Falacies about Punta Cana: GET YOUR FACTS STRAIGHT!

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Dominicaus

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It has come to my attention that some of the people who know so very very much about the DR, and its people have fabricated some theories about PUNTA CANA that are just plain wrong.

GET YOUR FACTS STRAIGHT, Will you?


First is the ridiculous allegation that there are no mountains near PC. Get your facts straight!!! There are LOTS OF MOUNTAINS near PC. There is an entire MOUNTAIN RANGE (called Cordillera Oriental, meaning Eastern Mountain Range) which runs through the entire East of the island, and starts (or ends) very near PC...(say 40 Km, 25 miles or so from PC)...It runs though the Northern half of the East...NO you cannot see them from the beach...If you need your mountains to be visible from the beach for whichever purposes you are out of luck...But if you want to find NEARBY mountains, some as high as 700-800m (over 2500 feet) or so, you don't have to drive too far or too long from PC. Also, if you take the main (but older) road linking Higuey (50KM from PC) with El Seibo and beyong you will be seeing the Cordillera Oriental through your journey...

Another absolutely ridiculous 'theory' if you can call it that is that the 'risk of hurricanes' is actually higher in PC than it is in the North Shore or elsewhere. The theory is utterly nonsensical for two reasons:

1) I am yet to see any statistical evidence that it is true that the EYE of a hurricane is more likely to hit PC than any other part of the country...hurricanes seem to go wherever they want without logic...indeed some bypass the Caribbean al together and proceed on the Atlantic (passing way North of the island) heading to the N. America mainland (the Carolinas, etc), others seem to head staraight to Central America (Mitch comes to mind), passing way South of the DR, and a few go through the DR...

2) EVEN IF IT WAS TRUE --- HUMONGOUS IF -- that some parts of the island are more likely to be visited by THE EYE of a hurricane, it would make hardly any difference, for the very simple and OBVIOUS reason that the hurricanes are MUCH MUCH MUCH larger than the entire island...If you have never in your life seen a satellite picture of a hurricane, I will link a couple for you...There are plenty of them on the web...

DO NOT CONFUSE a hurricane with a tornado...Tornado winds are much more powerful and destructive than hurricane's but much more concentrated, to the point that a tornado can literally thoroughly destroy a house and leave an identical next-door house virtually intact...

OTOH, Hurricanes are MASSIVE SYSTEMS that can cover MUCH OF THE CARRIBEAN including several entire islands...the Hispaniola island (DR+Haiti) is MUCH SMALLER than a major hurricane system...so IF THE EYE (centre) of the hurricane goes through the island, the entire island will be under extremely high winds (wherever the eye goes through)...Furthermore, modern concrete buildings have NO PROBLEM withstanding hurricane-type forces...MOST OF THE DAMAGE IS CAUSED BY FLOODS resulting from the torrential rains that precede and succeed the eye of the hurricane...and once again, the hurricane systems are SO MASSIVE that as long as the EYE of a hurricane goes ANYWHERE NEAR the island the entire island will be under a lot of rain, with the corresponding floods (in flood-prone areas).

STOP THE MISINFORMATION, PLEASE.

Now, for you: Hurricane Hortense, one of the most destructive to affect the DR in recent years...you can clearly see its EYE, see how MUCH BIGGER than the island it is...and by the way, see what part of the island is closer to the EYE (hint: NOT PC).

HORT2.GIF


Here is again Hortense, a bit farther North and near peak strength:

Hurricane_Hortense_12_sept_1996_1800Z.jpg
 
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Bronxboy

Bronxboy

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Also, this belongs in the Weather and Beyond forum NOT Real Estate!!!!!!
 
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Dominicaus

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Bronxboy said:
Also, this belongs in the Weather and Beyond forum NOT Real Estate!!!!!!
Click to expand...
I though about this...but I do not agree...it is not just weather we are talking about...weather is just one item...There are other issues I have not yet mentioned for lack of time...hence the title of the thread..fallacies...ALL of them...and there are many.
 
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windeguy

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Flat is still flat and hurricanes arrive from the east

If I were to live in a region such as anywhere in Florida or in Punta Cana that when I walk out of my house I would not see anything but flat land then that is what I call a lack of mountains or flat land. If I have to drive 10, 20 or 30 Km to see the mountains, I would consider where I lived to be flat land. But maybe that is just me and my Dominican wife who think that way.

