Luperon, Dominican Republic
Ships Log Entry 51
1-25-11 to 11-15-11
When I (Carol) landed in the Puerto Plata Airport in the Dominican Republic, I again had a big problem at Immigration. They wanted $10 US dollars and I only had $6. Believe it or not they wouldn’t take Peso dollars, (the Dominican Republic currency). Finally a lady behind me gave me $4 so I could get back in the country. I think she was tired of me holding up the line. Note: In the future while traveling overseas, have both US and the entering countries currency and then you will be covered all the way around. I thought; “boy what is going to happen next”. When I got to customs I saw they were opening all suitcases in several lines and I started sweating and wondering what to do. I looked for one line that looked like it was OK and I finally got a little luck. They just waved me through. Thank you, Thank you. I had a few boat parts in my suitcase and I didn’t want a hassle and besides all I had on me were Pesos. I said; “wow that was close”. I sure was glad to see John after being in the states for three months waiting at the gate. He was sweating and wondering what was taking me so long to go through immigration and customs. All sorts of weird thoughts were going through his head. Hopefully this was my last time dragging suitcases full of boat parts back through customs to the boat. I guess that is the price you have to pay for leaving the boat and going to the states. John had a taxi waiting for me with our favorite Dominican driver, Nino, who speaks good English. John & Nino had been shopping and the car was full of groceries and other miscellaneous items. Luckily my suitcases fit right in.
I got back into the routine of boat life real quick after I got back to the boat. The first Sunday I was back we back to Puerto Blanco Marina in Luperon, where they have every week a flea market and afterwards for lunch a BBQ. At the flea market you will be surprised at what you can find that you really need and at a good price. For lunch we had chicken, ribs, 2-3 vegetables and salad, all for $5.25 US dollars each. What a bargain!
On Tuesdays it was off to town for the open vegetable & fruit market and then to breakfast at Steve’s Place for $2.64 US dollars each. I sure can’t cook on the boat for those prices.
One morning we awoke after a storm that raged during the night only to find all kinds of yucky bugs on the outside of the boat crawling around the windows. They came with the rain and wind and were shedding their wings. We weren’t sure at first what they were so John went on the internet and saw that they were termites. Not good for us since our boat is loaded with a teak deck and teak interior. John got out the bug spray and killed all of them and then we bombed (bug bomb) the boat and left for town for awhile. That was sure an experience that so far hasn’t happened since – thank goodness. They were really creepy, crawly little things that I could do without.
Tuesday, November 15th, Nino our Dominican taxi driver picked us up at the Puerto Blanco Marina for our five days and four nights at the Life Style Vacation Resort in Puerto Plato. We had gotten a price of $15 US dollars per day all inclusive, which we couldn’t turn down. We found later that it had come down to $12 US dollars while we were there. We had heard about this deal from some other cruisers, when we first got to Luperon, who had been there. They said it was a great bargain so we went to see what it was all about. We might just come again if it turns out to be great. As usual we packed too much stuff to take with. We found out later we could have left our computers back on the boat because the connection there was terrible.
When we got to Life Style, our room wasn’t ready so we had a drink in the bar while we were waiting. “Why not” we said, they were free. We had some sort of drink similar to daiquiris. Life Style Vacation Resorts has several buildings that house the vacation crowd with three swimming pools by the buildings.
They also have units you can buy similar to time shares. You pay a price for how many weeks you want and you can use one or two a year as you so desire. You can also exchange them for their other properties around the world. Our room, on the third floor with no elevators, was like a Holiday Inn room with a king size bed, dresser, chairs and TV. We also had air conditioning but no internet.
We had a balcony where we could see out over the ocean with a spectacular view. We were a little disappointed but for $15 a day we couldn’t complain. The suites that they have for sale are a lot nicer and they come with all the amenities. In the bathroom there was a sign – “Don’t Drink the Water”. Now that was interesting!
After we got unpacked we left to explore the grounds.
They had several gift shops, a store with snacks, liquor, soda and miscellaneous items. We found the place where we were going to eat dinner, “Casa Blanca”. It was a smorgasbord type restaurant where they had everything imaginable to eat. We sure weren’t going to be hungry here and probably gain some weight.
The next morning Carol got up and got in line at 0745 for one of the beds on the beach. What a time to be up and about when you were on vacation. These beds were unique as some where on the ground with canopies and others held up by chains.
At 0800 the gates opened and there was a mad dash to get one of the beds for the day. I got one of the ones that were hanging on chains so the bed swung back and forth. The top and sides were covered in shear sheets to keep out the sun. We had never seen anything like them before in all our travels. They had sheets and throw pillows on them for comfort. Our bed was damp from the dew so I put down towels and lay down with my book and waited for John to appear after breakfast. When he got there I told him to hold down the fort and I was going to get some breakfast as well. When I returned I stopped and picked up some Mimosa drinks - (Champaign and Orange Juice}. We might as well live it up since we were here. We had just finished our drinks and were relaxing on the beds when it started to rain. We finally decided it wasn’t a good day for the beach and went to our air conditioned room to wait out the rain. After the rain stopped we went out exploring some more and then decided it was time for lunch. We had lunch in the same place as last night – the Casa Blanca smorgasbord. It was so peaceful here at the resort with nothing to do but lay around, eat and drink. It was sure a different life style than being on the boat all the time. Here we could take long hot showers and bask in the air conditioned room. Later that afternoon we ran into some boaters we knew from the Luperon Harbor, S/V Storeyville. We sat and chatted with them for awhile and decided to have some drinks. They showed us what they were drinking so we decided to get the same.
We got frozen drinks; Banana Mamas and Miami Vice’s. The Banana Mamas were made with Banana Liquor, Rum, Pina Colada Mix and crushed ice. The Miami Vices were Pina Colada Mix, Rum, Strawberry Daiquiri and crushed ice. That night we watched some HBO on the TV which we hadn’t seen for awhile. It was a real treat and different to be lying in bed, with air conditioning and watching TV.
The next day after breakfast we decided to go down to the beach where they had a little hut called “Wal-Mart”. It really looked interesting so we thought it was worth looking into.
John found a Dragon Plaque carved out of mahogany that he had been looking for, for years.
During the rest of the week we ate all our meals at Casa Blanca because the other places needed reservations and we couldn’t get in when we wanted to go. Life Style Holiday & Vacation Resort had four restaurants, kids club, fitness center, full service spa, coliseum, tennis courts, shopping centers, medical plaza, water sports, four bars and three swimming pools in our area. It was a true tropical beachfront experience with also twenty-four hour food and beverage service. In the areas where you purchased weeks they had suite’s, their own pools, bars and restaurants.
We really had a great time during the week. Friday came too soon and we were sad that we had to leave and go back to Luperon to the boat. We had planned in advance for our Dominican taxi driver, Nino to pick us up around 1100. We stopped on the way home at two grocery stores to stock up the boat for the food we thought we would need. We arrived back in Luperon around 1600 to find the boat still in one piece and not bothered while we were gone.
Stay tuned for more adventures from John & Carol aboard the S/V Sweet Caroline
