Laura is off to the airport after some misdirection by the internet

Yesterday we took a tourist taxi to the waterfalls.  The trip

The cab charged us $60 for the trip and half day of his time.  I

After our nap we took Nicholas and went over to the small island the

There are two boats here doing some commercial diving.  One is

Last night we went out to the Chinese resturant and had a good meal.

It's overcast and cool now.  A cruise ship is in, but I believe the

Time to clean up the boat and begin another round of boat

Wednesday, March 11, 2009 9:12:49 AM Location: Samana Anchorage Latitude is 0 degrees 0 minutes north. Longitude is 0 degrees 0 minutes west. This weather observation was at Wednesday, March 11, 2009 8:43:49 AM local time. Observation location: Santa Barbara de Samana. Latitude is 0 degrees 0 minutes north. Longitude is 0 degrees 0 minutes west. The air temperature is 75, and water temperature is 0 degrees fahrenheit. The forecast is Overcast. The current weather is dry. The sky is overcast (more than 90% clouds). The wind is 4 knots from the northeast. The visibility is 10 nautical miles. The wave height is 0 feet with 1 foot swells. The barometer is 1023 millibars and rising. Laura is off to the airport after some misdirection by the internet and locals. But, more on that later. Yesterday we took a tourist taxi to the waterfalls. The trip included going from the road stop to the falls on horseback. You could walk, but as it turned out, the horse option was the right choice. The trail was rocky, up and down some steep hills and often muddy including fording a stream. The horses were the ususal tame follow the path variety and provided an uneventful ride. The falls were in the jungle and at the end we had to climb down from the top to the bottom to see them and they were pretty with nice volume and a wide spread of the water. To see them properly, you had to cross the stream flowing out from the falls by holding onto a rope that ran across the top of the next drop and wade through the rushing water to the other side. This wasn't your typical US National Park experience! From there you could see the full face of the falls and climb down another trail to get to the bottom of the second drop. There you had to wade the stream again to see the face. It was nice in that the people who made it to the falls were all rugged enough to handle the challenge. The cab charged us $60 for the trip and half day of his time. I thought it was a little high. I'd recommend bidding $40 and going no higher than $50 for the trip. We headed back and stopped at the open market to pick up some vegetables. From there we walked back to Jenny and grabbed some lunch on the way. There is a small resturant along the waterfront that is mostly local, but also has sandwiches and burgers. We went US. Then it was nap time back on board. :-) After our nap we took Nicholas and went over to the small island the forms the southern wall of the anchorage. There is a huge cement walk bridge that connects the island to the land. It seems as though it was someone's big idea to make a park of the island decades ago. Now the island is completely overgrown and the bridge and its patio areas are in disrepair. Nicholas like going there again to run around and Laura went looking for sea life on the beach. There are two boats here doing some commercial diving. One is called Gallion Hunter and the other Dolphin. Both are rigged as professional treasure hunters. They are anchored off of this island and tied to it to form a small box that they are diving in. They have air lifts for removing sand and other material from the bottom and Dolphin has propeller wash diverters. We wondered what they were searching for... Last night we went out to the Chinese resturant and had a good meal. It sits high on one of the hills and the patio was perfect for looking over the bay. This morning we were up at 6 to get to the airport by 7:30. We used the internet to find a flight back to the Santo Domingo airport rather than pay the $200 taxi fee. Unfortunately both the internet and the locals confirmed that the local airport was called El Portillo, but it wasn't. So after several discussions with people at the airport, we discovered this and that there were no regularly scheduled flights to this airport, only charters. None of the charter pilots would give Laura a ride back to Santo Domingo for a reasonable fee. So, it was taxi time. She is on her way now. I have to do much more research before Mary comes down. It's overcast and cool now. A cruise ship is in, but I believe the whales are gone. We never saw a splash anywhere in the bay during the time we had views yesterday. So Laura never got to see any. Time to clean up the boat and begin another round of boat projects... Life is good. David Powered by BoatExec http://www.BoatExec.com --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "JennyJourney" group. To post to this group, send email to jennyjourney@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to jennyjourney+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/jennyjourney?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---