Slow Cruise

Luperon is known to be the best hurricane hole in the Caribbean. The harbour is well protected from all directions indeed.

The town is not big, with local character. Few locals speak English, and knowing Spanish would definitely help on Dominican Republic.
The locally grown fruits are amazingly tasteful, especially mangos.

There seem to have more active cruising life here in the past, now it's faded. Quite few North American and European expats settled here.

Staying here for couple weeks, exploring the area and taking some onshore trips.

While staying in Luperon, we took an onshore trip to Puerto Plata. Used local bus system to get there, and took taxi back.

Supposedly a touristy town, however only few attractions. Visited Amber museum, walked local streets around the Central Park and shore, stopped at few shops, did provisioning at the large department store.

It was Larysa's birthday, so we went to a restaurant to celebrate.

The Luperon harbour does not have a clean beach, so we went over the hill to the beach in the ocean shore couple times.

The beach is near a closed down resort. We had a quick peak, but I can only guess why this lush resort was eventually closed. Perhaps the rocky and turbulent (windward) nature of the beach was at least a contributing factor. I stepped on a sea urchin while swimming there - ouch!

Otherwise we had a good day, having this picturesque beach mostly to ourselves.

It was time to leave Luperon and head further East.
Our first overnight stop was town Sosua, near Puerto Plata. It is the area hosting several tourist resorts.

A quick atop at Rio San Juan anchorage.
We were visited by the local Coast Guard officials on a small fishing boat. They just checked our papers and left.

Esondido is a very scenic place, like from the move. It was the first one of this kind we have encountered on our trip. Just amazingly beautiful.

Went on shore, walked around, explored.
Got stuck on shore for a while - coming there was fine, but on the way back the incoming waves were too big for our dinghy and we could not return to our anchored boat. Luckily, two young locals helped us. Lesson learned.

Staying at Santa Barbara de Samana for couple weeks.

It is a vibrant, typically Caribbean, pleasant coastal town. Full of local activity, plenty of restaurants, "typico" local type of food places, various stores, lots of loud activity at night. Although, a bit too many tourist souvenir shops and "helpers" around.
Overall, we liked the place.

Our autopilot started to malfunction during one of the sailing trips around the bay - luckily, I was able to find a professional to repair it.

Dominican Republic is a paradise for the fresh fruit and vegetable lover like me - all tastes richer, and you can try some exotic tropical fruits didn't even now exist. I would go to a fresh produce stand and pick something new to me to try. Yummy!

While staying at Samana, we took a shore trip to El Limon Waterfalls and Las Terrenas resort town on another side of the Samana peninsula.

Located in the middle of the jungle, there is quite a walk from the road to the waterfalls, but the trip is well worth it - waterfalls are quite remarkable.

Los Haitises National Park is a truly remarkable anchorage, rated among the best in the Caribbean. A.k.a. the Caribbean version of Bora Bora.
The scenery simply overwhelms at first.

Lush mountains, high cliffs, ancient caves, mangrove rivers, palm tree beaches, tropical greenery, wildlife, numerous coves to anchor...
Pictures don’t do enough justice.

When leaving Samana, made a stop at nearby Cayo Levantado. It is a pretty beach island popular with tourists and locals.

While anchored there just before the dinner, we have been approached by a boat with local fishermen who offered us fresh lobsters. Our planned dinner menu suddenly changed.

I was time to leave Dominican Republic.

Our last stop in this country was Punta Macao. It is a beautiful beach, with some fishing activity. The place is also very popular with tourists from nearby resorts during the days, and locals having good time at night.

Leaving for Puerto Rico early morning, across the Mona Passage.