A CRUISER'S GUIDE: All of our tips and tricks, everything we read and researched, what we learned in our month stay here!
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Places we explored: Samana town, Los Haitises National Park, Las Terrenas, Playa Bonita, El Valle, Las Galeras, Playa Fronton, Playa Rincon.
Anchoring:
Places we anchored:
- Outside of the Puerto Bahia Marina
- In town near the island/bridge
- Los Haitises: various anchorages
- Cayo Levantado
We also stayed at Puerto Bahia Marina while we had family in town.
Checking in & Despachos: We checked in at the Puerto Bahia Marina. We needed boat paperwork, passports, pesos, the despacho from our previous port, Luperon. Our hesitancy with checking in here was that we weren’t staying at the marina. We had made our reservation for when we had family coming the following week. Everything was fine, no questions asked, we just didn’t want to “take advantage of the system”. We talked to plenty of people who checked in in town with no problems – the difference is there are 3 different offices and they speak little to no English. Word on the street is that there is a guy “Richard” outside the armada office or at the dingy dock that for a “tip” he will show you to all 3 offices and translate.
Moving from one anchorage to another you have to get a despacho no matter how close these seem. Seems silly to us but you have to get a despacho to simply go from the marina to anchor by town. We ended up just dingying more due to this but honestly we had no issues getting despachos when we needed them.
Puerto Bahia Marina:
If you stay at the Marina you can basically ask the Harbor Master Gavi anyting; car rental; maps; garbage; bottom cleaning; fuel; maintenance items; etc. Our favorite thing was probably the use of the pools. There are a few restaurants and laundry. *Be aware town is not a quick walk away, a taxi or car rental is recommended. OR you can dingy! Its not far but go early before the trades pick up or it will be a wet ride!
Gavi Roustand VHF: Channel 68, C: +1 809 801 9756
The town dingy Dock:
It is the dock with the white doors in the middle of the bay. The one to the Left has a military like boat and the one to the right is labeled a tender dock and is what the cruise ships use.
The dingy dock is the same dock as a lot of the tour boats so we will say our dingy did get a little beat up . The dingys park on the left hand side near the sea wall. When we were there a man named Miguel acted somewhat as the dingy dock attendant and eyes on the dingys. We aren’t sure his actual role but he is very nice and is very helpful and assisting. Use a rear anchor, lock your dingy, and we don’t recommend leaving it there all day not because of safety but b/c the docking is pretty rough on the dingys especially if the bay is unsettled.
Car Rental/Fuel:
We reached out to various car rental options in Samana and the prices were pretty consistent btwn $55-70 / day.
Alex is THE Guy! His are consistently $35-$40 / day.
Phone number is: Call or text him on Whatsapp! 849-357-5867.
He also has mopeds, bikes, ATVs for rent.
No matter where you rent the car from it will always be on below Empty so first stop will be the gas or propane station.
Yes, cars in the DR run on propane and these stations are different. If it is propane they will ask everyone in the car to get out before pumping.
Provisions:
There are lots of mini markets around town in Samana as well as the market where you can get fresh fruits,veggies, chickens, eggs, etc. On Google it is Mercado Publico
Eggs are unwashed and don’t have to be refrigerated woo hoo! So stock up b/c they are also super cheap.
SIRENA – right outside of Las Terrenas is the best place to actually provision – it’s an actual grocery store, they do have a great selection of fresh produce as well.
Garbage:
There is a big dumpster to the right of the “dingy dock” by the street.
Restaurants:
At the marina cant go wrong with a pizza, the breakfast upstairs at the hotel is very nice just a little pricier.
In town:
Basically anything on the main drag is a little more expensive. If you go past the first circle with the whale statue things start to become more “local”.
- Santa Bahia: a little nicer than what we normally go for but the food is very good. Pricier.
- The “CORNER BAR: the biggest beer for the cheapest price, they play loud salsa, we do not recommend trying to conversate, its more of a people watching/moped watching hot spot. Grab a beer sit at the outside tables. Third circle, Right hand side, Just down from the Carniceria and parrillada walking toward the Supermercado
- There is a chicken “Stand” which had chicken and rice variations at very affordable prices, dine in or take it to go: they have the grills going, a tiki like thatched roof; D’Jose Pollo Al Carbon you’re going to want the rice with veggies
- Carniceria & parrillada: looked good for meat but we did not try it
SURROUNDING AREAS:
Las Terrenas: LOOOOOVED this place. Great food options. A little busy but we enjoyed that aspect honestly.
