Monday, March 09, 2009 6:54:35 PM Location: Samana Anchorage Latitude is 19 degrees 11.92 minutes north. Longitude is 69 degrees 19.838 minutes west. No recent weather observation is available. We're back in Samana now, having spend the day seeing the sights of Las Haitises and the bay. The anchorage down there is excellent with much protection and no rolling. It was a quiet and peaceful night. We got up at the crack of dawn and got into the dinghy to explore the grottos that line the southern shore of the small bay in Las Haitises. Nicholas came along and was a very happy dog having an extended dinghy ride! The geology of the area is one of limestone hills, much like what you see in photos of Vietnam. Where these hills meet the water, cliffs have formed where slices of the hills have broken away. The limestone also reforms into stalagtites as water seeps through cracks and drips out inside the fractured cliff faces. It is really strange to see them hanging under the cliffs. Laura took photos that I will send off in a day or so. We saw a lot of birds and fauna, and pretty beaches. But there are few mamals here except rats. They need some cats going after the rats and then who know what might happen... We got back to the boat around 9 and the wind had not yet picked up. So, we raised the dinghy and went out to find whales. We spent until about 1:00 cruising Samana Bay looking, but saw no sign of them. They are supposed to be here until mid March, so there is a possibility that they have already left and are heading north. So, now we are back in Samana, at anchor. Tomorrow we will go to see the waterfalls and take a horseback ride. Then we'll go on a tour of the town in the PM. On the way back from the airport, we saw a small local airport and looked it up on the web today. There is a regularly scheduled between the two for $69, which is much less expensive in time and money than taking a taxi. So, we booked laura on a flight out Wednesday AM. David Powered by BoatExec http://www.BoatExec.com David A Schramm M/V Jenny Current <http://www.winlink.org/dotnet/maps/PositionReportsDetail.aspx?callsign=KI6C EL> Location (blue pin) Jenny Journey Log <http://groups.google.com/group/jennyjourney>