Trip Report - Post#1
I will post my trip report in a few parts... my photos can be found at http://www.ucmc.org/photos/album04
Bob & Chuck?s Dominican Adventure: January, 2004.
After some ski trip plans for January fell through around Thanksgiving, I started thinking about going somewhere warm instead. Chuck was also hinting at going somewhere South, so we started looking at our options. We had been to the Yucatan before, and would not mind returning to Tulum, but wanted to explore other options. Chuck was trying to push for Hawaii, but I thought that would be too expensive and would require more planning than I was willing to do. I also thought we were just taking one week and that would be too short for Hawaii, so we started looking at other options closer to our time zone.
We had heard good things about the Dominican Republic, but most of our friends who had been there went to Punta Cana. Chuck started looking into package deals, and I checked out a copy of the Lonely Planet and started looking at web sites. We heard that Puerto Plata would be better than Punta Cana for independent travel, especially for two single guys, so we focused our research on the North Coast. Unfortunately, airfares to Puerto Plata were very high for January ? over $1,000 in many cases. I knew we both had Delta Sky miles, so on a whim I started looking at that route. Delta did not fly to POP, but with Northwest and Continental now part of the Sky Team, we were able to put together an itinerary. The only ?problem? was that the number of seats was limited, and we could not find a 1-week trip in January with weekend departures. This also locked out any chance of others joining us with their Sky miles, but since there was no interest displayed we went ahead and booked our flights for a 2-week trip.
It would be just Chuck and me for 2 weeks, so the next step was to put together a basic itinerary. We knew we could not sit still for 2 weeks and that we wanted to explore different areas. By using the Lonely Planet?s Thorntree and other web boards, we found Rocky?s Blues Bar & Hotel in Sosua. Marco would pick us up at the airport for free and the rooms were only $15, so we decided to start our trip there. A couple of days at an all-inclusive might be relaxing, so I found Sosua by the Sea had good reviews and a fair price. After that I figured we would check out Cabarete windsurfing beach for a few days, and then venture off the 2nd week of the trip without any reservations. Options we were considering were the Saman? peninsula, Santo Domingo, and hiking Pico Duarte. After finding out that heavy rains had cancelled many hikes up the highest mountain in the Caribbean, we decided against Pico Duarte and figured we could catch the humpback whales in Saman? and explore other areas of the peninsula. We would make final plans when we got there and did not reserve any hotels after Cabarete.
Part 1 ? Sosua & Cabarete
So we arrive on Saturday, Jan 17th and there is Marco waiting for us. ?I have some bad news? I don?t have any rooms but I got you a good deal at the Waterfront.? Actually, it was a great deal right on the water with a pool and nice restaurant, at a good rate. After checking in, we decide to walk around and check out the area. We head back to Rocky?s for dinner and grab some agua and cervezas at the ?Super Super? for our room. The food at Rocky?s is very good and the drink prices are some of the cheapest in town. The only negative we could see was the bar next door to him gets very loud at night. After dinner we return the beers to our room at the Waterfront. After the long flight, I would have been content to stay put but of course we have to check out some more of the local bars. There was a small Dominican bar just up the road that had baseball games on the TV, so we stopped in for a couple of Presidente grandes (large beers). FYI ? Presidente is the main beer you will find in the DR: very refreshing on a hot day and better than expected. You might find other brands but none are as popular, although Ambar is a nice option if you like darker beers.
After another night at the Waterfront, we transfer to Sosua by the Sea, a nice property up the beach with an all-inclusive option. Very nice, but hindsight is 20-20, and we would have been better off staying put at the Waterfront and eating out with the deal we had there. So we spent a little more, and learned that the all-inclusive option is not for us. The first day, Chuck drank too many gin & tonics and did not want to go out later. The 2nd day was my turn, and I tripped over the sidewalk going back to the room and scraped my hand up pretty good. Be careful with those rum drinks you can?t taste the alcohol!
The surf was too dangerous the first few days, but finally on Tuesday the red flag was replaced with green, and we decided to venture out with our snorkeling gear. There is a popular spot called ?3 Rocks? that we could get to by walking up the beach a ways and then swimming out. I had a dive flag with me so I brought it along to allay my fear of boats running us over, and we swam out. The catamaran cruise from Puerto Plata had just arrived, and we were able to experience the same snorkeling for free that they had paid US$65 each for. Lots of different fish, partially because the snorkeling cruises always feed them bananas, but it was still good.
