The Dominican Republic was a new country for both of us, which is rare and exciting, and we spent our first weekend in the capital, Santo Domingo. The old section is full of colonial buildings, historic churches, and fried chicken shops. We wandered the old town for hours on Saturday, through pretty streets and squares, and past many quaint and colourful buildings. In the evening we headed to a recommended rum bar with a balcony overlooking the church in the main square. It was lovely, until it started chucking it down with rain and the whole terrace full of people retreated to the very small covered area and had to huddle together to stay dry. During a lull we headed to a Cuban bar Creed had got chatting to the owner of during our earlier wander, and it turned out there was a dance competition happening later that night. We watched a couple do a salsa routine, but the rest of the show wasn’t for another hour, and in the meantime the DJ was playing too loud to have a normal conversation and we were wet from the rain, so we decided not to hang around.​

On Sunday we visited Los Tres Ojos, a series of lakes in a large cenote that were strikingly blue. There was no swimming in these, but a series of trails and a short boat ride allowed us to explore the various caves and viewpoints of the turquoise lakes. Next we visited the National Aquarium. Unfortunately we managed to time our stop with the 2 hour lunch break of the film about whales, and the tunnel through the big shark tank was closed for renovation, but it was still a great visit for $5. From there we wandered down the sea front for a bit, grabbing picnic food from a supermarket (and some necessary hot weather clothes because Creed had no flip flops or shorts or swim trunks), and then finding a spot to eat looking at the ocean. We happened to be picnicking directly in front of a police office, and a very friendly and enthusiastic officer wanted to talk to us about America and England and the beauty of the Dominican Republic. His joy was infectious, and after we’d finished eating he offered to drive us back to town, not quite understanding that we actually wanted to walk the sea front a little more.

Creed had read about live music at a ruined monastery on Sunday nights, and it wasn’t far from our hotel, so in the evening we went to check it out. What he’d read seemed like a low key jam with some local bands, but what we discovered was a full stage set up and hundreds of people on rented plastic chairs in a field with official beer stands and many food stalls around the outside. The merengue band was very good, and even did a little routine with their hats at one point, and a dance floor was set up right in front of the band, jam packed with locals. It was very easy to spot the foreigners, because they were the only ones who didn’t know how to dance merengue. When we joined in for a dance we just did a slightly sped up salsa, because those are the only moves we know. It was a lively night and a great local experience that I never would have discovered if Creed hadn’t read wikitravel that morning. Thanks Creed!

On Monday we headed up to the north side of the island, to a town called Sosua, because we wanted some beach time. I’d hoped to get a big travel agent discount on a fancy all inclusive resort, but it was too last minute to pull something out of the bag. That, or we’d still be paying hundreds per night even with a discount. So instead we found a nice hotel for $60 a night, which is still more than we normally spend, for a great pool, large room with terrace, close to a small secluded beach. So that’s where we were on Tuesday for Creed’s birthday. We’d bought some champagne, local rum, birthday cake and plenty of snacks the night before, and we ordered pizza delivery for lunch and burger delivery for dinner, so we didn’t have to leave the pool all day. The furthest we went was 200m to the beach for sunset. It was incredibly relaxing, and I wanted another day of it, but on Wednesday we continued on our way.

Despite moving towns on Wednesday we still had a leisurely day. After a slow morning, enjoying the pool until midday, we walked to a larger beach close to the bus station, picking up picnic food from the supermarket on the way. We found a shady spot for lunch, and then another shady spot for recovery from lunch, and spent a few hours here before getting ready to move on. Our route was a bit of a backtrack, to get to Puerto Plata, the main town in the north with a pretty town square and coastal walk.

On Thursday we explored town, the most interesting spot being the old fort on a peninsular jutting out into the ocean. There was a cool amphitheatre advertising a dance night on Sunday, but sadly nothing was on while we were there. Puerto Plata is a big cruise port, and two ships were in town, so the streets were packed with tour groups. We headed back to the room to avoid the heat at lunch time, and in the afternoon walked the sea front to another couple of beaches. In hindsight, we didn’t need to stay here two days. There’s a cool canyon experience close to the town which we were planning to do when we booked the hotel, but when it came to it I decided I wasn’t done relaxing and cramming the tour into the itinerary made everything feel too rushed. Knowing that we wouldn’t do it, we could’ve spent one night in Puerto Plata town, and then headed to the nice pool hotel, without having to backtrack. I’ve realised most of what I know about the best way to travel countries comes from getting it wrong myself.

On Friday we were trying to get to Samana, another port town known for whale watching. This leg of our trip was the most difficult to figure out, with almost no information about buses online or from anyone we spoke to in Puerto Plata. We had mixed reports about the time of the bus, but did at least discover where it stopped. When we arrived, however, we discovered we’d missed the morning one by 1 hour and the next one wasn’t for another 6 hours. The other option was to get a series of buses through the various towns on the way, which we did, taking a total of 7 hours instead of the intended 3 and a half. When we finally made it we checked into the most amazing hotel on the hill overlooking the water, with a lovely terrace and extremely friendly French owner. The town has a series of small islands linked by pedestrian bridges, and it’s a favourite local spot to go for sunset, so we took a walk, and appreciated it all the more for how much effort it had taken to get there.

When we’d got off the bus in Samana we’d immediately met a guy called Freddy who was able to sell us a whale watching tour for less than we’d seen anywhere else, which we eagerly booked. We hadn’t learnt about the whales until after arriving in the Dominican Republic, and adding it onto our itinerary had meant squeezing it into our last couple of days in country. Because of this, we were really trying to get back to Santo Domingo after the tour, as leaving the next morning meant cutting it a little close to make our next trip: a cruise! We were uneasy about having to get across the country to our departure port on the day of departure, but Freddy assured us that the tour would get us back in time for the last bus heading south.

Of course, once we got on the tour, the guide informed us this would not be possible. Trying not to stress, we enjoyed the boat ride out and got some glimpses of some spouts and fins after not too long. Soon it began to rain, and we sailed directly through a huge black cloud, but once on the other side we found a family of 3 whales that were staying very close to the surface, slapping their tails on the water, waving their fins and even jumping and breaching a few times. It was well worth the stressful addition to the itinerary to get to Samana. The tour then took us to a beautiful sandy island for lunch and some relaxation time, and we had pina coladas inside actual pineapples to enjoy on the beach. As the afternoon went on we started attempting to find an alternative tour that was departing earlier to get back to Samana in time for the last bus of the day to Santo Domingo. We were able to find a nice catamaran to jump ship onto, and made it back with 20 minutes to spare. Freddy met us at the dock with a prepaid rickshaw to apologise for the stress, and got us to the station with plenty of time. This bus was followed by two more local minivans to get us to our final destination, arriving late enough in the evening that our booked hotel was closed, and we had to walk a few blocks to find a different one that was still open. But at 10pm we were in a room and could finally stop being stressed that we would miss the cruise.

On our final morning we headed out for a picnic lunch and then on to the cruise port. We discovered that the cruise terminal has a large pool to enjoy while you wait to board, so we spent a couple of hours floating around before being able to check in a couple of hours earlier than we’d expected.

Thanks for following along on my crazy adventures!

 Ros ♥

If you’re interested in how I got here, or where I went next, check out the rest of the story!