Monte Cristi question

Harry · May 12, 2002

Hallo

We are going by (metro or caribe) bus from puerto plata to Monte cristi , we want to visit the lagoon and the cayos siete hermanos , is it easy to find once we get in Monte Cristi ?
Are there boats to take us to the lagoon and te islands and if so do you have any idee of the price to visit this places ?

mvg
Harry

Bugsey34 · May 12, 2002

I have no idea, but I'm sure someone on the board will be able to help you but my two cents is that if you have time, go to El Morro beach in Monte Cristi.
It is within the National Park there, ask any of the locals about it and they will help you with directions. It is BEAUTIFUL and usually deserted!!

Ken · May 12, 2002

Harry, one thing you can be certain of in the Dominican Republic is that wheever there is an attraction with potential interest to tourists there will be people eager to take you there. Count on it.

Pib · May 12, 2002

I am not endorsing any business..

But, why don't you contact a French expat who lives in MC, who also owns
Le Bistrot, a small pub and restaurant with good Dominican and international
food. Herve will arrange for anything you might want or do while in town.
You can contact him at Tel (809) 579-2091, Fax (413) 235-0194 or
hotel.jardines@codetel.net.do

Harry · May 16, 2002

For Pib

Hallo

I have mailed your friend Herve , he mailed me back and said it going to cost 40 us a person to go by smal boat true te lagoon and te islands , i believe this is to mutch to spend for a couple of houres in a boat , are there no local fishermen to take tourist by te same "excursion" for normal price , for this money we can go by luxe boat from Belgium to England and back .
I believe you can now this because a read you have lived in Monte Cristi .
I believe some people over there think we do not af to work for te money , al year every day to te factory to pay for a vacation and then get ripped of by some locals 8000 kilometers from Belgium then we better stay in te hotel .
We are willing to pay for everthing but howmuch proffit te want for a simple excursion 15 % cost and 85 % proffit ?
Ofcourse i understeand it is not your fault but on te long run people are going to stay away and it will be a shame for a beatiful country like yours !

Best regards
Harry

Robert · May 16, 2002

I personally think it's not that expensive when compared to the price of other tours here in the DR. Have you ever been to Florida or other Caribbean islands, this is not expensive.

Have you ever considered you are also paying for expert advice and tour from a guy that has lived in MC for years?

Just turn up and see how far you get trying to find a guy to take you around, you may be dissapointed.

Try emailing some of the other boat owners and see if you get a response

Harry · May 16, 2002

Hospitality

I think it is said to do everithing just for te money .
Supose you visit my town Antwerp in Belgium i will give you te big tour without even thinking to get something in return , anyway for a poor country te excursions cost to much , more than we payed ever on a excursion on holidays in Spain , germany or any pleace .

Ken · May 16, 2002

Harry,

I'm sure that when you get there you can find someone with a boat to take you to an island for less than a tour operator charges. Most likely he won't speak English; quite likely his boat won't carry life preservers; he may or may not take you to the most interesting locations, etc.

Sure tours cost more. The company providing them must buy the boat(s); pay personnel and office costs, advertising expenses, boat maintenance and fuel costs, etc.; pay the increasingly heavy taxes that the government is collecting from tour operators; make a profit; etc. The local (in this case a fisherman) has few of these costs so of course he can get you there and back for less. But it won't be the same excursion.

Ken

PS: This is not to say that I believe there are no overpriced tours in the Dominican Republic.

Harry · May 16, 2002

Ken

You do not have a email of a local fisherman

?
We dont like to go on massa excursions were everone is drunk and te next day not remeber were te went .( not that we dont like te rum)
My wife and i both 45 like to be travel with te local people en tray to speak spanish , if we want to go on te massatourisme where is te point to come to DR , we better go te Spain then , only 2 hours by plane and much cheaper (2 weeks hotel , half board and fligt for 250 us a person )
I also think a local fisherman can be proud of is country and maybe show us more places were tourist never come !

Regards
Harry

Squat · May 16, 2002

Harry, why don't you stay in Belgium ?

Look, your comments are so silly, you really should consider staying home... Having visitors like you who are arguing over cheap prices is a real pain in the neck !
-Do you work for free in Belgium ?
-Would you accept to double your amount of work for much less money ?
And stop that crap about hospitality, you are such a damn hypocrit, it's disgusting... Go vacationing in Spain and we'll see if these guys work for peanuts out there !!!

Hillbilly · May 16, 2002

Sorry to say Belgians are notorious cheapskates.

This is the kind of tourism that we don't want\\

$40 for perhaps 6 hours of touring in the ocean?

That is nothing.....

Sorry Harry, this is not the place for you.....

Try Spain.....

HB

Harry · May 16, 2002

Reactions like squat and Hillbilly are verry mature , i supose you are americans and live on tourist , and i dont think hospitality is crap , and yes i do work for te money even very hard , is supose you just rip of rich tourists ?
For Robert and Pib
Your suggestion was very friendly and helpful , we just cant spend 80 dollars for a boat trip from a couple houres , i like to think my spanish good for conversation after 20 years of vacation over there en 2 years nightshool.
We must learn also french english and german in shool here .