On the 21st, I had reserved a spot on North Coast Divers? Rio San Juan diving trip. The weather was not looking good, but I went up to the shop and it was a go. The dive trip starts in a lagoon about an hour east of Sosua (Rio San Juan/ Gri-Gri Lagoon), where the boat traverses through a mangrove swamp out to the sea. The visibility was so-so, but we got in two good dives before heading back to the restaurant on the lagoon for an authentic Dominican lunch. North Coast runs a first-class operation and I would recommend them if you want to do some diving in the area.
The original plan had us relaxing for four days at Sosua by the Sea, but getting bored real quick, we verified that we could check in early at our next destination. I had confirmed ahead of time two rooms at Casa Blanca Cabarete, for 3-4 nights. This was something I had found on the Internet that looked nice and was much cheaper than the nearby Condos Magnificos. When we arrived on Thursday, we started to figure out why? First they did not have the rooms we had reserved. OK, maybe because we are there a day early, but Holger was not around so we spoke with his help and were showed some different rooms to choose from. We chose a room in the beach house, which was a good location but we had to share a bed and there was no kitchenette or Internet access like we reserved. We met our neighbors, a nice couple from Ireland, who had a similar situation with their reservation. Combined with the shabby looking rooms, chairs that were unsafe to sit in, and the strange smells, this place did not live up to the description on its web site. When we finally met Holger, the young German owner, he was one of the nicest guys you?ll meet; unfortunately we would not recommend his place for a stay in Cabarete without looking at it first (he claims to be working on some upgrades). All was not lost however, as his creative web site designer friend pointed us to Papi?s beachside restaurant, for our best meal of the trip. The langostinos (baby lobster tails) in garlic cream sauce were extraordinary. So he exaggerates the hotel a little on the web, at least he is honest about Papi?s!
Cabarete is, of course, one of the top wind surfing destinations in the world. There are numerous places to rent equipment and/or take lessons for wind surfing, kite surfing, etc. Combined with our accommodation problems, the fact that we were getting tired of the beach, and the desire to spend more time exploring the Seman? peninsula, we did not do any wind surfing and ended up cutting our stay short to just 2 nights. Walking by Iguana Mama?s that night, we were looking at the flyers on the door describing the various adventure trips offered? mountain biking, rafting, hiking, etc. The store was closed, but the owner was inside and opened the door for us. After discussing the various options, he set us up for the ?27 Waterfalls of Damajagua? cascading trip for the next day, Friday.
http://www.iguanamama.com/tours-daily-canyon.html
I will post my trip report in a few parts... my photos can be found at http://www.ucmc.org/photos/album04
Bob & Chuck?s Dominican Adventure: January, 2004.
After some ski trip plans for January fell through around Thanksgiving, I started thinking about going somewhere warm instead. Chuck was also hinting at going somewhere South, so we started looking at our options. We had been to the Yucatan before, and would not mind returning to Tulum, but wanted to explore other options. Chuck was trying to push for Hawaii, but I thought that would be too expensive and would require more planning than I was willing to do. I also thought we were just taking one week and that would be too short for Hawaii, so we started looking at other options closer to our time zone.
We had heard good things about the Dominican Republic, but most of our friends who had been there went to Punta Cana. Chuck started looking into package deals, and I checked out a copy of the Lonely Planet and started looking at web sites. We heard that Puerto Plata would be better than Punta Cana for independent travel, especially for two single guys, so we focused our research on the North Coast. Unfortunately, airfares to Puerto Plata were very high for January ? over $1,000 in many cases. I knew we both had Delta Sky miles, so on a whim I started looking at that route. Delta did not fly to POP, but with Northwest and Continental now part of the Sky Team, we were able to put together an itinerary. The only ?problem? was that the number of seats was limited, and we could not find a 1-week trip in January with weekend departures. This also locked out any chance of others joining us with their Sky miles, but since there was no interest displayed we went ahead and booked our flights for a 2-week trip.
It would be just Chuck and me for 2 weeks, so the next step was to put together a basic itinerary. We knew we could not sit still for 2 weeks and that we wanted to explore different areas. By using the Lonely Planet?s Thorntree and other web boards, we found Rocky?s Blues Bar & Hotel in Sosua. Marco would pick us up at the airport for free and the rooms were only $15, so we decided to start our trip there. A couple of days at an all-inclusive might be relaxing, so I found Sosua by the Sea had good reviews and a fair price. After that I figured we would check out Cabarete windsurfing beach for a few days, and then venture off the 2nd week of the trip without any reservations. Options we were considering were the Saman? peninsula, Santo Domingo, and hiking Pico Duarte. After finding out that heavy rains had cancelled many hikes up the highest mountain in the Caribbean, we decided against Pico Duarte and figured we could catch the humpback whales in Saman? and explore other areas of the peninsula. We would make final plans when we got there and did not reserve any hotels after Cabarete.
