Published on Jan, 2023
It is a long day. It’s doable. My wife is an anxious person and packs to be prepared. If that’s your thing, this is the review for you.
What to bring:
Dramamine or patch
Towels
Swimsuit
Sunscreen
SPF shirt for the boat
Water
Snacks
Toilet paper or wipes, hand sanitizer
Binoculars
Sunglasses
Hat
Flip flops
Tip money
Expect a lot of waiting. We were the first to arrive at the initial meet-up location. There was a sandwich and coffee waiting for us. We watched about 5-6 vans arrive before the buses arrived. The guides make sure to take care of you, so you can relax. Everyone we interacted with was kind and thoughtful.
Note: They offer an excursion to the waterfall with and without seeing whales. If you want to see the whales too make sure you purchase the right ticket. Some people accidentally bought the wrong one.
We left the first spot at about 8 am. During the drive the guide gave history and facts about the DR. About mid-way, we stopped at a souvenir shop to use the bathroom. The bathroom was clean. The drive was gorgeous and gives you an insight into what life is like in the rural areas of the Dominican.
We got to the catamaran at about 9:45. We were lucky and got to see some whales. Seeing them isn’t necessarily guaranteed. The crew hustled to make sure we got a view. This was my wife’s favorite part. You really only see the smallest part of the whales come above water. They are just massive and majestic.
After the whales, we went to a small island for only 40 minutes. If it was up to my wife, we would spend more time here and then go back to our Airbnb. We got back to the catamaran and went to lunch. Lunch was sooo good. They had vegetarian options as well. We brought snacks because we weren’t sure what was going to be served.
From here we got on the open-air Jeep to the start of the hike to the waterfall. This was an enjoyable ride where we got to see Samana.
The waterfall was beautiful but we didn’t like the horseback riding. You are with a guide the entire time. We thought the guides were too rough with the horses, and we understand that there are cultural differences that influenced this, plus we do not pretend to be experts on horses. Regardless, we felt uncomfortable about it. The suggested tip was $10 for the guides.
We were nervous about the stairs down and out of the waterfall. They were doable. We took breaks when we needed.
The travel back was long. After we left the waterfall, we had to take the Jeep, the catamaran, a bus, and then vans back to our hotels.
We recommended this trip if you would rather do one day exercising and see so many things. My wife would have preferred breaking it up over two days, and would have happily scheduled both through this same company.
