I'd come to the Dominican Republic to watch whales, so first I went online and booked several trips with Whale Samana, who seemed to be a professional company run by an American marine biologist. The area to watch whales was Samana bay, which is in the North-East of the country, well away from tourist areas. An online hotel search showed a number of rough-looking places in Samana town, with one luxury resort located 8km outside town but they were offering ridiculously low rates so I booked there, I needed a car anyway. On arrival at Santo Domingo airport I collected my rent-a-wreck (and this one really was!) and drove around to Samana, a five hour journey that went OK apart from collecting a speeding ticket and roadside fine from a couple of policemen who were determined to fleece this gringo.
When I arrived at the hotel they gave me a little apartment with a balcony overlooking the bay, and as has happened so often on this trip, I seemed to be the only guest! I don't know how these places manage to keep going, especially when they were charging me less than a run-down hostel in town.
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| View from hotel balcony |
Bright and early next morning I was at the marina for my first boat trip. I climbed to the upper deck of the boat and found a seat up front near the captain. Sitting next to me was a young lady, holding a camera with the longest lens I have ever seen! I got out my battered Nikon coolpix and she started laughing. So Eva and I came to an agreement that I would just watch whales, and she'd let me have any nice photos; the next few photos are therefore courtesy of Eva. Within ten minutes or so from leaving the harbour, we came upon a pair of humpback whales, a mother and young baby. The baby was in a frisky mood, it kept coming near to us & the other two boats in the vicinity, jumping out of the water (breaching), slapping its tail and generally having a good time.
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| That looks pretty big! |
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| Baby whale 'breaching' |
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| Baby whale tail slap |
We were treated to this exciting, wonderful spectacle for about 15 minutes, the mother whale just gently swimming close to the baby, virtually submerged, when, after a particularly boisterous show, the mother decided to join in.
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| Bloody Hell thats huge! |
Thats when we realised how big she was!! She breached right beside the boat; the captain estimated she was around 40 feet long, and by the splash, must have been 20 tons or more! I have never had such an exciting experience!
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| Mother starting to breach |
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| ... higher |
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| .... higher |
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| Magnificent!! |
Just a fabulous sight to see first hand - right then I was happy that I'd made the journey. I'd actually booked two weeks in the hotel, so I had two more days when I had a trip out in the bay with Whale Samana, then on two other occasions I went out in one of those tiny fishing boats (much cheaper but pretty hairy!). Unfortunately the weather was a bit unsettled, so there were days I couldn't go out on the water, however, each time I did, we managed to see more of these magnificent creatures. I never saw Eva again though, so no more photos.
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| Yeah, another deserted beach! |
In between boat trips I occupied myself driving around the peninsular, finding some lovely deserted white-sand beaches, plus searching for elusive vegan restaurants (there were none!) although I did find a Falafal place in Las Terrenas, a sort of 'gringo' town that had a French supermarket where I bought supplies.
The rest of the time I just hung around the hotel - there was a nice pool and a private beach, and I was the only person there!
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| My own private beach! |
Eventually it was time to leave - I'd left England on the 6th December with a return flight via Miami on 21st March - long enough time away, I reckon.
My only regret was that I'd felt ill for much of the trip, nothing specific, just 'under the weather'. When I finally arrived home I decided to visit a doctor; seemed I needed an immediate operation 'down there' so Wednesday 27th I was in hospital. I'm home now, feeling pretty uncomfortable but glad to be able to share these photos with you. 'Ciao'
