So, we went down to the docks, and after getting denied plenty of times, walked a little farther to another dock. Realizing quickly that there wasn't much else to do in Samana, we started walking back to the main dock. On our walk back and forth we had been approached by numerous guys trying to get us on a boat so they could get their cut. We finally came across a guy lying on the sidewalk, and he said he could get us on a boat for our price. So, we reluctantly hopped on the back of his bike, and on the dock handed over some bills, and finally got ourselves on a boat!
It worked out really well actually. They told us not to tell anyone what we paid (about a third of the original price). The boat wasn't jam packed full of people, we could actually move around a bit, and had front row seats, right across from four French people with cameras.
It took about an hour to get out there. The sun was beating down on us, and it didn't feel like our sunscreen was really working! Shortly after getting there, sure enough, we saw whales! One jumped all the way out of the water. All we caught on camera was the splash. We saw lots of tails, lots of backs, and a head or two. At one point, a whale came right next to our boat (you can see them before they come out of the water, because the sun reflects a bright teal color off their body). He jumped a little, then swam right under the front of the boat.
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| The big splash from the one full body jump! |
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| and now I have blue paint on my pants... that won't come out! Maybe this is where it came from! |
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| The S90 wasn't shooting fast enough, and trying to shoot on a rocky boat wasn't happenin' for me, so Hans got trigger happy with the big guy! |
Many times, the boats stop off at the picture perfect island of Cayo
Levantado. Since we paid our makeshift price, we didn't think we were
going there. Sure enough, we pulled up to the dock and were told to be
back by 4pm. With a couple hours to burn, we walked the small island. It
was absolutely stunning.
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| Skinny dippin' in the Caribbean! |
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| Waiting for the boat to take us back to reality. |
Back to the mainland, we found some cheap food, got some free internet sitting on the curb and called it a night.
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| The hotel we stayed at. Not the best price, but it was clean! And no mosquitoes! |
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| Look like the Dominican Republic you know??! New development in Samana..... but they're all stores and office buildlings... and banks and doctors! |
The next day, we were off for our final destination in the DR: Santo Domingo. We took the cheaper air conditioned coach bus this time, and enjoyed the 3 hour, no-transfer drive.
Arriving around 1pm, we walked towards the Colonial District and spent forever trying to find a hotel. Thus far, we haven't had much difficulty finding hotels, but this time, we walked and walked and walked. Our shoulders were getting real tired, and our backs were drenched. Santo Domingo is a big city, but the area where we're at (the old city) is a small big city. Lots of cross streets, and we tried to choose the most promising ones. I guess we didn't choose well... Once we found some options, we realized we had been so close before! Just a block down and we would have ran into tons of them! Oh well. We got a place. It has internet. It's clean, has a refrigerator, a TV, two full sized beds and HOT water! The only thing it's missing is a toilet seat....
Until next time!
Posted by Abra
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