DOMINICAN
REPUBBLIC
28
february - 15 march 2003
This time I decided to take a vacation more than a trip, so I choose the Dominican Republic with idea to do some sea life without traveling excessively.
28 February
Going down from the airplane and feeling been entwined by the heat and by damp is a very pleasant feeling and each time it happens me it comes me more and more desire to move to a place where the climate is always warm. By taxi I reached Boca Chica that finds really next to the airport of the capital city and that it is one of the main tourist destinations of the island, thanks to the taxi-driver I found a good lodging; a walk and a snack confirmed my presentiments, Boca Chica is a big brothel.
1 March
Wake up and stroll for the village that is practically an Italian colony, in fact a lot of fellow countrymen are established opening varied commercial activities (above all restaurants and hotels), Italian is practically the second spoken language. While I was walking I have been boarded by the classical bosom friend that with the excuse to talk has made me rub 300 pesos for a breakfast, if nothing else is served for making for me an idea on how much Boca Chica offers. The beach also being very crowded and disseminated of cafe and restaurants it is nice and it is leaned out on a beautiful lagoon; I passed the rest of the day to sun-bath.
2 March
Considering that the atmosphere of Boca Chica didn't do for me
I moved with the guaga to Bayahibe of which had spoken to me very good and that it is the base of departure for the excursions and
dives in the Parque Nacional
del Este and its islands. The village is very small and simple but very characteristic and the atmosphere is distant years
from that of Boca Chica and very near to my idea of Caribbean life. Really in front of my pension I
saw a small restaurant (4 tables) that it inspired me, the cooker suggested me the dish
she was cooking: Lambi to the criolla, a big cooked mollusc with vegetables and sauce, the choice has revealed excellent; I have digested the lunch with a long walk up to the beautiful beach 
where I stayed for the whole afternoon.
In evening I returned in the small restaurant hoping to eat the lobster and I discovered that the husband of the owner is a sympathetic Roman that lived for many years in the Dominican Republic; considering that
he had not succeeded in finding a fresh lobster I had to eat a barbecued chicken besides excellent. While I was dining a couple of Italians
arrived and they took a seat to my table, while we was chatting, to the classical question
"from how much time are you here?" they answered me 4 years!!! I passed a pleasant evening in company of these friends,
they told me how is the life in the Dominican Republic away from the frenzy of our society.
3 March
Morning devoted to diving, nothing special; afternoon devoted to the sun.
4 March
Excursion with dives to the islands Catalinita and Saona, coasted along the Parque Nacional
del Este in a pair of hours of boat we reached Catalinita, the shores of the small
beach are full of enormous shells; I liked decidedly the immersion along the channel, as soon as gone down we
saw in a cave some big nurse sharks and then 2 enormous races, another small nurse and 1 barrier shark (of those bad!!!).
Standstill for the lunch to Saona, the beach and the landscape are really
beautiful; second dive in front of the beach, nothing special to exception of a beautiful spotted manta. Before returning to Bayahibe we stopped in the zone called natural swimming pools
whose low backdrops are literally full of sea stars; small consideration: the excursion and the
dives are decidedly too expensive in relation to how much seen.
5-6 March
Transfer by bus to Sosua in the north of the country, walk for city and relax on the beach. The landscape in the north of the island is quite a lot different in comparison to the south, the green forest licks up the gilded beaches and the sea because of the wind it is almost always moved; the beach is well equipped and finds in a beautiful bay mended by the wind. Even if in city there are many restaurants and cafe I have not found a big movement, also here there are unfortunately a lot of very aggressive chicas.
7 March
In the morning I had to dive but to the last moment the owner of the diving center changed the place of dive and so I have abdicated and moved to Cabarete, famous place for the windsurfistis and for nightlife; the beach is not so beautiful (for the standard of the Caribbean) and the strong wind lifts too sand making a little bit annoying to take the sun. When the evening comes create a beautiful atmosphere considering that the cafes and the restaurants put the tables on the beach.
8 March
Dive to the Dudu Caves, very beautiful and particular but expensive 85
$ :-(((; then the very nice
guide has brought us then to the Playa Grande that is really beautiful 
,
we ate small lobsters under the palms and started with the turns of rum that have gone up to evening after having visited some
cafes, I arrived in the room decidedly drunk!!!
9 March
Transfer to Las Terrenas, first
with the guagua and then with a bus up to Sanchez, the line from Sanchez to Las Terrenas crossed on a guaga pick-up is very suggestive with continuous latches between the green hills. I
choose a hotel really
near the beach that is really beautiful 
; rest of the day devoted to the sun and the sea.
10-11 March
Considering that I wanted to visit the peninsula of Samanà I decided to rent a motorbike, naturally trying to turn on
I injured a foot. First stop the fall of El Limon that reaches crossing a path through the forest in back to the mules. The fall is really beautiful even if
I had problem to photograph it with all the tourists that were; good a Dominican boy that has performed in spectacular dives scrambling him on the rocks with a maddish
agility 
.
Transfer to Samanà where I had lunch, from its dock depart the excursions to the search of the whales that from January to March they crowd the Bay of Samanà. I reached Las Galeras
that seemed me less nice than Las Terrenas; next to Las Galeras it is found
Playa Rincón defined one of the most beautiful beaches of the Caribbean, unfortunately the road
to arrive there especially in the last line is really bad but probably this preserves it from the tourism of mass, the lady that managed the
small restaurant on the beach insisted so much to cook me a fresh lobster but I
had to refuse considering that I would not have time to redeliver the motorbike.
In evening the foot has started to swell like a ball and therefore I have spent the following day
on the beach trying to move me the least possible.
12 March
Transfer via Saint Domingo to Boca Chica where I arrived in the afternoon, I would have preferred to avoid the ugly atmosphere of Boca Chica but I wanted to pass the last Dominican moments on the beach and then Boca Chica it is found really next to the airport. A beautiful frozen beer like appetizer in shore to the beach, supper and then stroll for the cafes.
13 March
Visit to Saint Domingo that I reached with the guagua, I turned a little bit for the Zone Colonial visiting the monuments and the principal buildings, unfortunately I couldn't visit the inside of the Catedral Primada de América considering that I had the shorts. I have taken advantage to make some good shopping of it between which a beautiful naif picture for me and of the pendants done with the Larimar a stone of blue color that finds only on the Mountains of the Dominican Republic (the background of these pages has been drawn really from the Larimar).
14 March
Considering that the flight would have departed in the late evening I spent the whole day to cook me to the sun and to admire the "beautiful landscape" on the beach.
I think that the Dominican Republic is above all a good destination to the lovers of the sea, the beaches are really beautiful and different, with some exception I have not found others big attractions; the zone that liked me more for the landscapes and the atmosphere is that of Samanà. Unfortunately the greatest part of the tourists that visits this country chooses often solutions in resort and villages without not even going out from these enclosures. One of the aspects that I appreciated more is the positive attitude of the population that also "living with a few" has and above all it makes desire to live.
