Dominican Republic 2006

While the Dominican Republic was an unexpected stop, we had a fantastic time. We scheduled a stop of a few days, however two days turned out to be 11 days. We had heard about the famous Brugal Rum Factory tour and decided to make it one of our first stops. The Brugal Rum Factory was a modern plant in Puerto Plata and is one of the main exporters in the Dominican Republic. Around 80% of its total output of rum was exported. After a tour through the factory the guide spend time with us, offering us samples of the rum, and of course we had to buy some.

We had heard about the 28 waterfalls and being into waterfalls we thought we should pay them a visit. Our guide did not speak English so we just followed him to the bottom of the mountain and were told that we would have to walk up the river to get to the base. Luckily we had wore our swimmers.We became a little concerned when they handed out lifejackets and crash helmets. Dominican Republic being a Third World country aren't normally big on safety. We trekked up the river from about 20 minutes and found why we needed the helmets and lifejackets. We hadn't actually gone to look at the Falls but to climb up and then slide down over the edge.The water was full of lime and was warm, as it was a volcanic mountain. It really made our skin soft and smooth. To do all 28 waterfalls it was to take a day, so we managed to do seven of them which was an exhilarating ride. There was a donkey at the bottom of the last one. It was the ambulance and was needed, but luckily not for us.


Christopher Columbus was well-known in these parts and we had decided to go and see one of the historic sites where he lived. At La Isabella, just 20 km north of Luperon, we were able to walk through his house where it once stood and look over the bay that he had sailed in to. Christopher Columbus was not too popular with locals as he had brought disease, guns and had an eye for the local brown skinned woman. I was surprised that in the local museum they had a model of the ship and it was only 110 foot long.


Being in the Dominican Republic was like stepping back in time. Donkeys were still being used everywhere. The children seem to be very happy to have their photos taken. Fences were often made of cactus hedges. Honda 50 step-through motorcycles were still being used as the main transport for some families. The local bus was a Toyota van, 11 seater, but they managed to get 17 people in, after taking the steering wheel off and putting a pair of vice grips on to steer. More importantly everybody seemed to be happy, which was really great to see.

We picked a weather window, which meant we would leave with two other boats around 10 o'clock at night. Local fishermen had put drift nets in the channel unbeknown to us and we picked one up in the propeller. Luckily the weather was calm and we dropped anchor and stayed where we were. We waited till the morning and Dan volunteered to go over the side to clear the propeller. We then set off for the British Virgin Islands, a trip of around 316 n. miles. It was a pretty uneventful trip with the exception of a US helicopter flying out of Puerto Rico to take our photo.