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We have decided to stay in Luperon's "hurricane hole" for the season - July through October. You enter the harbor through a passage from the north between two coral reefs and then turn sharply to the west and snake through some shoals that open up into two large anchorages. The first anchorage has three shoaly areas but lots of access up into the bordering mangroves. If a big storm comes, we will snuggle up into the mangroves and tie off in a spider web of lines to the larger trees. In the meantime we had the local "harbor master" Papo install a mooring for us. Papo and I went into Santiago, the closest large town, and snooped around junk yards until we found a 10 foot pole 1 inch in diameter and some quarter inch plate steel. Papo (in the picture at the bottom) had the welder attach 2 semicircular plates to one end of the shaft so that it would screw in like an auger. On the other end an eyelet was welded in place. Papo and his buddy Handy Andy then dove in the harbor near our anchor and screwed the whole thing into the mud. I cut 20 feet of chain off the anchor rode and attached it via a swivel to the auger on one end and a mooring ball on the other. I added a couple of mooring lines and a float and, voila, a Susurra owned mooring here in Luperon. The whole thing cost $300. When we leave we can split any rent with a local for $50 a month or sell it to someone. I really like the permitting process here!
The second anchorage is about twice the size and borders on the muelle or government dock and the muellecito or dinghy dock. The water is not flushed as well here and the breeze is not as steady as in the first anchorage. While it takes longer to get into town, we like where we are better.
The picture on the left shows "downtown" Luperon with its only stoplight (doesn't work) and the gathered "moto-conchos" at the corner. These guys provide low cost taxi service - we have seen up to 4 people on one motorcycle at a time. One motoconcho name Papon is a really nice guy - we see him and talk with him a lot. He works part time at Shaggy's, one of the gringo bars in town.
We spend many nights in Luperon at three different gringo bars/restaurants - Shaggy's, Steve's Place, and the Puerto Blanco Marina. Very often there is live music - either a performance or a jam session. There are many accomplished musicians here. Micah, a friend of Seans (aka Shaggy) came in from Isla Morada in the Florida Keys and sang and played for several days - lots of talent there. Several times Karen has played her songs and the cruisers really love it. She has become a bit of a celeb around town. Most Fridays there is a jam session either at the Marina or Shaggy's. Steve's Place generally has the best food around but sometimes it can fall a little flat.
We also eat and drink at some of the local establishments. The Juice Bar, half a block from the stoplight, has all kinds of fresh squeezed juices - my favorite these days is half tamarind and half pineapple. Kari likes the melon, limonade, and sometimes the passionfruit. They also have great sandwiches - kind of like toasted paninis on cuban bread. Letty's (in the picture) has some great seafood and chicken dishes plus very cold beer. I think our favorite restaurant so far is El Belga run by Carmen. She's a sweet young widow with a great 10 year old boy and she serves the best "mero a la criolla" - creole grouper - around. Comes with garlic mashed potatoes slightly flavored with allspice. The Chiken Shak is run by a local mamacita and the place is always crowded. One other place definitely worth mentioning is the palapa bar where they do kareoke every Saturday. It's lots of fun and their pina coladas are to die for.
There are two beaches here. Playa Grande is a bit of a walk but stretches for quite a way with lots of breakers. On weekends it is crowded with locals but weekdays it is nearly empty. The playacita is a little beach near the harbor entrance. We had a pot luck/beach barbeque plus fireworks party there on the 4th of July.
A typical day usually involves coffee and lounging on the boat in the morning then a dinghy ride either to town or the marina. We usually shop at various stores - groceries, butchers, vegetable stand, laundaria, farmicia, etc. Half the time we eat in town for $100 pesos or $3 USD plus a large $2 beer. We have published some of our adventures on the web site outside of town with more planned. I think the next trip will be up into the mountains for either white water rafting or tubing. They have some spectacular rivers up there we hear.
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