- Thread starter Chris
- Start date
Not a trip report - Punta Rucia
Can I just say ...
Seeing as we brought it up, Ensenada is a stankhole of the worst kind, it is a rat infested putrid place - It has plenty of oil drums for waste disposal which were all empty when we went there - the beach on the other hand was covered. Did I mention the used needles? Did I mention the turds? Did I mention the used feminine towels? Did I mention the dead rats? Do not under any circumstances go there and let your children play on the beach. It was always our intention to go back with an underwater camera to prove what I saw when I swam - just to say it again - the sea is literally heaving with empty plastic cups and human excrement. I haven't had the need to return there yet (I doubt if it will be for many years if I can help it). The quick answer? Simple - There is a Pepsi advert painted onto one of the rocks in the bay. It is THE most detrimental advert on the entire planet. Again, I missed the photo oportunity so, whoever has the mis-fortune of going there first take a snap and send it to the advertising people at Pepsi. I think they'll get the message. Get them to put their hands in their pockets and do something. Maybe, just maybe then people will realise it is in everyone's interest to keep the place tidy.
By the way - Manatee's? Don't make me laugh! There is a tourist office for manatee watcher's and on two seperate occassions we have been and both times there was nobody there but a guard. There are no boats to take you out - nothing. It is sponsored by the EU who apparently send money to run the place. I doubt if there's been a manatee dumb enough to swim there in years but if the EU keeps paying I guess they just keep the money and tell people like us to go away and come back tomorrow - when there will still be nobody there.
Sorry to be so blunt but when we left there everyone in the car was close to tears. It is a sad and sorry place.
Simon
Seeing as we brought it up, Ensenada is a stankhole of the worst kind, it is a rat infested putrid place - It has plenty of oil drums for waste disposal which were all empty when we went there - the beach on the other hand was covered. Did I mention the used needles? Did I mention the turds? Did I mention the used feminine towels? Did I mention the dead rats? Do not under any circumstances go there and let your children play on the beach. It was always our intention to go back with an underwater camera to prove what I saw when I swam - just to say it again - the sea is literally heaving with empty plastic cups and human excrement. I haven't had the need to return there yet (I doubt if it will be for many years if I can help it). The quick answer? Simple - There is a Pepsi advert painted onto one of the rocks in the bay. It is THE most detrimental advert on the entire planet. Again, I missed the photo oportunity so, whoever has the mis-fortune of going there first take a snap and send it to the advertising people at Pepsi. I think they'll get the message. Get them to put their hands in their pockets and do something. Maybe, just maybe then people will realise it is in everyone's interest to keep the place tidy.
By the way - Manatee's? Don't make me laugh! There is a tourist office for manatee watcher's and on two seperate occassions we have been and both times there was nobody there but a guard. There are no boats to take you out - nothing. It is sponsored by the EU who apparently send money to run the place. I doubt if there's been a manatee dumb enough to swim there in years but if the EU keeps paying I guess they just keep the money and tell people like us to go away and come back tomorrow - when there will still be nobody there.
Sorry to be so blunt but when we left there everyone in the car was close to tears. It is a sad and sorry place.
Simon
Simon & Nicky said:
Simon,
You probably noticed I said in my post that there USED to be Manatee there some 11 years ago. My comment on the ecological tour related to a tour which DID have a boat to take visitors round the lake. I did NOT suggest that that boat was still there &/or operating - that facility will obviously now be down to the local town officials to organise.
Now, I wouldn't be so bold as to insist that the manatee are still there, that would be very irresponsible as I haven't been to the area for over 10 years, but I certainly wouldn't dismiss the idea that they COULD still be entering the lake, without seeing some form of report on an investigation/research of the lake. It is a natural habitat for the manatee afterall - the right sort of vegitation, water conditions & (hopefully still) devoid of intense boat trafic.
Next time you are up that way Chris, take a SLOW boat out & see what you can see. "SWMBO" saw some when SHE was tour guiding, so should be able to advise the tell-tale signs for what to look for!! - Grahame.
WOW! I go to the other side of the island and look what happens
Keith No, there is no municipal status for Punta Ruc?a. It is a part of Puerto Plata Province, but it is the least important of POP's many problems.
The trash is an issue, and that is why I have not been to the Ensenada in over 4 years.
I do know that there have been people to see the manatees no so long ago, so there muct be something there for them to see.
Gee- I go to Luxuryville and you guys go and explore my place?? Hrumpf!
HB
Keith No, there is no municipal status for Punta Ruc?a. It is a part of Puerto Plata Province, but it is the least important of POP's many problems.
The trash is an issue, and that is why I have not been to the Ensenada in over 4 years.
I do know that there have been people to see the manatees no so long ago, so there muct be something there for them to see.
Gee- I go to Luxuryville and you guys go and explore my place?? Hrumpf!
HB
Why do you make excuses?
If I took a sh*t in your living room and left it there would you say - ah well it's an education thing, I'll pick it up? I remember the time when my own brother fresh out of hospital for testicular cancer asked me for a lift to my parents and on the way home he threw a sweet wrapper out of the window. I stopped the car and made him go back and pick it up. Watching him try to bend down to get it was strangely satisfying! We both enjoyed the same education. I simply do not buy into this education bullshit, there are sink estates in Britain littered with burnt out cars, used needles and excrement. If you want to do that in your own back yard to make a point then there's no amount of education that's going to put it right.
This is just a bone idle don't give a damn attitude that makes this place what it is. I choose not to drop litter not because I had a better education but because I know the difference between right and wrong. This was instilled in me at birth. I choose to try to cause a minimum impact on the environment so that other people who I will probably never meet can enjoy the same experiences that I have had. It is not education it's just thoughtfullness, kindness and a love of your fellow human kind. Not all of us are like-minded.
Simon
If I took a sh*t in your living room and left it there would you say - ah well it's an education thing, I'll pick it up? I remember the time when my own brother fresh out of hospital for testicular cancer asked me for a lift to my parents and on the way home he threw a sweet wrapper out of the window. I stopped the car and made him go back and pick it up. Watching him try to bend down to get it was strangely satisfying! We both enjoyed the same education. I simply do not buy into this education bullshit, there are sink estates in Britain littered with burnt out cars, used needles and excrement. If you want to do that in your own back yard to make a point then there's no amount of education that's going to put it right.
This is just a bone idle don't give a damn attitude that makes this place what it is. I choose not to drop litter not because I had a better education but because I know the difference between right and wrong. This was instilled in me at birth. I choose to try to cause a minimum impact on the environment so that other people who I will probably never meet can enjoy the same experiences that I have had. It is not education it's just thoughtfullness, kindness and a love of your fellow human kind. Not all of us are like-minded.
Simon
BushBaby said:
The area certainly looks ideal for manatees. While waiting to sail off into the sunset around the Florida Keys one time, we had two manatees (momma and baby) come to drink the fresh water from a hose that we were using to hose down the boat. They are amazing animals and we saw a lot of them while in Florida. The Manatee Education center in the US (I think it is in St Pete, Florida or thereabouts) teaches that there are only two habitats for Manatees in the world - the one in Florida, and the other somewhere on the African West Coast, where there are smaller manatees. So, I was quite surprised to see that there is a manatee habitat here in the DR. I would not be surprised however if there are manatees to be found. The area looks exactly right and the main enemy of manatees is humans and boats. So, there are really not many humans or boats around the area. But I don't think a manatee will jump out to be noticed just because somebody comes by on a boat :classic: Next time we go to the area, I am planning to take a long, slow boatride and see what I can see.
We loved exploring your place HB!