Sailing In The Dominican Republic – The Thorny Path (Part 2)
In our last article, Sailing To The Dominican Republic, we sailed for 3 days from the Bahamas to Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic. We stayed here for a few days to relax and wait on the next weather window, to keep moving east along the Thorny Path. Our ultimate destination is to get south to Grenada for the upcoming hurricane season.
Sailing in the Dominican Republic can be a bit of a challenge if you are headed east as we are. Once you get to these latitudes, you reach the Trade Winds, a constant, prevailing wind out of the east, the exact direction we are trying to go!
In this article, you can sail in the Dominican Republic with us along the north coast from Puerto Plata to Samaná, and explore Samaná Bay and the town of Samaná. We would also be remiss if we didn’t mention Luperón in this article, so we will have a special section, thanks to the contribution by SV Vagari, on the ins and outs of Luperón.
Sailing In The Dominican Republic – Luperón
We bypassed Luperón when we left the Bahamas, and sailed directly to Puerto Plata. We would have loved to stop in Luperón, as we have heard so many wonderful things about it, but wanted to make as much easterly progress as we could while we had the weather opportunity to do so.
Our friends on SV Vagari sailed to Luperón, and enjoyed their stay there. It is a very cruiser friendly community with get togethers, a cruisers net, access to a beautiful beach and nice floating dinghy dock to boot!
The channel into Luperón is well marked and easy to navigate. It is advisable, however, to navigate it during daylight hours to be sure to avoid the fishing nets.
They found the check-in process in Luperón to also be easy. Customs, Immigration, and other officials are located at the end of the dock, and the Armada is located a short walk away to the left and at the top of the hill. You can’t miss it – they have white stones in the shape of an anchor visible from the road!
As with Samaná, it would help if you knew some Spanish, however, SV Vagari was able to get by with the officials as they knew they were there to check in.
SV Vagari sailed directly from the Bahamas to the Dominican Republic, just as we did (neither of us made stops in Turks and Caicos). They checked out of the Bahamas online through Click2Clear, but did not clear out in person for the physical paperwork. When they arrived in Luperon, they showed them their cruising permit from the Bahamas do demonstrate their last country visited.
Note:
They take US Dollars if you don’t have DR Pesos, but it is helpful to have small US dollar bills or DR pesos as you pay each organization separately and they want exact change. The total cost for checking in at Luperón was $110.
Luperón Moorings
- Latitude: 19° 53’ 54.62”N, Longitude: 70° 57’ 09.37”W
- Mooring Balls: $20 for 7 days
- Wind Protection: Protected from all around with surrounding mangroves that absorb all swell and waves
- Depth: 15-18 feet
- Pet Friendly: Yes, access to the beautiful beach and town walks
- Groceries: Yes, small markets for fruit, veggies, eggs, etc.
- Restaurants: Yes, SV Vagari loves to eat at The North
Sailing In The Dominican Republic – Puerto Plata
Through much research, it was our understanding that checking in at Ocean World Marina, where customs, immigration and navy officials are located, was the easiest place to check into.
Ocean World Marina in Puerto Plata did not disappoint. We arrived early morning right when they opened at 8:00 AM and they helped us to the fuel dock for fuel and check-in. With Mangaux on board, they happily allowed us off the boat for a dog walk while we waited for the officials. Our check-in process was seamless, and the total cost was $72.17.
The officials in Puerto Plata did ask for our exit paperwork from the Bahamas. We did physically clear out of the Bahamas at the airport in Georgetown and received our clearance paperwork ($75 fee) and provided it to them. It’s possible that our Bahamas cruising permit would have also worked in place of physical clearance paperwork here in Puerto Plata, but we provided them with the physical clearance paperwork.
The marina staff and all officials spoke English, and checking in is available 7 days a week. This comes in very handy if you are arriving or departing on a weekend!
Ocean World Marina and Surrounding Area
Ocean World Marina is near the small town of Cofresi, which we found great for dog walks and eating out at the local restaurants. They have a nice beach there as well! Several cruise ships visit Ocean World Marine Park and Puerto Plata, so we found that most of the locals speak English here, which helped us out greatly.
The marina has 110V power and non-potable water at the docks, as well as nice showers and laundry service available. I do caution that there is a bit of a surge within the marina, but nothing horrible with the right mooring line configuration and lots of fenders.
Don’t forget to get your free tickets to the Ocean World Adventure Park while you are at the marina! They do require a day’s advance notice to get your tickets. The marine park is right next door and was a fun activity while we waited for our weather window.
On another day, we took a short taxi ride to Teleferico Puerto Plata Cable Car, where for $10 each we took a cable car up to the top of Isabel de Torres Mountain. From there we saw beautiful views of the ocean and mountainside alike.
Ocean World Marina
- Latitude: 19° 49’ 37.37”N, Longitude: 70° 43’ 53.86”W
- Cost: $1.66/foot/day
- Slips: Concrete fixed docks
- Power: $0.45/kwh
- Water: $.20/gal; non-potable
- Laundry: Yes – $11.80 for one load washed, dried, and folded. They have a laundry service here, you cannot do it yourself.
- Bathrooms/Showers: Yes – bathroom stalls in one area and showers past the stalls in another area. I found them to be clean with good water pressure and hot water.
