Samana trip report

Clampett One

New member
Aug 3, 2006
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My Samana trip report

First of all, Samana is and has always been one of the most beautiful places to see in the DR. If you have not visited before, you must. Having said that, let me get to my report.
I drove there from Santo Domingo through the new highway, which you hop on from Las Americas towards Samana. Great road, so new, so clean, but still a bit under develop at many points. Its about 160 kilometers to drive the entire road. It took me about 1 hour and half to get to the old road to Samana. The tolls in the new road are horrendously expensive. 164 Dominican pesos and there are two of them. I know you might think I am exaggerating, but trust me that is what it costs. I could afford it, but I am not sure how regular Dominicans (meaning those who live and work there) can afford it. All other road tolls in the country are just 30 pesos.

So, as you probably already know, Samana is a huge tourist destination, there are tourists visiting there from just about any part of the world. Knowing this, you would think that Dominican authorities would ensure that the road that leads to this beautiful paradise like place is presentable, driveable, clean and safe. Wrong. The road that leads into the Samana area is horrible, full of trash, potholes and not very safe. I was driving a rental which at the end of the drive had two bent rims from the holes on the road. No big deal, I bent it back and they never noticed. If you drive on that road, you need to look out for the motorcycle drivers, animals, pedestrians and even children just plain old playing in the middle of the road. If its night time, you need to double the level of caution. People in the area consider perfectly acceptable to drive a motorcycle without any sort of lights at night in the middle of the road. It is also common to see people walking on the road where you can hardly see them as you drive at night. But then again, this is no different from anywhere else in the country. So basically, if you drive you need to be an experienced Dominican driver such as yours truly, if I might say so myself. Also, an experienced driver in the US or Europe does not make you an experienced driver in the DR. Don?t get that confused.

We arrived to this beautiful Malecon (if you don?t know what this means, you are in the wrong site) looking street, which I don?t remember from my last visit there as a kid. The weather was beautiful, the ladies look great and the buscones (hustlers) were out. We cracked open the biggest bottle of Brugal I had even seen, mixed with some cranberry juice and went sight seeing. I could have stayed there for days. After some time, we set our sites on Cayo Levantao. This great Island, accessible only by boat, is just minutes away and has perhaps the most beautiful sites and beaches in the DR. As we tried to negotiate our way there, there were many who try to get us to hire their private boats to Cayo Levantao. We opted for the larger, sort of more public boats that take people there. Looking back on that, I should have gone with the private boat. The Large boats, which operate out of a port built and managed by the Dominican authorities, are great in many ways, however they have no set schedule and no sense of urgency either. They depart whenever the captain feels like leaving or whenever the captain feel that he has enough passengers. It was frustrating. Sitting there in the boat, in the sun just waiting. We waited for about 45 minutes. You are required to pay in advance for the round trip. The understanding is that you pay in advance and the end of the day, when you are prepared to return they will be there to pick you up. You could also board any boat coming back. You would not be required to return in the same boat. The boat crew tells you that the last boat will be departing from the Island at around 6 PM.
We arrived at the Island, had fun and I almost snapped my neck looking at all the beautiful women walking around in very little clothing. Had some pescado frito (fried fish), too much to drink and enjoyed the sun. At the end of the day, we went back to the dock to wait for our boat to come and pick us up to go back. This is where things got a bit ugly. After perhaps an hour, 7 PM, there was no boat. Basically, the boat never came. People were starting to become tired of waiting and paying others to take them back to the city. It seemed as if the only boats going back and forth were those little ones with a motor behind them and no life vests. Many people would not dare to board those small boats because of the children with them. There was a crowd of about 100 of us at one point. The night was falling fast and patience was running low. I was drinking my Brugal and did not have a sense of urgency to go back or not. After all, I am on vacation. The people traveling with me felt a bit trapped and paranoid. I stood around taking pictures of my friends and laughing at my own drunken jokes, which no one thought were funny at this point.
At one point a larger boat arrives, docks where everyone is waiting and immediately is mobbed as people jump in. The scene appeared to be out of a movie where there is some sort of monster in the island and people are trying to get away. It was plain old disturbing. We were one of the last to leave, in part thanks to my lack of urgency. As we headed back, the captain of this boat explains to the crowd that he was just going back and did not want to go back alone. He basically felt bad to see so many people stuck in the island. He went on to say that he sees this situation in a daily basis, where people pay in advance and become stranded into the evening.
As we docked back in Samana, several people complained to some of the Dominican police in the area, which appeared to shrug their shoulders and explain that this was not their concern.
As a Dominican, traveling along with many other tourists, I was embarrassed. I was embarrassed for my people. Embarrassed for my country. But then again, I was drunk, so........
I don?t understand why situation is not addressed by our Dominican authorities. It appears to be so simple. Set up time tables, post them to tell people what times boat depart at each end and force the boats to stick to that schedule. That would also mean that authorities would have to be responsible and not be bribed by the boat owners, ..........so forget it.

If you visit Samana and you should, you might want to consider a private boat when going over to Cayo Levantao. Just make sure it is safe and has life vests.

If you drive, try to drive only during the day and if you hit someone, don?t stop.
The friends and family I was with extremely upset. As for me, I was hungry and it was time for another Brugal anyway.