Sunday 28 April, Dom Rep day 5: Enforced extra day in Marina Puerto Bahia. And Happy Easter for the rest of us!
We wake up energized and ready for new adventures. Plan is to head across the bay and anchor into the national park. What we didn’t consider when we made the plan, was that today is Sunday. And despite the fact that customs officer said they are on duty every day, turns out he is not coming today. And without his paperwork we may not leave. Hm, I guess we can either be naughty and go anyway, or we spend another day here, relaxing by the wonderful swimming pool. And in no time we decide for the later.
After Glen flies the drone over the marina and surroundings, we get our books and make ourselves comfortable on the sun beds by the pool. Cool water, nice breeze, delicious pina colada…couldn’t ask for more. We spend several hours in the shade, reading, and indulge ourselves in “poison food” (pizza) from one of the restaurants. It’s Easter after-all (Orthodox Church Easter), so we can treat ourselves! 🙂
As the afternoon progresses the sky gets darker and darker with threatening clouds. We left the hatches open, and if the sky suddenly opens up, by the time we run back to the boat everything inside will get soaked. So when we get chilly enough and rain looks imminent we head back to Cloudy Bay for a warm cup of tea. Perfect timing, as soon after that it rains indeed.
There are quite a few people about today, the hotel must be getting a fair use over weekends. High end clientele even, as a helicopter is just landing. Hm, and that gets us curious on this Bannister Hotel which is part of the marina complex. The reception area and facilities are all very nice, but how affordable (or not) is it for weekend getaways? Booking.com reveals it for us. US$100 for a room or US$200 for penthouse. And that includes breakfast! That gets our thoughts going. I am thinking of a soak in the bathtub, and Glen comments how we paid the penthouse rate for a way-below-average room in Saba! What a great deal this marina hotel is.
Now that we have the internet from the precious local SIM card, Glen gets going on more internet research. And for the evening the focus was on RIBs. When we upgraded the outboard two years ago, we were contemplating on getting a new RIB too. For various reasons we didn’t. And now is one of those moments when Glen thinks (again) maybe we should upgrade the dinghy. What if our old Avon won’t last us through the Pacific.
The attraction of the evening is a Highfield 310, especially after we learn that the davit pad-eye are exactly the width of our davits. But the price tag is $5,500. Quite a big item to chew on. That would dent our budget. Plus, a new RIB would be more inviting for thieves. Maybe it’s not a good thing to have internet…It gets our shopping-devils out!
Finally we roll into bed close to midnight. With the sun setting later and later the evenings are starting to seem quite short.