- Pet Friendly: Yes
- Groceries: Yes – There is a shuttle to a nearby grocery store. We took a taxi for $25 there and back to Jumbo (their equivalent of a Walmart) located further away in Puerto Plata. Click here for the prices of items we bought at the grocery store. A significant decrease compared to the prices in the Bahamas!
- Restaurants: Yes – On-site and several more within 5-minute walk.
Ocean World, Puerto Plata to Samaná, Samaná Bay
Note:
Prior to leaving a port and going to another area within the Dominican Republic, you must clear out with the Armada/Navy from where you are leaving from to receive an internal despacho and provide that to the Armada at check-in in the new area you are arriving to. When leaving the Dominican Republic for another country, you need to check out and receive an international despacho.
We cleared out with the Armada around 2:30 PM and immediately left for Samaná for a nice overnight motor sail 116 nautical miles along the coast to Samaná. This trip took us 20 hours, averaging 5.8 knots.
It was a bit rolly, but otherwise comfortable sail in light and variable winds. We followed the advice of Bruce Van Sant in Passages South, and sailed the night lee, when the Trade Winds tend to be lighter. We did have a weather window to make it all the way from Puerto Plata to Samaná, so we took it.
Arriving into Samaná Bay, we were greeted by several humpback whales! This was the highlight of our passage, without a doubt! Samaná Bay is a known breeding area for the humpback whales and they tend to frequent the area in February/March timeframe.
Sailing In the Dominican Republic – Samaná
We anchored at the town of Samaná, where they have an “Armada” (navy) office to check into, just a couple of blocks from where we docked the dinghy.
There is also a marina in Samaná, Puerto Bahia Marina, if you are interested in staying at a marina in Samaná.
We found that they speak very minimal English in Samaná, so communicating with the Armada and other locals was a bit of a challenge for us (Scott did not do a very good job of learning Spanish before we left!). Upon our check-in, a gentleman named Richard “No Problems” helped us communicate with the Armada. He was not around during our check-out, but it was not an issue knowing what paperwork and photos to have readily available.
Note:
Make sure to have the following items with you for check-in AND check-out with the Armada for a smooth and efficient visit:
1. Passports and copy of passports for everyone onboard (they will keep the copies at check-in AND check-out)
2. Copy of your vessel documentation (they will keep the copy at check-in AND another for check-out)
3. Photo of your boat (they will simply take a picture of the photo on your phone at check-in and again at check-out)
We brought our dog Mangaux with us at check-in and check-out. However, neither time did the Armada ask us for any documentation for our dog.
The dock we used for our dinghy is also used for the several tour boats in the area. There is another gentleman always around the docks to help you tie up your dinghy, and to ensure you will not be in the way of the local tour boats.
We found the town of Samaná to be bustling with restaurants and tour boats for the multiple whale sight-seeing tours. There was even a cruise ship that anchored out and brought in several tourists for the day.
Samaná Anchorage
- Latitude: 19° 12’ 00.44”N, Longitude: 69° 19’ 41.72”W
- Holding: Good holding in mud
- Wind Protection: Protected from the south through east
- Depth: ~20 feet
- Pet Friendly: Yes, access to town for dog walks, and a rocky beach on Cayo Vigia
- Groceries: Very small grocery store with minimal items; Good produce stand with various local produce
- Restaurants: Yes, several good restaurants and street vendors in town with very reasonable prices
We checked out with the Armada in Samaná, then moved late in the afternoon to anchor off Caya Levantado, a nearby island, for an early departure in the morning across the Mona Passage to Puerto Rico. Caya Levantado has a beautiful beach and resort. This anchorage was a bit more rolly than being anchored near the town, but offered beautiful views and access to an amazing beach with clear water, Mangaux’s favorite!
Caya Levantado Anchorage
- Latitude: 19° 10’ 00.14”N, Longitude: 69° 16’ 53.40”W
- Holding: Good holding in sand
- Wind Protection: Protected from the east, and very rolly
- Depth: ~25 feet
- Pet Friendly: Yes, access to the beautiful beach at the resort for dog walks
- Groceries: No
- Restaurants: Unsure, as we only anchored there in the evening for one night. There is a resort on this island that you possibly have access to their restaurant and bar.
Los Haitises National Park
We really wanted to visit the national park, Los Hitises, in Samaná Bay but given a great weather opportunity to cross the Mona Pass with longer term strong winds predicted we sadly missed it on this visit. We do plan to get there one day as we mark it up on our list of things to do when we pass this way again.
Continuing Along the Thorny Path
As we finish our sailing in the Dominican Republic, we will make our way from Samaná Bay, across the infamous Mona Passage, and sail the west and south coasts of Puerto Rico.
Check out our other articles along the Thorny Path here:
- Sailing To The Dominican Republic – The Thorny Path (Part 1)
- Sailing Puerto Rico – Discover The Charms of the Southern Coastline (Thorny Path – Part 3)
- The Famous Thorny Path – Amazing Sailing and Powerful Tradewinds (Part 4)
Do you have any sailing stories during your time in the Dominican Republic? We would love to hear from you and learn about your sailing adventures here.
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