring field and will do anything for you - from boat work to grocery delivery. In fact, handy Andy brought beer for us!