The Stickiness of Luperon, DR

2/14/2024

At first glance, Luperon is not that appealing. The harbour water is dirty, garbage sits lumped at the side of the street, skinny dogs bark as you walk alongside the shack-like housing near the docks, venders in cars selling fruits and vegetables yell indiscernible Spanish through loudspeakers, motorcycles zoom in and out of streets and alleyways.

Dirty, loud, confusing. There is no mistaking that it is a third world country.

Arriving just after sunrise in Luperon, DR

It was a cold morning. Just 19 degrees Celsius!

Livestock making its way through the streets of Luperon

An election rally - loud and filling the street!

On Wild Horses, we say quite often that the best parts of a place are the people. Luperon is not an exception to this rule. In fact, it may be why the rule was created. The community here is lively and fun, and it is a blend of all sorts of people - true locals, “locals by default” (i.e. they sailed or flew in and never left) and transients like us. Everyone has been more than welcoming, sharing the best of their town with us yachties in transit. They know we are catching the first weather window out of Luperon but they still take the time to help us get oriented and to feel comfortable.

We arrived last Monday February 5th after a long overnight passage from Samana. Immediately, friends we had met during our first stint in Luperon greeted us. We definitely felt the love! Even the Armada and Customs & Immigration remembered us. Okay, okay, I know. They remembered Ocean. Our “So happy to see you back!” fanfare was absolutely because we were standing alongside our unforgettable pup.

Ocean with Toby. He is technically owned but usually just wanders the streets. He loved Ocean and would escort her everywhere.

Barry from Caretta getting braids in his hair from a local woman

Buttercup also just wanders around town and loved spending time near Ocean

We have now been here a week and it has been fun and full! Here are the highlights of our week in Luperon:

We got to witness, and help recover, several boats that dragged in the harbour during a very rare 33-knot west wind that blew through Luperon and challenged some of the older mooring lines. Yes, damage was done to boats but, thankfully, not to Wild Horses.
Me, Mike and Andrea (from Caretta) got to volunteer at the Luperon Cats & Dogs monthly flea, tick and deworming event. We participated at the clinic last spring and were delighted that it was being held this past week while we were in town.

Victoria administering deworming medicine

Mike and Andrea cutting a pup's nails

Ocean meeting one of the new clients (who was a little nervous)

Rode Trip, Caretta and Wild Horses took a day trip to Puerto Plata. But this was no ordinary car ride! First, the one road out of town was closed due to roadwork so we had to take an alternate route. We did not choose wisely. We found ourselves on very rough dirt roads, bumping our way through, around and in between potholes, rocks, cows and horses. Not a problem, you may think as you read this. They must have been in a jeep or an SUV. Nope, a Camry. We bottomed out many, many times and wondered if we were leaving various Camry parts on the road behind us. But that is not all! No, the other fun thing was that the Camry wasn’t in tip top shape to begin with. In fact, every light on the dashboard was on. Naturally, we assumed that the propane gas gauge also didn’t work. It read “empty” when we picked up the car and, although the guy renting the car to us (Adriel) said “you need to put in propane”, we assumed he meant “put in propane and not gasoline”. Oops! 20 kilometres from Puerto Plata, our motley group of sailors (and Ocean) found ourselves out of propane on the side of the road. From what we could tell, we were in the middle of nowhere and we had no means to get the car going. I mean, you can’t just walk to a propane gas station and fill up a jerry can to fill up your car. Yikes! Thankfully, Adriel came to the rescue. He had his brother take a taxi to us and tow our car to the nearest propane station. Yeesh!

The detour sign

Ocean backseat driving

Seen alongside the road

Seen a lot alongside the road

And there we are, stranded alongside the road

Getting hitched up to the taxi

Being towed

Getting our much needed propane fuel

We finally made it to Puerto Plata!

We got to watch the Kansas City Chiefs beat the San Francisco 49ers for Superbowl LVIII. A local and popular bar in Luperon livestreamed the game! It was an exciting evening and wonderful to share it all with our new and old friends in Luperon.

A busy bar at the start of the game

Everyone got intense as the game was very exciting!

Many a meal was eaten in several of the local eateries in Luperon. The North, Astrids, New Amsterdam, Wendy’s Bar, TKs Cafe and D’La France, to name a few. Each and every one of them served up fresh, yummy food at a price point that was impossible to resist. A dinner for two with drinks (okay, several drinks), rarely topped $25 CAD.

When you look at the week we had, you can see why some people never leave Luperon. It is affordable, there is lots to do and the Luperon community is second to none. It is easy to stick around!

Yes, the week was great, but we were itching to get to the Bahamas. Our first plan was to leave Sunday, February 11 at 7am. The winds were perfect to make the 167 nautical mile trip to Great Inagua in the outer Bahamas. We went to the Armada on Saturday afternoon to get our Despachos so we wouldn’t have to wait for officers to arrive on Sunday morning. Only, the Armada would not issue “Despachos” on the Saturday. Or the Sunday. Or the Monday. Yikes! We felt a little stuck.

Waiting outside the Armada's guard house

Watching Richard from the Armada fill out our paper work

We finally got our Despachos on Tuesday morning and left Luperon at 10am. We are now just an hour from arriving at Matthew Town, Great Inagua. We will be spending a full three months in the Bahamas and are excited to finally be here.