Once we arrived at Puerto Bahia, we were pleasantly surprised with the quality of the marina. The marina itself is part of The Bannister Hotel & Yacht Club so the amenities are top notch. Anyone staying at the marina can take full advantage of the resort amenities, such as their multiple pools, restaurants, etc. The showers are also excellent compared to most marina showers and their convenience store had a great selection.
Our original plan was to stay a night or two in Puerto Bahia to rest after the storm we hit on our sail out of BVI. We were exhausted from the bad weather and wanted to recuperate before moving on to Turks & Caicos. However, during our stay in Puerto Bahia, things around the world started to deteriorate due to COVID-19. Many countries started locking down completely and closing their borders to outside visitors. One of these countries was Turks & Caicos which really threw a wrench into our plans. We decided to remain in Samana for the time being while we figure out our next game plan. Around this time, New York City also went into full lockdown with hospitalizations sky rocketing. Since my daughter Eva is from NYC, she decided to stay with us for a few weeks to see how the situation unfolded.
We tried to make the best of our situation by exploring the resort.
There were three different restaurants at the hotel – one Italian and two with local Dominican fare (one for breakfast/lunch and another for dinner). We were able to sample many local dishes such as mangú which is a popular Dominican breakfast consisting of boiled plantains mashed with butter and topped with sautéed red onions, Dominican salami, and fried eggs. One of the restaurants was right on the water and had a great view too! Also at the marina was a small convenience store which had a great variety of food on top of the essentials. Luckily, there was no toilet paper shortage there during the start of the pandemic. 🙂
There were many boats staying in the marina who were in the same boat (pun intended!) as us. Many were transients who ended up getting stuck in the Dominican due to Covid. We all tried to make the best of the situation. Eva found an area in the lobby where she could work and take her French classes. The only problem was that the Wifi was unreliable and frequently went out completely!
After a few weeks of hanging around the resort, we all started figuring out our next move. The Dominican Republic had announced they were closing their borders to departures and arrivals in 15 days. Eva decided she would return to NYC to shelter in place at home while Joanna and I would begin making our way north for hurricane season. To prepare for the multi-week journey, we knew we’d need to stock up on all the essentials – food, medicine, and definitely wine! After speaking to some locals at the hotel, we got a recommendation for a good grocery store & pharmacy, rented a car, and headed into town. Super Mercado Lindo was in Las Terrenas, and when we arrived, there was a line out people outside with the same idea as us. The store was very large and had everything we needed for our journey. We also stopped at a local pharmacy to pick up our prescriptions which were all available over-the-counter. Right next to the pharmacy was a beautiful local beach – Playa Las Terrenas. We took a stroll on the white sandy beach and marveled at the beautiful clear water.
It soon came time for Eva to fly back home to NYC. The closest international airport was in the capital city Santa Domingo, which was about 2.5 hours away from the Puerto Bahia marina. During our journey down, we drove through a beautiful national park in Guaraguao! We returned to the hotel and began making preparations for our sail north.
The last week of our stay was mostly uneventful and was filled with gathering more provisions and fuel for our trip back to US. I brought a few more jerrycans filled with diesel fuel back to the boat from the marina’s filling station located across the bay and bought more food (and wine, of course!) from the resort’s mini supermarket.
Since we wanted, or rather were forced by COVID lockdowns on our route, to make it to Florida in one passage, we needed to get a long enough weather window of about a week. Finally, we got good weather predicted to last for the next several days, and in the morning of March 31, we cast off.
We were really appreciative of this place and all the great and nice people we met there. We will definitely be returning there one day!