While in Trinidad we met a cruisers who owns a marina in the DR. Unfortunately I did not get the info, but I like to tell you what he had to say about the island. He does not understand why cruises even go to Luperon, I agree with him. It's not a nice place especially compared what the rest of the island has to offer. He said the south coast of the DR is so much nicer and the sailing is easier as the water is calmer, besides the south side offers many beautiful marinas so if we ever go back we definitely will visit the south of the island.

The following is a letter that I received a few years back:

OCEAN WORLD MARINA IN THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC

Guess you must be back at the boat. Hopefully you had a nice time while stateside!
We left Provo on Dec. 5th. Had a good sail down to the DR - only 26 hours, 13 of which were under sail. We checked in at Ocean World. The check-in cost was $42, but Ocean World also charges a $50/week "port fee", which they remit to the powers that be to make up for the other charges and tips they normally get in Luperon. Ocean World is a great marina with an incredible sea wall. There is some surge, but not as bad as we'd been told. Ocean World is a huge theme park with dolphin, sharks, birds and sea lion shows, (all those shows have an interactive show available too, to just go watch is free) a casino, restaurants, a huge pool, with swim up bar, etc. We stayed for a week and had a ball, then motorsailed the 18 hours to Samana, where we spent two days. We found the people in DR absolutely wonderful, very nice and friendly, particularly Ocean World, those people were incredible.