Whale Watching in Samaná / Relaxing on Cayo Levantado

This weekend we decided to head up north to Samaná peninsula, and specifically to the town of Samaná itself. Our ultimate purpose was to participate in the whale watching tour led by Kim Beddall. Her Whale Samaná company had come highly recommended to us by friends. For US$53, you get a tour of several hours on a nice boat to watch the humpback whales frolick in Samaná bay. The whales only come to the bay in January through March of each year to breed. The boat leaves from the main dock in Samaná and the experience was wonderful. We decided to pay the US$5 extra to be dropped off on Cayo Levantado as the boat makes its way back to port. This turned out to be a wonderful side-trip as we enjoyed a nice lunch and 3 hours of relaxation on this beautiful island. 

The highway from Santo Domingo to the Samaná peninsula covers some of the most beatiful inland territory we've seen in the Dominican Republic so far. Vast fields of rice and other crops are lined with banana trees, as livestock lazily graze by the roadside. The trip all the way to Samaná took only about 2.5 hours, and passed through many quaint villages

In Samaná we stayed at the China Hotel, which was a great place given its location just a stone's throw from the waterfront. The hotel rooms are simple, but modern and comfortable. Perhaps best of all, the hotel has communal sitting areas that enjoy a great hill-top view over the city. We ate one night in the Chinese restaurant in the hotel and it was quite good.

The scenery on the road up to Samaná is really beautiful.

We decided to take a detour and head up the newly constructed highway 133, also called Boulevard Turístico del Atlantico. There is a toll of about US$11, but the views were well worth it. The highway takes you right to Las Terrenas.

A view of the water from the Boulevard Turistico del Atlantico.

We stopped in El Limon to ride the horses to the famous waterfall of El Limon (Salto del Limon). There are many places to pick up these horse tours, and some look more established than others. We opted to stop at a house on the side of the road that simply had two horses and two guides ready for the taking. They charged us 300 pesos each, and then we tipped the guides. There is also a 50 peso charge to enter the park.

There are a lot of tourists, although we had long stretches of the trail to ourselves.

On the path to the waterfall. The guide walks next to you and helps guide the horse, so the path is walkable. But it is muddy during the rainy season, and because of the all of the horses there is a lot of horse manure on the path. I would not recommend walking to the falls.

We reached the falls after about 30 minutes of riding, together with some walking down a path. They were absolutely beautiful and you can swim in the pond beneath.

After the falls, we made it to Samaná. This is the view from our hotel.

The view from China Hotel.

Samaná, Dominican Republic.

Samaná, Dominican Republic.

Samaná, Dominican Republic.

Samaná, Dominican Republic.

The harbor as we leave on the Pura Mia vessel with Kim Beddall.

Pulling away from Samaná.

To the left you can see a bridge leading to an island. The bridge is definitely worth visiting, as the view of the town is beautiful. Also, you can see around the peninsula to the beautiful bay. I would not recommend crossing onto the second and last island as we found it abandoned and it seemed potentially unsafe.

Beautiful Samaná bay.

Our first humpback whale! They come to the surface for a bit, then dive for about 20 minutes.

The markings on the tail of a humpback whale are unique to each animal.

We're heading back to port now, and on the way back the ship makes a stop at Cayo Levantado.

Cayo Levantado has excellent beaches, and the view of the surrounding bay is amazing. There is a hotel on the right side of the island, but the left side of the island is open to the public. There are many open air restaurants on the island, serving Dominican food priced at about US$10 per entree.

You can rent a beach chair for 100 pesos per day.

Our lunch, served on the beach! Total cost was about US$20.

That's the Pura Mia returning to the bay for the second voyage of the day (the 1 p.m. departure). We were scheduled to leave Cayo Levantado at 3:45 p.m. after having been dropped off at about noon. We took another, local boat home using our ticket from Kim Beddall's tour.

The ride home. You can sit on the bow.

Sunset over Samaná. There is no better way to end the day!