We arrived in the Dominican Republic with a hitchhiker onboard – Sebastien, a 22-year-old Belgian with a degree in Computer Science. He is a vegetarian and very environmentally conscious, on a gap year trip to discover whether he had made the right career choice. Although he enjoyed working with computers, his true passion lay in climate activism, and he was considering switching to environmental science to help protect the planet.
Sebastien was traveling to Central America to volunteer on a local farm in exchange for food and shelter, when he found himself stranded in Puerto Rico without a way to continue his journey. Fortunately, we had room on our boat and welcomed him onboard for the journey to the Dominican Republic. It had been a while since we had crew onboard, so it was great to have some company.
Once we arrived in the Dominican Republic, we anchored in the small town of Samana. From there, we discovered a natural island that was accessible via a nearby bridge. Despite the island being home to a half-finished building with no signs or information, we enjoyed a lovely walk with stunning views. We were left wondering about the story behind the mysterious building and bridge, but the experience was well worth it.
Samana was a quite noisy city due to a busy road with lots of scooters and motorcycles. Although the facades facing the road were nice, we noticed that the back of the city had a lot of garbage on the streets. It was disheartening to see children throwing their empty water bottles on the street in a local park without any trash cans around. This plastic will eventually end up in the sea.
After spending three days in Samana, we sailed to Ocean World Marina near Puerto Plata to refuel and replenish our supplies. It felt like pure luxury to have access to fresh water, showers, and other amenities.
At the marina, we were welcomed by Scott and Lea, a Canadian couple with two young children who had started a yacht club in cooperation with the marina. It was a great opportunity to socialize with other sailors, exchange knowledge about knots, and enjoy dining together.
One day, we went into the city Puerto Plata to get provisions. We noticed a heavy police presence, including narcotic police. The marina and surrounding resorts were also guarded by armed personnel, which made us feel uneasy.
Despite the differences we experienced in the Dominican Republic compared to the southern islands, we stayed in the marina for five days to fix some issues with our boat’s power and prepare for our trip to Florida.