Yes hurricanes are big, most often much bigger than the DR. As for the likelihood of storms having an impact on the DR, it seems you are still missing the point that storms come from the east or southeast and proceed west or northwest and therefor are much more likely to strike the eastern part of the land mass of Hispaniola, which is where Punta Cana is, than they are to strike the north shore. It is not that there is no impact on the rest of the DR, but there is more impact where the hurricane makes landfall. In general having the center of the storm go through your location is much more damaging than having the storm pass by on either side

Here is an image of storms that have been in the area of the DR. You can readily see how many more have made landfall on the east or south coast compared to the north coast.

14bnk83.png
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Hillbilly

Hillbilly

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I think you are wrong on both counts.

The East and South get a lot more hurricane damage that the North Coast: David, Federico, In?s, Allen, Georges etcetera...
Please note that Casa de Campo had to spend close to US$300 million to repair the damage from Georges.

As for the mountains, well, there are none in the province of La Altagracia. A couple of mounds if you will...come on...
Sure if you go over to El Seibo or Hato Mayor or Sabana de la Mar there are some little hills...which are beautiful for sure.

Surf and mountains, only on the North Shore. Punta Cana and its environs is more about comfortable living, golf, tourism, not about scenery....except ocean views...

Sorry.

Cordially,


HB
 
Bronxboy

Bronxboy

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donP said:
Well...
He is probably selling RE in the PC area.... ;)

donP
Click to expand...

I checked prior posts and do not see anything referring to that but the thought does cross our minds.

Sounds like a victim of a sanky who wants us to say that the person is legit!!!
 
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Dominicaus

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windeguy said:
Yes hurricanes are big, most often much bigger than the DR. As for the likelihood of storms having an impact on the DR, it seems you are still missing the point that storms come from the east or southeast and proceed west or northwest and therefor are much more likely to strike the eastern part of the land mass of Hispaniola, which is where Punta Cana is, than they are to strike the north shore...Here is an image of storms that have been in the area of the DR. You can readily see how many more have made landfall on the east or south coast compared to the north coast.
Click to expand...

So according to your theory, the islands and territories NORTH of the DR should get very few hurricane visits? Places like say Bahamas, Caikos, etc...Maybe the Carolinas also? You are simply wrong. Most hurricanes do come from the East or SE and proceed N/NW...BUT THE SPECIFIC PATH THEY CHOOSE is totally arbitrary...the very images I showed were of a very destructive hurricane which is quite visibly directly North and near of Puerto Plata...
And once again, EVEN IF IT WAS TRUE that the (relatively tiny) EYE is more likely to go through the SE of the island, the system are so huge compared to the island,it still would make no significant difference...especially considering the very significant water/flood damage.
 
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Dominicaus

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Hillbilly said:
I think you are wrong on both counts.
As for the mountains, well, there are none in the province of La Altagracia.
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I answered the hurricane issue already...but let me tell you that I know La Altagracia REALLY REALLY well, and can tell you that there are LOTS OF MOUNTAINS in the province...I have actually been very VERY close to them......Most are just North of the Higuey/Seibo road...FYI MOST of the road between Higuey and Seibo (30 KMS or so) is inside La Altagracia...the border is near the "Pavon" crossing which is just a few KMs from Seibo...if you know anyone who has done the "Monster Truck" Safari, they'll tell you...the route goes into the mountainous area...Yeah they are not as high as Pico Duarte...then again, not many mountains are, outside the centre of the island.
 
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windeguy

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Dominicaus said:
So according to your theory, the islands and territories NORTH of the DR should get very few hurricane visits? Places like say Bahamas, Caikos, etc...Maybe the Carolinas also? You are simply wrong. Most hurricanes do come from the East or SE and proceed N/NW...BUT THE SPECIFIC PATH THEY CHOOSE is totally arbitrary...the very images I showed were of a very destructive hurricane which is quite visibly directly North and near of Puerto Plata...
And once again, EVEN IF IT WAS TRUE that the (relatively tiny) EYE is more likely to go through the SE of the island, the system are so huge compared to the island,it still would make no significant difference...especially considering the very significant water/flood damage.
Click to expand...

No I am NOT saying that the Bahamas, Turks and Caikos, etc don't get hurricanes. That has nothing to do with this discussion. Of course they are on the path of hurricanes as is Cancun, other parts of Mexico and the entire east cost of the US. Irrelevant to our current discussion of the DR.

We are talking only about the potential of hurricanes to hit the DR. The DR is the largest island next to Cuba in this area. When a hurricane makes landfall somewhere in the DR like the East or South coast where anyone can see they are more likely to hit, and proceeds over the island, the force of that storm greatly diminishes. It makes a huge difference if you take a direct hit from the storm versus being in the path later after it passes over land. That is something I see you do not wish to acknowledge for whatever personal agenda you are keeping.
 