- La Boulangerie Francaise: French bakery
- Zu Ceviche and Grill by Alex: mojitos and ceviche
- ETNO Beach Club: cool vibe
- Places we didn’t go but we felt had potential: Empanadas y mas (make a reservation via FB and Whatsapp), Gelateria Italiana: Pizza Coco, Olivo
GROCERIES: Sirena Grocery store.
Playa Bonita:
Park and go to the beach side. We parked at the Carolina Surf School/El Mosquito hotel. There is a nice sidewalk you can walk along the beach and hang out for the day. There are beach bars/restaurants along the way. Surfer vibe.
- El Mosquito has good food and drinks. Sometimes they have a DJ set up.
- Atlantis Hotel for a slightly nicer dinner
Las Galeras:
Lots of road work when we drove through so it made for a rough drive.
We hiked to Playa Fronton a different day but if you did want to go, this is the place to leave from; LOTS of guides available to take you there from the beach here.
Looked like there was a place to snorkel from the beach “designated area” called Kaio Natural Aquarium but we did not do it.
Beach restaurants/bars associated mostly with the resorts.
La Bodeguita Restaurant: we only had a mojito and a espresso but it had good ratings and we liked the atmosphere: prices looked better than in the town of Samana.
Playa Fronton hike, Blow Hole and the Marble Mine:
We rented a car and drove about 45 mins on Rte 5. The directions are: after you pass the Texaco (on google) on the left you turn Right at the next road (Cueva del Agua). It is dirt and bumpy so hopefully you didn’t rent a “fancy” car from Alex. You would be happier with an SUV or 4WD. You will pass the Marble mine. We parked and walked up and poked our heads in . We continued down the road to the Blow Hole. It was worth the stop. There is a designated parking area. There is a lady that says it costs 200pesos to park there. We left the car there and hiked to Playa Fronton. Distance is approx. 3 miles there but the path is well marked and maintained. Totally worth it!!!! Bring snacks.
El Valle:
We didn’t get to do it but there is a zipline there. Friends did it and said they would recommend it, it has something like 21 lines!
The waterfall that is “connected” to the Dominican Treehouse Lodge has been dammed off. We were told it is permanent and was done to supply water to the town. You can still walk through part of the Lodge which was fun to see.
El Limon: Limon Waterfall hike:
WE parked at Rancho Limon Adventure and paid I believe 200 pesos.
Tip: start the hike as early as possible. We started around 9 and we were able to hike most of the way there solo and enjoy minimal traffic at the falls. The way back; lets just say the traffic had increased dramatically. A lot of tours take people to the falls via horseback so the trails get muddy or if they have had a lot of rain. We heard if you go later there is less traffic but dramatically more challenging of a hike.
We ate lunch at Restaurante Santi: we would recommend
Playa Rincon:
This is part of a National Park and you pay a few dollars to park.
If you turn Left: Cano Frio is a beautiful clear river that runs behind the beach. On weekends it was packed! There are fish shacks for food and drink.
If you turn right, there are also a few little restaurants that we didn’t try and it is beautiful.
Los Haitises National Park:
You have to get a despacho to go to the park. The norm seems to be 3 nights but we had luck asking for 5 nights at the marina and from the town offices. Word on the street is that only town will give you 5 nights so maybe the marina office is getting more “lenient”.
There are designated anchorages on navionics which we used for the most part. We would also recommend going to anchor near Concert Caverns.
To Do in the park:
TIP: try to time it when the tour boats aren’t there. We noticed tours seemed heaviest in the morning before lunch.
- Caves: we explored 4:
1) Grey Owl: located near the “main” anchorage; no tour boats go here, an awesome dingy ride to the dock, and a jungle trail
2) Arena Cave: most set up for tours but still cool, tip: look for the 2 carved faces
3) Concert Cavern: the biggest; tip: go during the day and then again at dusk (bring a flashlight). Also, there is a very long mangrove dingy route on the east side of the cave.
4) Line Cave: located near the “Main” anchorage; there is a dock we tied up to the end to make sure we were out of the way of the tour boats; tip: petroglyphs!
- Cano Hondo EcoLodge: a day pass was $6 allowing you to enjoy the pool and waterfalls, a day pass + lunch is $22 ($ US). We went 2x and our weekend visit was much busier and we have to admit lunch wasn’t quite as good, still good though!
- Dingy through the mangroves, there are a few mangrove creeks in the park. We used Navionics to locate them. TIP: if it is high tide you can get Noticeably further.
WHALE WATCHING in Samana Bay Jan 15-Mar 25:
My parents wanted to go whale watching and because it was so late in the season and the weather was not good we sent them on a tour. We would highly recommend WHALE SAMANA. They loved it! The naturalists gave them so much information and they had an all around great experience. Easily booked with them online.
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