Puerto Plata and Ocean World Marina, Dominican Republic

Yesterday, we collectively decided to have a Canadian style breakfast at Chris and Mattie's and were all looking forward to bacon, eggs, hash browns and toast . As we were heading down the dock to breakfast, we were greeted by our friend Commandante Ramon. He had come to take us to the cable car and up to Cristobal Mountain. We invited him to join us for breakfast, but he insisted he take us for a traditional Dominican breakfast in the village of Miamon, where everything is fresh. Much to Alan's dismay, the restaurant specializes in fish, rice and fried sweet potato, none of which he eats, and he is allergic to fish. Jan had a queasy stomach and was ready for some familiar north American food, but sucked it up and ate what she could. While Ramon escorted Jan and I through the food selections, explaining what each fish and dish was, Alan turned to Tim and said "oh oh, I'm f--ked!"

Tim, Ramon and I thoroughly enjoyed the meal. Although not the norm for a breakfast meal for us, it was delicious, and we tried yucca, plantain and a different kind of sweet potato, all cooked outdoors and served in an open air restaurant. They served fresh juices. I had passion fruit, which was to die for and some of the others had pineapple, while Ramon had carrot juice. The meal for five cost about $12.00 US.

The views of the city and the ocean from the cable car and top of Mount Cristobel were every bit as stunning as they were when we visited twenty four years ago.
Thankfully the rain quit after four days and it was a beautiful sunny, clear day.

 We received our despacho papers (out clearance) from the navy this evening, and weather gods permitting, we plan a dawn departure, heading to Samana or Escandido, and then on to Cap Cana, where we plan to spend a week or so before crossing the Mona Passage to Puerto Rico.

The Mona Passage is the one leg that we have all been dreading. It can be a very ugly body of water as the entire Atlantic tries to push through the passge and we don't want the wind working against the current. This is certainly a passage where, after Christmas, we will be looking for ,and waiting for an appropriate weather window for a smooth crossing.