Easter Week "banned" activities in POP

marina, who is in the kite surfing business in Cabarete, said in a recent post that up to now Cabarete has always gotten permission to continue with wind and kite surfing during the Easter holiday.

As far as I can remember this all started during His Baldness' first year in office, I had great memories of Easter weekend in Cabarete from my first year in the DR and was planning to party hard the second one, only to find that playing music out loud in Cabarete had been banned for the full weekend, and my whole vacation sucked.

I'm not much for snorkeling or jet-skiing, but I doubt that in the case with snorkeling anybody would bother to wade out and stop you, however I am truly offended each and every year that someopne won't let me Rock and Roll for 3 days out of the year just because they want to pretend to observe their religion. (between beating their wives and shagging their mistresses, I guess it's a small step towards spiritual enlightenment, I hope it helps them somehow, God knows they need it)

The restrictions didn't start with the current president. I didn't know they restricted rock and roll and full volumn, but am glad to hear this was/is done. Should be better enforced all year long.

The reason for the restrictions on water activities is the number of Dominicans, drunk or sober, who died in boating related accidents.
I don't think this restriction is just for the north coast.

Hi Lynn

What caused all of this were some very gruesome deaths at Boca Chica, where the young idiots of Santo Domingo's finest families used to race about and usually hit a bunch of people. The lat one i remember was when a Drag racer ran over a few people.. UGH!

However, You can do a lot of things, and if you come to Punta Ruc?a you can rock and roll, skin dive (snorkle) and probably a lot more.

Except for Friday afternoon between noon and three p.m. there is plenty of noise.

As a note, your friends can take some of those cool day trips if they stay in POP, and they'll never know the difference.

HB

Tell your friends to go to Cabarete for the day.

I?m all FOR any pressure the Gov. can put on to keep the Dominicans (From Santo Domingo or Santiago) out of my town. All they do is pollute. They do ?Zero? for the local economy (Bring their own food and booze. Leave their garbage on our beaches and streets. Bust our ears with their chopo music playing full blast etc.) However, I hope they will only enforce the rules Thursday to Sunday PM. Believe me a small price to pay.

The restriction over Easter is for all MOTORIZED watersports and applies to the entire island. Despite this, Cabarete has always received a special permit, just in case. I believe only once in the last 10 years some lowly public official banned it, to flex his meager muscles. The story goes he whipped out a map and insisted that no water sports of any kind were allowed on the island during easter weekend. too bad it was a map of North America!!!

marina

Correct me if I am wrong..

... but when I lived there, I was sure that the music had to stop and the bars/discos had to be closed until 12:01a.m. as well. I just can't remember if that was on Good Friday or Easter Sunday. Also, there wasn't any motorized water sports allowed as Marina said, but surely that didn't affect horseback riding did it? I just remember driving down the highway from Costambar down to the Malecon and thinking WOW - it is actually quite peaceful - imagine that!!!!!
I agree with Eddy - not only the wealthy SD and Santiago kids come up to play on the North Coast but everyone from the hills as well - what a mess!!! Just like the carnivale in February - run for the hills - nobody will be left there !!!
Marlie

This past Easter, I ventured out on the Beach on Easter Sunday - never again... Took me an hour to drive through Cabarete (usually what, 4 or 6 minutes). I have never seen so many drunken fun seekers piled together in overloaded busses in my life.

This will be my fourth Semana Santa. I learned after the first to just stay home. I stock up a day or two in advance with enough wine, food, reading material, and friends so that I don't have to leave until Monday.

This year will be much worse though with the elections going on! Especially since it is a Presidential campaign. Chris I got caught coming back from the beach in Sabeneta with friends last year in an election caravan for - ugh - Blady's crowd. Geez what a mess! Three lanes wide of cars all going toward Sosua the whole way with the few poor soles coming the other way squeezed off to the shoulder. Everybody (us included) drinking heavily, passing beers, and rums, and food back and forth from car to car. Stop and go the whole way, no more than 1-2 mph when it was moving. A gazillion people standing in the road and walking among the cars. Took me 3 hours to get from Sabeneta to Cabarete! Didn't clear out til I got to the entrance to El Choco.

Tom (aka XR)

P.S.
I do have one memory that looking back I treasure now ... Hehehehe ... I said we were all drunk right? The three Dominicans I was with became exhibitionists and were mooning everybody along the way. One guy grabbed some 'white' toilet paper to show his PLD colors, stuck about a 3' length piece of it up his nalga and let his new PLD flag flap in the breeze at the Bladyistas a good part of the way. Can we party like Dominicans here or what!?

Cabarete

Last Semana Santa the Politur were always out and about in Cabarete alongwith lots of volunteer civil defensers, all trying to keep the local crowd from drowning themselves!!!
The surfing beach was patrolled heavily in the mornings and anyone trying to board surf was sent packing. Gringos got the go away wave from the police, locals got their boards confiscated??
Marina will know more about the kites and windsurfers but I seem to rememeber that they did get permission to carry on. However, windsurfing can be a bit hairy when the sea is full of local drinkers - think how much damage a Brugal bottle will do to your board?
In the evenings the Politur drive along the beach here making everyone get out of the water at dusk.
As XR correctly remembers - it's a pity that no-one does anything about Cabarete high street - it's impossible and impassable for most of the weekend!! Gridlock in Cabarete - one big car park!!!????
Stay at home or stagger to the beach on foot and watch the fun.

Cool stuff

Walk the malecon in POP and get a drink at every place that is open.
Go up the Mountain onthe cable car
Go to the waterfalls.
Go to the outback on a 8 x 8 vehicle
Go on the catamaran trip that Sliverghost described in Trip Reports
Play golf.
Go to Rio San Juan and visit Laguna Gri Gri and play with the wild dolphins

Go to Punta Rucia and visit me??

HB, a sus ordenes...