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Dominicaus

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windeguy said:
No I am NOT saying that the Bahamas, Turks and Caikos, etc don't get hurricanes. That has nothing to do with this discussion.
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It has EVERYTHING to do with the discussion...the hurricanes EYES follow arbitrary paths...some may go way South of the DR...some may go..way North...some may narrowly miss the island from the South...some may narrowly miss the island from the North (say just hitting Puerto Plata but nowere else), etc., etc. etc. Their routes also change drastically...Another VERY destructive hurricane that hit the DR was George...the EYE's projected path clearly showed that it would miss the DR, going just North of Samana...but near PR it had a sudden change of heart and headed directly to the capital city of SD...in fact went THROUGH it...They have NO agenda...But again, the eye is relatively tiny and the system absolutely MASSIVE...the specific point where the tiny eye goes through makes very little difference (especially to modern concrete or even concrete block constructions)...the rain hits everywhere in front, behind and around the eye...and THAT is the problem.
 
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KateP

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Dominicaus said:
..But again, the eye is relatively tiny and the system absolutely MASSIVE...the specific point where the tiny eye goes through makes very little difference (especially to modern concrete or even concrete block constructions)...the rain hits everywhere in front, behind and around the eye...and THAT is the problem.
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I wonder, have you ever been in the eye of a storm? I was here when George hit and was living in Santo Domingo. Let me tell you it wasn't fun. The strength of the winds before and after the eye passed were horrifying and I've heard it said many times by hurricane experts that the winds around the eye are the strongest of the storm. So please don't tell me that it doesn't matter where the eye goes cause it most definitely does.

The Eye of a Hurricane

Facts About The Eye Of A Hurricane
 
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windeguy

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Dominicaus said:
It has EVERYTHING to do with the discussion...the hurricanes EYES follow arbitrary paths...some may go way South of the DR...some may go..way North...some may narrowly miss the island from the South...some may narrowly miss the island from the North (say just hitting Puerto Plata but nowere else), etc., etc. etc. Their routes also change drastically...Another VERY destructive hurricane that hit the DR was George...the EYE's projected path clearly showed that it would miss the DR, going just North of Samana...but near PR it had a sudden change of heart and headed directly to the capital city of SD...in fact went THROUGH it...They have NO agenda...But again, the eye is relatively tiny and the system absolutely MASSIVE...the specific point where the tiny eye goes through makes very little difference (especially to modern concrete or even concrete block constructions)...the rain hits everywhere in front, behind and around the eye...and THAT is the problem.
Click to expand...

I can only say that you want to ignore the most likely paths that hurricanes have travelled in the past, are doing today and will in the future, in favor of the idea that a hurricane can pick any arbitrary path at any given point in time which while true is unlikely. The National Hurricane Center has gotten quite good at predicting the paths of hurricanes, but I am sure you would argue against that.

The rain from a hurricane is NOT the only problem, and you seem focused on that. A lot of rain where I live is less of a problem than hurricane force winds would be for me, but I am sure you don't want to hear that.

I also see that as long as mountains are within driving distance from your location you would say you live near mountains with no importance to the fact you cannot see them from your residence.
 
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frank12

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Now that we're on the subject, I'd like to clarify some moe misinformation, fallacies, myths, and folklore about Punta Cana.

1st.) Punta Cana isn't just flat...it's as flat as a pancake, as flat as a China man's behind.

2nd.) Punta Cana isn't just hot...it's roasting hot, it's boiling hot, it's baking hot, it's sweltering. it's like a sauna. it's a F^$$&king furnace boiling over.

3rd.) Punta Cana isn't just a little boring, it's insanity inducing boring. it's tedious, it's tiresome, it's dull, it's bothersome, it's humdrum, and it's monotonous. the only thing to do there is eat, f^&k, gamble, drink, or sleep. Not neccessarily in that order.

4. Punta Cana women are boring in bed, have poor hygiene, are color-blind, have bad teeth, sport ugly feet, carry toe-jam, and chew their food too much...which induces the smell of rotten eggs about them.

5. The only thing to see in Punta Cana is the mall in Bavaro. other than that, it's just all inclusives--one after another for as long as the eye can see. What's so appealing about that?

Wait, Punta Cana has a marina now and i think someone on there named "PuntaCanaMike" invited me out there last year, so i take back everything that i said, including reserving further judgment until i go out there and visit PuntaCanaMike and see the Marina that he waxed so eloquently about.

Frank
 
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