A Touristy Day in the D.R.

Photo Credit: Cousin Anna

Anna scheduled a whale watching tour for our second day in Sabana De La Mar. We woke up early  to catch a "guagua" to town where the boat would leave. In the Dominican Republic a "guagua" is any form of transportation that will take multiple people. This could include anything from a minivan to a bus and doesn't have to be public transportation. In our case it was a small bus, only slightly bigger than a mini van.

We arrived early for the tour and waited at a very empty restaurant area. Luckily the people who helped Anna book the tour sent us with a woman named Reina to show us where we needed to go. Otherwise we would have been very confused. While waiting we were greeted by some shockingly friendly (and overfed) street puppies.

There are street dogs everywhere in the DR. Although against CDC recommendation Kathleen loves to pet them. If you approach slowly and respectfully and kneel down nearby they will often tentatively come up to be pet. In most places we went street dogs wouldn't approach you because they occasionally get things thrown at them if they are too forward. However the dogs in this area were VERY forward. They clearly were used to different treatment (which later became clear) and they ran up, jumping and mouthing.

Eventually tourists started streaming in by the bus load from the tourist town of Punta Cana where they were clearly staying in the big resorts. It was a rather shocking influx of white people. As people started arriving we were served ham and cheese sandwiches, coffee, juice and fresh fruit. Many tourists were taking their sandwiches directly out to feed to the puppies and then going back for more. It explained a lot about the puppies behavior.

Eventually we were all divided onto boats and taken out to see the whales. Whale season in the Dominican Republic is from January 14th to March 14th when the humpback whales come to hang out in the bay. People absolutely love these tours and have an amazing time. Unfortunately for us, the water was VERY rough the day we went. The ride to the viewing area was basically a roller coaster ride that was rather terrifying. By the time we made it to where the whales were, about 10% of the boat was already throwing up.  It got worse from there.

We did get to see whales, which was very cool, but the tour wasn't without a few challenges. Due to the big waves they were difficult to see. We were also all trying to concentrate on the horizon to make sure we didn't join the ranks of the sick and it was a difficult boat to see out of because the sides were high. Needless to say we didn't get great pics but here are a couple. The animals are spectacular and the tour was probably great on a calmer day. As it was, we were all ready to head back to shore by the time we left.

 

After seeing the whales our boat dropped us off on an island to spend the afternoon. The island is very touristy and is referred to as Bacardi Island. They served us lunch and then we hung out on the beach at Playa Cayo Levantado. It was a beautiful beach and it was fun to spend a day relaxing and seeing what the majority of people experience when they go to the Dominican Republic. They also gave us complementary rum and cokes, so we went all out on tropical beach vacation hour. 

 

The boat ride back to the main land (bigger island?) was also choppy but not nearly as sickening. We just ended up with tons of waves coming over the sides of the boat and drenching us. When we got back we looked like we had been swimming in our clothes. Everyone else on the boat loaded up into their tour bus and we went to flag down a guagua. Overall it was a very interesting experience, but probably not our favorite of the days we spent in the DR. 

Los Haitises National Park

Our first big activity in the Dominican Republic was Los Haitises National Park for which we had a guide named Halle.

We woke up early in the morning to catch a moto-taxi, or "moto-concho", down the 10 kilometer road to the park. The trip up the unpaved road was gorgeous! Unfortunately we were all hanging on too tight to get any pictures.

We started our day by going on a kayaking tour, which we wanted to do early because we were told that that would give us the best chance of seeing manatees. While we didn't see any manatees it was still an amazing trip. It started by going down a small river through the mangrove forest, similar to what we experienced in southern Florida. But it was much more fun to be out on the water.

There were many of the same birds as in the Everglades as well as crabs that were living among the roots of the mangroves. Unfortunately we once again don't have very many pictures of this part of the day, this time because we were all trying to avoid getting our electronics wet.

When we came to the end of the river it opened up in a small bay called Bahia de San Lorenzo, which is in the larger Samana Bay. We stayed in the Bahia de San Lorenzo, which was nice and protected and smooth for kayaking. We may not have seen any manatees in the bay, but we did see several dolphins. They were swimming fairly close to us and we hung out for a while just watching them. This time we didn't get any pictures because we were enjoying just watching them too much.

