Wednesday 24 Apr, Dominican Republic day 1: Arrival into Marina Puerto Bahia, next to Samana town.
Midnight finds us over the Hourglass shoals, level with Punta Cana on the eastern tip of Dominican Republic. We can see the glow and lights of the numerous all-inclusive resorts that abound on this otherwise remote part of DR.
From here we turn 30deg to port and head along the coast, staying about 5nm offshore until the wind starts to fade and the sails occasionally “back” then refill with a bang! So we turn 15 deg closer to the wind (turning away from the coast) to get the sails working again and the speed back up. Not in the direction we want to go, but better than putting the engine on. We debate putting up the Parasailor spinnaker in the bright moonlight, but decide against it.
Good job because 2 hours later the light breeze is down to a slow 5kts. 7kts is OK, just about keeping the sails full as the Atlantic swell on our beam rolls us. But at 5kts everything is banging around. Very unhealthy for the sails and rig. Plus we find one of the longitudinal battens in the mainsail has slipped out and dragging in the sea. A good catch just before we totally lost it. That would be expensive! So after securing the batten in its pocket we furl away the sails and turn on the engine leaving just enough main unfurled, and pinned in tightly, to stop the swell rolling us too much.
The last part of the night Oana is asleep and I watch as the bio-luminescence passes us from the bow wave, while in the clear sky the 1/2 moon is closely flanked by Saturn to one side and Jupiter to the other. The night sky, as usual when night sailing, is magical and full of wonder.
Dawn breaks and I see several unlit local fishing boats around. I wonder how many we passed in the night unnoticed? To our port side the mountain ranges are glowing orange in the early sun and there is a faint smell of wood smoke drifting across the sea. Which, whilst virtually windless, is not calm. There is a large Atlantic swell coming across our beam. It will be nice to be in Bahia De Samana, well protected from any swell.
Oana wakes up but I delay her getting breakfast until we are shielded from the Atlantic swell, which must be peaking at 3m as we come into Samana Bay. To the south we can see the huge swell breaking heavily on the reefs.
Our first sight of Samana coast shows it to be covered in palm trees, very green and very little development or even habitation, very much in contrast to Puerto Rico that was heavily populated.
As we pass the small resort island of Cayo Levantado we swing left to take a look at the beach to see if we should anchor there when we leave. Looks very nice and it reminds us of Palm Island in the Grenadines. We then pass the town of Samana. Quite small and we see a few yachts anchored in the sheltered bay.
We chose to go into Marina Puerto Bahia because we can clear customs and immigration there, whereas in the Samana Bay there are many stories of officials being creative with fees and bribes. Also Samana has had an issue with crime on yachts. Marina Puerto Bahia is just 1 mile further on from Samana town. Along with its hotel complex which is nestled into the green surrounding hills it looks very nice.
We enter and wait a few minutes for them to allocate our berth. It’s a very small marina but luckily there is virtually no wind, so maneuvering into our tight slip is surprisingly quite easy. Lots of hands to help us too – at least 3 people, all very helpful.
Check-in with customs and immigration is very easy and they are extremely pleasant. All greatly helped by Oana’s fluent Spanish.
Then we take a tour of the facilities. It really does have a 5-star feel. There is one infinity pool overlooking the bay and another on the first floor of the main building overlooking Cloudy Bay in the marina. There are several bars and restaurants too. But clients we don’t see too many. No apparent activity in the hotel rooms and the few people that are about seem to be from the few yachts in the marina. Just how do they make good business here?
We spend the afternoon very relaxed by the pool overlooking the bay. After our lack of sleep last night we find it hard to keep awake till they bring us the paella which we ordered for a late lunch. It’s not really up to Spanish paella, but not bad. And after that I do manage to have a lovely nap on the sunbed under a shade. Meanwhile Oana carries on reading her new book and sunbathing. Oh… this is the life. To wake up from a nap and find the sunset ring over the infinity pool next to you… and to find Oana next to me of course…:)
Around sunset the terrace gets busier with other yachties coming for early evening drinks. We chat to a young Swiss family with children who are on a catamaran. They tell us of a few things to do and see around here. So tomorrow we hire a car and explore for the day.
Evening is quiet on board. The marina is really nice and quiet. Just the sound of our lines squeaking!
Needles to say, we have an early night.