Part 1 ? Sosua & Cabarete
So we arrive on Saturday, Jan 17th and there is Marco waiting for us. ?I have some bad news? I don?t have any rooms but I got you a good deal at the Waterfront.? Actually, it was a great deal right on the water with a pool and nice restaurant, at a good rate. After checking in, we decide to walk around and check out the area. We head back to Rocky?s for dinner and grab some agua and cervezas at the ?Super Super? for our room. The food at Rocky?s is very good and the drink prices are some of the cheapest in town. The only negative we could see was the bar next door to him gets very loud at night. After dinner we return the beers to our room at the Waterfront. After the long flight, I would have been content to stay put but of course we have to check out some more of the local bars. There was a small Dominican bar just up the road that had baseball games on the TV, so we stopped in for a couple of Presidente grandes (large beers). FYI ? Presidente is the main beer you will find in the DR: very refreshing on a hot day and better than expected. You might find other brands but none are as popular, although Ambar is a nice option if you like darker beers.
After another night at the Waterfront, we transfer to Sosua by the Sea, a nice property up the beach with an all-inclusive option. Very nice, but hindsight is 20-20, and we would have been better off staying put at the Waterfront and eating out with the deal we had there. So we spent a little more, and learned that the all-inclusive option is not for us. The first day, Chuck drank too many gin & tonics and did not want to go out later. The 2nd day was my turn, and I tripped over the sidewalk going back to the room and scraped my hand up pretty good. Be careful with those rum drinks you can?t taste the alcohol!
The surf was too dangerous the first few days, but finally on Tuesday the red flag was replaced with green, and we decided to venture out with our snorkeling gear. There is a popular spot called ?3 Rocks? that we could get to by walking up the beach a ways and then swimming out. I had a dive flag with me so I brought it along to allay my fear of boats running us over, and we swam out. The catamaran cruise from Puerto Plata had just arrived, and we were able to experience the same snorkeling for free that they had paid US$65 each for. Lots of different fish, partially because the snorkeling cruises always feed them bananas, but it was still good.
On the 21st, I had reserved a spot on North Coast Divers? Rio San Juan diving trip. The weather was not looking good, but I went up to the shop and it was a go. The dive trip starts in a lagoon about an hour east of Sosua (Rio San Juan/ Gri-Gri Lagoon), where the boat traverses through a mangrove swamp out to the sea. The visibility was so-so, but we got in two good dives before heading back to the restaurant on the lagoon for an authentic Dominican lunch. North Coast runs a first-class operation and I would recommend them if you want to do some diving in the area.
The original plan had us relaxing for four days at Sosua by the Sea, but getting bored real quick, we verified that we could check in early at our next destination. I had confirmed ahead of time two rooms at Casa Blanca Cabarete, for 3-4 nights. This was something I had found on the Internet that looked nice and was much cheaper than the nearby Condos Magnificos. When we arrived on Thursday, we started to figure out why? First they did not have the rooms we had reserved. OK, maybe because we are there a day early, but Holger was not around so we spoke with his help and were showed some different rooms to choose from. We chose a room in the beach house, which was a good location but we had to share a bed and there was no kitchenette or Internet access like we reserved. We met our neighbors, a nice couple from Ireland, who had a similar situation with their reservation. Combined with the shabby looking rooms, chairs that were unsafe to sit in, and the strange smells, this place did not live up to the description on its web site. When we finally met Holger, the young German owner, he was one of the nicest guys you?ll meet; unfortunately we would not recommend his place for a stay in Cabarete without looking at it first (he claims to be working on some upgrades). All was not lost however, as his creative web site designer friend pointed us to Papi?s beachside restaurant, for our best meal of the trip. The langostinos (baby lobster tails) in garlic cream sauce were extraordinary. So he exaggerates the hotel a little on the web, at least he is honest about Papi?s!
Cabarete is, of course, one of the top wind surfing destinations in the world. There are numerous places to rent equipment and/or take lessons for wind surfing, kite surfing, etc. Combined with our accommodation problems, the fact that we were getting tired of the beach, and the desire to spend more time exploring the Seman? peninsula, we did not do any wind surfing and ended up cutting our stay short to just 2 nights. Walking by Iguana Mama?s that night, we were looking at the flyers on the door describing the various adventure trips offered? mountain biking, rafting, hiking, etc. The store was closed, but the owner was inside and opened the door for us. After discussing the various options, he set us up for the ?27 Waterfalls of Damajagua? cascading trip for the next day, Friday.
http://www.iguanamama.com/tours-daily-canyon.html