After hanging out with the dolphins for a little while we moved on to a small island where we docked to eat fruit and enjoy the surroundings. Halle brought us bananas as well as a guañabana, AKA soursop. Both were delicious. 

 

 

After the kayaking trip we had a few hours to hang out and get lunch at the Caño Hondo eco lodge while Halle took another group out on a boat trip. 

Caño Hondo is a huge hotel that is built into the side of the mountain. It had amazing architecture and amazing views. They also had a delicious lunch. 

 

The other major perk of Caño Hondo is their pools. They diverted the river into a series of swimming holes coming down the side of the hill. They were gorgeous and a lot of fun to walk around. The day wasn't as warm as we had expected though, and the water was quite cool so we didn't end up swimming. 

 

Anna considered booking us to stay at this lodge, but they said they were full. Which was a little funny because it seemed quite empty. Overall we were all happy with the place we stayed in town, and we got more of the local feel there. 

For the early afternoon section of our trip we took another boat ride with Halle, this time on a bigger motor boat. We went back  down the river and through the bay to caves in national park.

The first cave we stopped at was well known for its pictographs. The cave is full of them and they range in subject from ancient tribal gods to crosses representing the colonizing Spanish. There are also pictures that are thought to represent a slave being beaten.

 

 

The massive cave was cool in and of itself. There is evidence that native people took cover in the cave during storms. It was absolutely massive and a fair amount of natural lighting, so even Kathleen who tends to get claustrophobic felt comfortable in there. 

The second cave was right on the water and had the feel of the ideal cave for a pirate to hide treasure in. We docked on a beautiful beach. 

 

From the beach we took several cool boardwalks into the partially flooded cave. 

 

This cave was also gorgeous and had interesting ancient carvings. The cave is also known for being home to many bats, but we didn't see any of them. Their main roosting area is further back in the cave and is off limits to visitors. 

 

For the last part of our day we went on a fun hike on a trail that Halle and a Peace Corps volunteer helped to build a couple of years ago. It was absolutely stunning. The trail went through one of the filming locations for Jurassic Park. 

And in true Dominican fashion we went stopped and tried all of the different fruits along the trail as we went. 

 

Coffee

 

Bija, primarily used as a dye but also to add flavor to meat dishes.
Also apparently used in some skin care products. 

Star Fruit 

 

Chocolate. The white fruit around the chocolate is absolutely incredible and super sweet.
One of the best things we tasted on this trip. 

Halle had to work super hard to get us some chocolate fruit. We tried throwing things but were unsuccessful. But he was determined enough that he scaled the tree to bring us one down. And boy are we glad that he did. 

There were lots of other cool things on the hike as well, including trees that use thorns to store water and giant termite nests. The hike was a great end to an amazing day. By the time we got back to the hotel on our moto conchos we were very ready for a shower and bed, especially because we knew we'd have to get up early again the next day. 

 

Travel Update 15

After replacing our fuel tank, we left Tom and Joanne's house and headed to Atlanta before flying to the Dominican Republic. We mostly drove directly to Atlanta, but did take a slight detour on the Natchez Trace Parkway and had a day with really bad weather.

In Atlanta, we met up with Andreas's dad, Rüdiger, stepmother, Maggie, and half brother, Karl. We had a ton of fun playing around with Karl but we couldn't keep up with all his energy.

Andreas and Karl

Kathleen with Karl

Rüdiger showed us around town while Maggie was at work and Karl was in daycare. We took a walk along the Roswell boardwalk near the Chattahoochee Nature Center. After that we got a driving tour of quite a few parts of northern Atlanta.

The 14th was Andreas's birthday! We took an afternoon trip to Ponce City Market which had an open food hall with all sorts of options of food. It is connected to the Atlanta Beltline, a 22-mile multi-use loop, parts of which are still under construction, which encircles all of Atlanta on old railroad lines. 

Model of Ponce City Market

Doggy daycare at Ponce City Market

After a Caribbean dinner at the market, we met up with Kathleen's old classmate Allison and her boyfriend Christian at the Orpheus Brewing tasting room. We enjoyed a variety of their beer and got a surprise trivia night where we placed 2nd.

Trivia team name: #RVLife

On the 15th, we dropped off our kids at a dog sitter that we found through Rover, and got dropped off at the airport for our trip to the Dominican Republic.

Our kids enjoying a full sized apartment