Hello everyone:
Hope this email finds everyone happy and well. It’s hard to believe it is almost two weeks since we arrived in Samana. We (or should I say Greg) have been busy working on repairs to the boat, mainly the fresh water pump and the hot water tank. Greg ended up taking both completely apart. The hot water tank had many leaks, so Greg has repaired them with a welding like compound called JB Weld. The tank itself cannot be welded. Greg is going to put the tank back in today. As for the pump, there was a spare pump on board but it didn’t work properly. So my dear husband the “McGivor King” took both apart, putting together all the working pieces. What we have ended up with is a working pump with no sensor. It will give us water pressure, but the sensor does not work, so it will not shut off. So when one of us showers, another has to be “at the switch”, ready to turn it on for a minute, and then shut it off again.
We have looked into getting a new pump from West Marine flown in here, but it would take about a month, and at what cost we are not sure. Customs is so corrupt in the Dominican Republic it is unbelievable. They simply charge you whatever they feel like. In Luperon friends of ours ordered in a thru hull fitting. The part itself was only worth $20. Customs demanded $100 or they wouldn’t hand it over. She politely told them to “stick it”, and is still without parts.
There is a huge marine store in Ponce, in Puerto Rico. We originally were not going to stop in Puerto Rico, but plans have changed. As soon as we get our weather window, we will leave here and head for Ponce. Apparently they also have a Walmart and Sam’s Club, so it is a good place to provision. From there we will continue on through the Caribbean, to Grenada, to wait out hurricane season. We are way behind schedule, due to mechanical and waiting for weather, both completely out of our control. We will just have to do the best we can under the circumstances.
The weather here continues to be hot and humid, usually in the 90’s. Some nights are quite uncomfortable with the humidity, but it does usually cool down enough to sleep. We will acclimatize eventually! We plan on doing a day trip to the waterfalls before we leave here, while waiting for weather. It is about an hour out of Samana and supposed to be gorgeous and a lot of fun. We are looking forward to that! While here, we have learned a bit about the area. The three main products Samana produces are 1) Coconuts 2) Coffee 3) Chocolate. We have tried the coffee, it is all delicious and very strong. The chocolate comes in big bars and is completely unsweetened, it is pure cocoa. I am looking forward to doing some baking with it to try it out. The prices here are relatively inexpensive, but you have to make sure you keep out the middle man. Everyone has their hand out to make a buck. We got completely hosed by a guy who did our laundry when we got here. He told us it would be 100 pesos (about 3 bucks) for 12 pieces. When we picked up our laundry the price suddenly changed to 500 pesos. He wanted $100 US for doing our laundry! We told him he was out to lunch, and finally settled on 1500 pesos for the lot, which is still a complete rip-off. We avoid this guy like the plague now! There is no such thing as a Laundromat here, unfortunately. But we did find a laundry place that will only charge 30 pesos per pound, much more reasonable. It is like that with everything, so one has to be careful. Anyway, we are about to head into town to do email and check weather. We will email again before we leave.
Ummm hi. This is Dylan and I just got a spear gun as a late birthday present. I named it Timmy and mom thinks i’m crazy but don’t listen to her, because she doesn’t know what she’s saying. Oh and dad says i’m not supposed to shoot Brett (DARN). But he didn’t say i’m not allowed to shoot him for not letting me shoot Brett! Ha! Samana is really cool. Instead of motoconchos like in Luperon a motorcycle tows a little carriage but it has no doors or anything. They are awesome! Samana is a big place so we get to ride those all the time! We call them rickshaws. You see a lot of guards walking around with shotguns, M16s and AK47s. It was funny the day we got Timmy because I would walk around with him on the streets and in the markets and nobody cared! People would go ballistic in Canada if somebody was walking around with a spear gun! The Dominican Republic is sure a third world country. I really like it. I don’t want to go spear fishing in Samana bay because the water is so mucky. I’m not swimming here! I always have a handline out with a bucktail jig and a bit of chicken. No luck with that yet. I really hope Ponce in Puerto Rico has clear water in the harbour so I can spear fish. Dad says we are going to go to the waterfall before we leave. Bruce Van Sant is some weirdo retired cruiser that wrote a book about cruising telling you exactly what to do going through the Dominican. Anyway he says the waterfall here is 150 feet high! I can’t wait. We are going into town today to check the weather so i gotta go take a shower. We can actually have a real shower now just no hot water. For the last two weeks we have had to pour some water into a pot and you dump that over yourself. We used about 2 gallons of water for a shower. Bye!
Lots of love from the Dutch Dreamers
P.S. We just noticed the dollar is at 91 cents! Yeahhhhh!!!!
P.S. P.S. We are at the Hotel Bahia doing emails. See pictures attached.
You should visit my internet cafe in Samana.. It has all new hardware, air conditioning and quiet. Very reasonable as well. It's called Internet Cafe Como Eh'.. Check us out.. It's on the main street across the street from the hardware store and bakery. And we won't rip you off like the others!
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