Samana is a beautiful big bay on the east coast of the Dominican Republic, and Santa Barbara de Samana (aka Samana) is a lovely a town with just the right balance of amenities, tourism, and colourful local flavour. Top 10 things we've discovered about the DR: 1) The people are wonderfully friendly and helpful. They love to laugh, dance, and play their music loudly. 2) The food is great, eating out is cheap, and fresh fruit from the market delicious. 3) Samana is a clean, busy, industrious town where you can find just about anything you need, and what you can't find someone will get for you. 4) Local products are very reasonable. 5) Tipping is customary and expected and there are lots of people just waiting to help you with everything. 6) The highest mountains in the Caribbean provide a beautiful backdrop to Samana, and excursions inland are well worth the effort. 7) Whale watching is huge here, but unfortunately we just missed the season. The whales went north without us. 8) Licensed tour guides will be waiting for you at the Samana dock. They speak English and have local knowledge that's well worth the modest fee/tip. 9) Side by side with cellphones, satellite dishes and motorcycles, you see ancient methods of fishing and farming, and labour saving devices are the exception rather than the norm. 10) We need to learn some basic Spanish. Most locals don't speak English, but they're delighted with our pathetic efforts to make ourselves understood.

The harbour in Santa Barbara is relatively protected but can be subject to moderate swells. They usually die down at night, so sleeping isn't a problem. The waterfront is lovely, and the view out towards the bay always interesting: there are lots of boats coming and going (even though the tourist season is past its peak), there are picturesque rock formations and the Bridge to Nowhere with local kids jumping off from an unbelievable height. There's an election next month, and the music is always blaring from the trucks and buses advertising for one candidate or the other. We spent a week here and visited the market almost every day. I could have eaten nothing but sweet, juicy pineapple every day, and the bananas were loaded with flavour.

Our guide and translator, Chito (aka Martin), was invaluable. He took us around town the first morning: dentist for Wendy's broken tooth, barbershop for Ralph, money exchange, and the market for the best produce. The town is absolutely hopping with activity all the time: noise, music, motorcycles by the hundreds, baseball, boats, colours, kids. It's wonderful!

Our trip to the waterfall and plantation with Gail and Ray was a great day. Chito's friend John owns and drives the van that took us into the mountains, past the reservoir, and onto a very rough road. We stopped at Gina's plantation where Chito toured us around and showed us all the fruit, coffee and chocolate trees. Gina also has an open air shop with local crafts and jewellery, again at very reasonable prices. Much better than in town, and the buffet lunch she served us was delicious!

The final destination, Lulu Falls, was an easy walk, pretty, and it was nice to have a swim in fresh water under the falls. Unfortunately, we had to rush off a little early due to an unexpected tropical downfall which can make the road impassable if you wait too long. (The plus is that we finally used the rain catcher I made and it didn't take long to top up Altona's water tank with 45 gallons of water.) Next time, Chito and John will take us to the BIG falls by van and horseback. Or maybe we'll hike it. Either way, it'll be another terrific day.