Rob & Beth Visit from Hilton Head

Fast Friends

After getting back from the Tree House, we started preparing for Rob & Beth's visit.  As with anyone who visits.  Getting together is a moving target.  At first we thought we would stay in Luperon and have them visit there, then Ocean World, and finally Samana.  We planned to anchor out in the National Forest for a night, come back to Samana to watch the Patriots AFC Championship Game, then cruise down to Cap Cana which is closer to the Hilton Resort they would stay at after our visit.

Moto Conchos

I had only met Rob one time.  Julianne and Beth were fast friends and had been hanging out for about a year.  Rob and I both rolled the dice on getting along for the sake of the girls.  It all worked out as Rob is a great guy, who manages the worldwide supply chain logistics for Auto Zone.

They told us they would rent a car in Santo Domingo and drive out to Samana.  After experiencing driving in the DR complete with Moto Conchos, we thought it would be better to pick them up.

Mangrove "Adventure"

A Moto Conchos is a form of taxi in the DR.  It is basically a small motor scooter where you sit on the back as the driver takes you where you want to go.  We saw some amazing "fares" on different Moto Conchos.  Sometimes 3 to 4 people on the scooter, another time we saw a mother with her 3 year old in front of her while she held 2 infants while sitting side saddle.  We saw bread being delivered by rigging a 10 ft pole across that carries 4 or 5 dozen large loafs.  But for me, the best was rigging a 55 gallon drum on the back while the Moto Concho driver weaved in and out of traffic.  These guys are simply nuts...

Sunset Dinner at Anchor

We decided to use our local driver Richardo to go pick them at the airport.  It was a two and half hour drive to the airport and back.  We had champagne, beer and snacks in Richado's mini van.  We got safely back to Samana.

The next morning we left for Bahia de San Lorenzo, a well protected bay on the south side of the Bahia de Samana.  This is part of the Manglar de Cano Hondo National Forest and a very remote large anchorage.  Being surrounded by mangroves, this would be the first time we tested our delta anchor in mud.

Rob's Night Tender Ride for This Pic

Bahama Grouper & Lobster

I had to explain to Beth the difference between a tender "Harbor Tour" and a tender "Adventure".  The harbor tour was introduced to me by Ryan back in the Jimentos Islands.  A harbor tour involves bring cocktails to a vessel anchored nearby and introducing yourselves.  This type of tour has a 100% success rate, usually meeting other great cruisers.  A tender "Adventure" is taking the tender to remote locations exploring, similar to what Julianne and I did every day in the Exumas back in November.

Sunrise Enroute Cap Cana DR

Relaxing on Top Shelf  While Underway

On this day, our adventure lead us up a very narrow mangrove creek.  This was the first time Rob and Beth had been in a mangrove creek.  I knew there was a dock up at the end of the creek, but I wasn't giving a lot of details to the others as I wanted to keep this an "adventure".  We heard another outboard motor up ahead of us, all of a sudden a 42 foot center console rounded the corner with 20 passengers doing about 10 knots.  The adventure became getting out of his way straight into the mangroves without puncturing the tender!  We spent the afternoon running up and down mangrove rivers, then we went back to Top Shelf for a late afternoon swim and a great lobster and grouper dinner.

R&B with "Sam The Beautiful"

The one difference I have with Rob is that he HATES the Patriots.  I figured I should play this similar to "don't talk politics" with someone you don't know well.  We got up Sunday morning and headed back to Marina Puerto Bahia where we took over the billiards room to watch the game.  Thank god the Patriots won.  That kept Rob quiet from that point on!

The next morning, with a good forecast, we left at first light for Cap Cana on the southeast coast of DR.  It was a 7 hour cruise that was a good time for everyone to catch up on sleep lost over the last few days...everyone except the Captain!

Group Pic at Punta Cana Market

We got docked at Cap Cana and within 10 minutes a large DR man introduced himself as "Sam the Beautiful".  He wanted to wash the boat for me, but with a personality like this, I was more interested in recruiting him as our Cap Cana driver.  As it turns out, he had a nice Toyota Camry with special wheels.  It was clean and would work out fine.

Over the next few days, Sammy the Beautiful did very well for himself.  He took us to Punta Cana to a sea side flea market.  We had a ball negotiating our purchases with the vendors.  The next

Lunch at Punta Cana

Better View of Rob & Beth

afternoon our visit from Rob and Beth was over and Sammy drove Rob and Beth to the Hilton La Romana in Playa Bahahibe.  Beth called later that day and said we must visit, so Julianne and I made the day trip including a great dinner there before we returned.

Our first visitors since Ryan & Sam, this "adventure" went well.

NEXT:  Crossing the Mona Passage