Suddenly we organize a trip to beautiful Samana with a tour on a catamaran to Cayo Levantado (island in the middle of the Samana bay).
We meet at 8 am to take the guagua (small buses) that will take us from Las Terrenas to Samana. We are a group of about 8 people and after about an hour’s ride among the green hills that separate the two towns, we arrive in Samana and we get off at the bus stop which is also the market place.
The touristic part of Samana is the harbor area and that’s where we are headed. Before that we make a stop at the quaint English style shopping center facing the ocean to see if we can bring home some souvenirs. While waiting for a few latecomers, we head to the two small islands in front of Samana which can be reached by foot on a bridge about 500 meters long..
Samana and the islands connected by the bridge
After a half hour we arrive at the bridge, but before we can begin to cross some of the women are attracted to the beautiful red coral necklaces and can’t resist the temptation so, the bargaining begins and they end up with a 30% discount .We finally start to cross the bridge and realize what an incredible feeling it is to be suspended over the water at about 1 km from the harbor.
This photo was taken exactly from the deck in the middle of the sea.
After a tour on the little island we stop and sit in the shade (it was really that hot), we then start heading back to the harbor where the catamaran was waiting to take us to see the whales and the small island of Cayo Levantado.
Samana is a quiet town that lives on tourism which is why there are so many Dominicans who work in the field, I say this because when they see tourists they see a possible customer to grab for an excursion.
From Samana to Cayo Levantado and the whales
From the port we are ready to begin the adventure on the catamaran, I say adventure because it’s not a motor boat , but a boat the moves only if there’s wind. So, off we go to see the whales.
After about an hour crossing we get to the point where the whales usually are, we stay a bit and wait but unfortunately we were not so lucky we did not get to see any whales. So, we take off again to Cayo Levantado. Finally, we get there and we are really hungry, it’s 2 o’clock and the first thing we do is head for the restaurant to appease our appetite, strictly” Dominican comida”fried fish and chicken with rice and beans, salad, bread ,fruit, dessert, beer and coffee.
After lunch, rigorous tour of the island and then all on lounge chairs to nap and sun bathe. Frankly, I hate sleeping in the sun so I went straight to the bar on the beach and had a cuba libre. After a swim in the cool sea we all went to the bar to celebrate with some alcohol (actually, very little alcohol).
It was now 5 pm and time to return to Samana, so everyone on board ready to go, but as mentioned earlier the catamaran does not move without wind , and that is exactly what happened ,suddenly in the middle of the sea the wind died and the sails wilt .We remained at the mercy of the sea for about 30 minutes (some of us took the opportunity to take a dip in the water), luckily, suddenly a moderate wind began to blow and we made it back to port.
Once in Samana we went to a bar to refuel and then we went to the casino to spend an hour of leisure, with the illusion of being able to win something, in the end we had a good time while losing about 10 euro per person.