Samana (Cayo Levantado), Dominican Republic

It was a rolling night on board from Tortola to the Dominican Republic
and we arrived in increasingly poor weather.  We anchored near Samana
and the island of Cayo Levantado. The primary interest of many was a day
at the beach, as the cruise line had arranged for the use of a nice beach at
the hotel on Cayo Levantado and was running tenders directly to the island.

 
Because of our later arrival (10am) the other excursions also started later.  Our choice was a boat tour of the National Park which included early Indian art in caves and a ride through the mangrove "forests".  We left on this boat trip at 1pm in a light mist which soon became a downpour.  So our intrepid band of 20 donned yellow slickers and went anyhow, for over 3 wet hours.  The park was great with lots of different birds and the rainforest growing out of the limestone walls.  Edith, the guide, a transplant from Holland, was very knowledgeable about the area, which covers over 500 square miles, and the history of the Indian drawings.  As good as it was, we were glad to get back on the ship and into a hot shower.

The island of Cayo Levantado.

Getting onto our "speedboat", meeting our captain, and getting slickers out of the hold.

After a high speed, rain in your face and everywhere else, run we get into the limestone based islands and view the plant life, such as the agave flower which blooms after 8 years and then the plant dies.

This is the first cave we visited, very large with Indian rock carvings from
2000 years ago. One million Indians lived in this area and within 100 years
of Columbus' "discovery" they were completely gone.

Back to the boat for more cruising among the islands. Still raining.

Cave #2 where we found Indian paintings from 2000 years ago.

The mangroves, which only grow where salt and fresh water meet, and are protected from over harvesting.  This is very important in the Dominican Republic, where fishing also is only allowed in small boats so that they do not catch dolphins, etc. and trees are protected so that only licensed individuals can harvest them in a special manner.


The wet and intrepid explorers on the way back to the ship and a hot
shower.