Regards Harry :-(

Ken · May 16, 2002

Harry,

Local fishermen don't have computers or access to them. Most don't have telephones, either. But as Monti Cristi is a harbor community (it's a port of entry) you can be sure there will be many there with small boats. I don't think there is any danger of not finding someone with a boat that will take your money. What the charge will be, I don't know. But if a tour operator is asking $40/person, you can certainly bargain for something less than this. The trick is to make clear what you expect before you leave the dock, and don't accept less. The fact that you speak Spanish will be an asset to you.

Good luck,

Ken

Squat · May 16, 2002

-Que si soy americano ??!!!!??

What do you think ? You are so smart you want to give lessons to everybody ? For your info, I am not american, and me too, I had to learn all these languages at school ! But if you are so smart and experienced, maybe you should know better ! The fishermen in Montecristi don't have internet access, much less a dedicated website to offer dirt-cheap tours to the cheapest tourist like you !!! If they did, they'll happily charge you more than 50.00 US$ !!!
Let me tell you that you are the one exploiting third-world people by wanting to get everything for peanuts ! You get what you pay for !

Harry · May 17, 2002

Re: -Que si soy americano ??!!!!??

Squat said:
What do you think ? You are so smart you want to give lessons to everybody ? For your info, I am not american, and me too, I had to learn all these languages at school ! But if you are so smart and experienced, maybe you should know better ! The fishermen in Montecristi don't have internet access, much less a dedicated website to offer dirt-cheap tours to the cheapest tourist like you !!! If they did, they'll happily charge you more than 50.00 US$ !!!
Let me tell you that you are the one exploiting third-world people by wanting to get everything for peanuts ! You get what you pay for !

Dear "squat"

We have looked at te fisherman last year and you know i dit not sea any with internet on board , we dont want to give lessons to anobody not even to you , somewhone with no maners , but wat i do now is that i pay 40 dollars for te both of us to a local fisherman it means food on te table for that family and not money on te bank for a big touroperator , so its mean a "wiw win" situation .You may think we are cheap tourists but atleast we treat te locals with te respect te diserve , i hope you do te same .
About exploiting third-world people , you know howmany belgian people adopted a dominican child so it can have a better life ?
Hope to see you next week or dont you travel by a guagua ?

Bye for now , we have to work you see.

Pib · May 17, 2002

Sorry my suggestion was useless. As I said, I am not endorsing any business. Herve is a honest man, I've directed friends and acquaintances to him for many years with no complaints. He is not a "big tour operator", such thing is unknown and useless in MC.

Monte Cristi is not a tourist town, I never said that. So there is not much infrastructure for tourism, if you go there you have to go "local style". Of course as someone suggested you could have just gone there and IF you find some other choice then try to haggle in Spanish.

I don't know what is cheap or expensive by Belgium standards, but I am sure I make less money than you do, and I (even being local) have paid just that much for a tour in the keys.

Harry · May 17, 2002

Pib said:
Sorry my suggestion was useless. As I said, I am not endorsing any business. Herve is a honest man, I've directed friends and acquaintances to him for many years with no complaints. He is not a "big tour operator", such thing is unknown and useless in MC.

Monte Cristi is not a tourist town, I never said that. So there is not much infrastructure for tourism, if you go there you have to go "local style". Of course as someone suggested you could have just gone there and IF you find some other choice then try to haggle in Spanish.

I don't know what is cheap or expensive by Belgium standards, but I am sure I make less money than you do, and I (even being local) have paid just that much for a tour in the keys.

Pib

I dit not think your suggestion was useless , and i am NOT thinking that Herve is not a honest man .
Standards in Belgium maybe a bit higher but dont forget we have to pay for house , car heating and lot of taxes (about 40 % of wat you make)
So by the end of the mond we just break even and be happy about it !
For my wife and myself we paid 2000 US dollars for this vacation , we saved te last 2 years for it so you wil understand that excursions from 80 dollars are to expensive , we just tray to find a way to see more of te country .
As you will know 85 % of tourist from te ressorts dont leave te ground and than come back and say , whow what a beatiful holiday but the dident see anything of your beatiful country or the friendly people , only the animation team and te free drinks al arround , drinking rum before 12 in te morning go for siesta come back arround 4 again cocktails then te have to rest and comback arround 1O to finished te last drinks.

Anyway , thanks again for your help !

Hillbilly · May 17, 2002

You know? I called this guy a cheap tourist, but

I can understand where he is coming from.

Two years to save the money for this trip.! Heck PIB you and I should invite him to MC and buy him a beer , just for wanting to go there!!

Harry, I would be happy to buy you a beer anywhere around here you want to meet. and a Kipe too!

HB

Harry · May 17, 2002

Re: You know? I called this guy a cheap tourist, but

Hillbilly said:
I can understand where he is coming from.

Two years to save the money for this trip.! Heck PIB you and I should invite him to MC and buy him a beer , just for wanting to go there!!

Harry, I would be happy to buy you a beer anywhere around here you want to meet. and a Kipe too!

HB

Dont worry about it , we wil go to see MC , not on a tour but by bus and if we cant take te tour i wil see other people different landscape and real life of dominicans .
BTW : dont worry about te beer , we are not that poor so it wil be like here in belgium one for your account and one for mine and so on ....

Harry

Ken · May 17, 2002

Harry, you're ok....

You are coming to see and know the Dominican Republic. A great many who vacation here come on an all-inclusive package and seldom get beyond the complex in which their hotel is located. Where others might spend their day on the beach or in the bar, you and your wife will be out meeting the people and seeing the country.

Have a great trip!!

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