Samana

Have spent the last few days in R&R mode and have managed to recover from the sail here.  We have all managed to spend time at the marina pools and everyone except Sam had a visit to the spa today for a much needed massage.

Dulcinea moored at the marina

Today is Sams 13th birthday so we took him over to the resort restaurant for breakfast.  Feel a bit sorry for him as we have not been anywhere with any significants shops since Florida and so for his birthday he had to be content with a couple of shirts we bought yesterday in Samana.  And to top it off Scott made him do a couple of school lessons today. But to our dear, fantastic, awesome Sam - Happy Birthday! Thanks to everyone who managed to get a birthday message through.

Our Teenager

This area of the DR is really nice.  We have had a trip into the local town of Samana which is about 15 mins drive away.  The town is a reasonable size but not particulaly attractive and kind of what you would expect.  The town centre is curled around a small bay where visiting yachts anchor.  Again the town could be in Indonesia apart from the afro caribbean population.  There are small ramshackle shops lining the streets selling the usual mass produced clothing and plasticware and tourist shops hawking the same gaudy trinkets.  We looked for a food market which we had read about but could not find it.  Best we could come up with was a small truck loaded down with pineapples.  There is quite a bit of rubbish around and most of the buildings are in need of anything from a lick of paint to complete demolition.  The people though are very friendly as soon as you approach them.  We did manage to try some street food from an Argentinian hawker which consisted of empanadas which are like a small tortilla wrap cooked in a genuine wood fired oven.  

Buying Pineapples

When we had to get back to the hotel we could not find a taxi and a helpful local guy managed to collar a Dominican version of a motorised rickshaw for us.  With five westerners in the back the litlle 100cc bike engine was having a really hard time pulling us up the steep DR hillside roads.  We had to disembark and walk the last small hill to the marina complex entrance as it proved just too steep a gradient for the now overheated and smoking bike.  The old guy driving it was very apologetic but we were just glad to have made it safely back and gave him a good tip.  

Its amazing how the feel of the town changes in the dark.  As the sun goes down, the heat of the day seeps away and  the temperature becomes very pleasant.  And as the light fades you do not notice the poverty as much.  The litter on the streets is not so apparent and the night is filled with amazing smells mingling with the ever present exhaust fumes drifting over from the roads and wood smoke.  There are no harsh street lights, and dwellings all seem to be running their lights on 50% power which produces a soft orange glow inside the homes.  Cars and motorbikes zip around everywhere and from a multitude of open air bars Spanish/Caribbean music blares out.  Over here as well it seems the people are very much night time orientated and families are just out for a wander.

Samana Town Harbour

Tomorrow we head out across Samana Bay to a national park called Los Haitises which everyone we have met and every guide book says is amazing.  The bay itself is very tranquil after the last couple of months of sailing and looks extremely serene.  Am sure the weather can blow up on it as well but the last few days have been pretty calm.  Enroute to Los Haitises we are going to try spend some time looking for whales.  Apparently Samana Bay is where a huge proportion of all humpback whales come to mate between mid Feb and mid March and we have met quite a few people who have already been out on tours and seen them.