Samana

 Samana, in the Dominican Republic, was our first port of call on the cruise. I loved this place, my favorite stop of the whole cruise for sure. I would love to travel back here some day and just spend a few days on this island. 

We chose a speedboat excursion and got to cruise around the coast at high speeds. We stopped at Cayo Levantado for lunch then had to race back to catch the last tender boat. Our excursion took a lot longer than we thought it would, for a few reasons. First, no one on that island cares about time! haha Second, Steve and Debbie had some issues with their boat breaking down twice, once in the middle of the ocean where they had to switch boats with our captains. It took so much time that our guides felt they owed us all extra time cruising around.

Once we stopped for lunch we didn't know what to expect. The meals were cooked from scratch, it took about 45 minutes to get our food, and there was a lot of it. It was great food, but we spent all our cash on lunch and didn't have any left for shopping, which was so sad. I loved all their hand made jewelry, it was all so beautiful! We did manage to barter a small bracelet for $4, so at least we have something to remember. : )

Here is a sample of images from Samana from the digital camera (protected from salt water in a zip lock baggie, Yeah, I'm high tech! haha) Click to enlarge.

From top left clockwise around to the middle:

*Jeremy and I in front of the mini speedboats *Debbie and I on the tender boat over to the island *Our yummy food and pina coladas made in a pinneapple * Jeremy driving our boat  *Jeremy and STeve on the beach while we waited for the boats to come back from a previous tour, reason 3 ours took longer than expected *Everything you need to make a great pina colada *Debbie, Steve and I in front of the boats *Jeremy and Steve on the tender boat *Jeremy, the sunbaked lobster and the rest of us after a fun day in the sun, in line to go back to the ship *My bracelet *Beautiful ocean and bridge we got to cruise under * One of our Captains drinking the alcohol we didn't want. * Our new friends that joined us on this exciting excursion, Courtney and Neal.

Here are some film images from Samana: 

Jeremy, his head was fried...and a welcoming band

Some pretty dancers, too

One of the reasons I loved this place so much; It was sad to see these poor dogs everywhere, but it's just one example of how authentic and natural the island still is. It is not touristy or commercialized.

 Another band bumming money. Tip for a picture? ; )

A beautiful old dock

 Fishermen pulling in their nets and repairing them, just to the side of that pretty dock above. Yeah, they still fish with nets here, I love it!!

And back to digital... Our dress up night on the ship and a comedy show!