Borealis: Day 270- Los Haitises National Park, Dominican Republic

Exploring the Samana peninsula of Dominican Republic has been a great adventure. The country is absolutely gorgeous and the people are kind, sincere and seem genuinely happy. It is by far the poorest country we've visited but very functional. The primary mode of transportation is motorcycle. It is not unusual to see a family of four on one motorcycle or a mother with newborn in her arms or a refrigerator or basically anything that you usually wouldn't imagine on a motorcycle. There are few resorts on the Samana peninsula, most are small mom and pop hotels on the very scenic beaches. We did manage to find what seemed like most of the tourists (mainly French, Spanish and Russian) in the area at El Limon waterfalls. Remi loved the hour long horseback ride up to the falls and Mia would of swum under the falls all day. We haven't seen or come across other American boaters or tourists. Not sure if they don't come to the DR or just not to this part of it. Most of our information about places to visit in the DR has been by word of mouth from people we've met, rather than guide books; Los Haitises Park is one of these places. It is only accessible by boat with rugged, steep mountains rising from the beach. There are mangrove rivers to explore and caves with Taino Indian drawings. Will post photos once we have access to wifi again. We're reluctantly leaving the DR tomorrow to catch a good weather window for a passage to the Turks and Caicos. We aim to make landfall either at Sandy Cay or South Caicos on Saturday.
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