Up at 5:15am to catch transportation at 6:25am, we waited an hour for the shuttle to show. The day was sunny as we drove through poor neighborhoods, entered the toll road from the south of DR to the north shore, and on to Samana (accent on the last 'a'). Our boat held about 30 customers looking forward to seeing the humpbacks in the bay. There were 5-6 sightings of adults blowing/surfacing/diving, and a young one that jumped straight up out of the water :) We were disappointed in the closeness to the whales, and the high speed rush towards them to be one of the three boats allowed to approach them. Afterward we headed to a small island where we had lunch and time on a comfortable sandy beach with a beautiful view. No fish though for snorkeling.