I write to comment about two services in/near Boca Chica, marina services and healthcare services.

Marine Services. We have been docked at Marina ZarPar since mid-February, and it has served us well. As was written by Henrik Paulson in 11/18, the marina is very nice, the staff is helpful, there is a well-stocked chandlery nearby, and they have a number of competent local craftsmen to help with repairs and maintenance. Discounted monthly rates are quite reasonable.

Healthcare Services. Bottom line first: CEDIMAT (Centro de Diagnostico y Medicina Avanzada y de Conferencias de Medicas y Tele Medicina) medical center in Santo Domingo provides high-quality care that meets US/Canadian/European standards for quality and patient safety.

Unfortunately, I took sick while here – not sure if it was locally acquired or from Panama, where I recently volunteered in rural communities for almost a month. Regardless, I am a physician and knew I needed to go to a full-service emergency department for a thorough evaluation of intense abdominal pain. I used my Uber app at 2 am, and 9 minutes later, my Uber ride was at the marina, and 30 minutes later he dropped me off at the CEDIMAT ED.

I’ve run hospitals, large medical centers, and a healthcare region in a major metropolitan area, and everything I experienced at CDIMAT was comparable to what an acutely ill patient would experience at a well run, accredited medical center in the U.S. I was quickly triaged by a competent nurse, quickly and thoroughly evaluated by an ED physician, and then promptly seen by a general surgeon and a gastroenterologist (first a GI fellow and then her staff attending), after appropriate blood and urine specimens obtained for analysis and an abdominal CT scan performed.

I was admitted to a semi-private room for observation and medical management. Nursing care on the ward present, caring, and similar to but just a notch or two below what one would expect at a U.S. medical center. Fortunately, my workup was negative and my symptoms improved overnight and were discharged the next afternoon, and I’ve continued to get well since hospital discharge 48 hours ago.

A few of observations about CDIMAT:

– Infection control processes are taken seriously and meet international standards.

– I speak enough decent Spanish that I did not require translation services, and whenever I faltered with Spanish the doctor would break into good enough English. Not sure how a non-Spanish speaker would fare. They have an International Patient Office, that I suspect is capable of providing translators for patients, but I don’t know how ever-present they would be.

– The payment was required for ED services before I could be admitted. The payment was required for my hospital stay before they would disconnect my IV and cut off my hospital ID band. Major credit cards are excepted, and my bill for both was a paltry fraction of what it would have cost in the U.S.

In closing, I would not hesitate at all to return to CDIMAT if I experience an acute illness in the Santo Domingo area in the future.

Henrik Poulsen says:

Nov 14, 2018 06:58 PM
Boca Chica, Zar Par Marina.

We arrived Sunday, 11 November 2018 around midnight. We sailed through the small narrow entrance to enter behind the protective reef, and passed by the two first small marinas at our port side. Depths at navionics is not accurate, just sail along the marinas, there is around 3 meters.

Zar Par is the last marina and guards were welcoming us. They checked our documents and we lay alongside until next morning when a friendly young man by the name of Victor helped clearing us in. A 40 foot sail boat costs close to US $50 a day. Mooring also available for US $30 a day.

The marina is very nice, helpful staff, chandlery nearby, sailmaker also. Travel hoist. We have had absolutely no problem.

November and December are not crowded but January to April it is advisable to book. The following e-mail can be used
victorjimenez04@hotmail.com

Fair winds – safe sailing
Greetings, Henrik Poulsen

Just a brief note/question on Marina ZarPar – has dredging occurred recently? When we visited in 2015, we were assured in both English and Spanish over the phone that a vessel with an 11′ draft could get into the marina. Upon arrival, it was clear that there was a sandbar significantly shallower than that across the access channel – another vessel visiting at the same time (with something like 7′ or 8′ draft) were barely able to power across the bar at full throttle.

The slips in the marina looked to be as deep as advertised, but we couldn’t get to them. That being said, the team at the marina was very helpful in arranging with the local port office to allow us to anchor in the harbour for a few days as we had crew flying in that we needed to collect, but unless the marina has been dredged there is no way to get to Marina ZarPar with a deeper draft vessel.

A warning about Marina ZarPar: We came in to Boca Chica and Marina ZarPar in the beginning of March, 2017. The marina facilities (restrooms, laundry and showers) are fairly descent, but after staying there for a while we had so many problems that we want to warn other sailors.

tl;dr: The immigration procedure is highly corrupt. You will end up paying several hundred USD for something that is supposed to be almost free. Crime in the area is high, the city is nothing to see. The power boats racing around at night is loud, dangerous and there is always music playing at maximum volume all over the marina and the nearby beach. The mechanics recommended by the marina area highly unprofessional and the marina takes no responsibility for the people they recommend. In addition, the marina is highly overpriced.

Long version: Firstly, the city of Boca Chica is not a nice place to visit in the Dominican Republic. The crime seems very high; the city is overfilled by prostitute; sex-tourism; the water is polluted by the city and the nearby industrial port; and several boats have been boarded by armed men the last couple of years. In addition, the noise from power boats and jet-skis racing around and playing loud music 24/7 is beyond annoying. The only good thing about Boca Chica seems to be the vicinity to Santo Domingo where the old part of the city (Zona Colonial) is very nice to visit. We would recommend people to instead travel to the Samana Bay where the level of crime and corruption seems much lower, the city is nicer and one can still take the bus to Santo Domingo for a few days visit.

Upon first sight the marina seemed professional and we decided to ask for a mechanic to change a worn-out cone in our gearbox. They provided us with a mechanic and we agreed on a price for the maintenance, the cone itself and we were supposed to get the gearbox back in a day or two. After some days we realized that the mechanic wasn’t able to obtain a new cone for our gearbox (fairly standard gearbox for Yanmar 2GM20) and we agreed to order the cone ourself and get it shipped to the Dominican Republic. The mechanic would still replace the cone when it arrived. We obtained a new cone in a couple of days with express shipping. We had plans to meet up with friends and family in the Cayman Islands and were running out of time.

Finally, with countless delays and communication problems with the marina and the mechanic we handed over the new cone to the mechanic and he promised he would replace the cone and get the gearbox back to us in a couple of hours. When we finally got it back it was obvious that it did not work at all. It was much worse than when we had arrived in Boca Chica. The mechanic insisted that everything was fine and we had to spend much time arguing with him whether or not the gearbox worked or not.

In the end we opened up the gearbox just to discover that the mechanic had destroyed almost all of the parts inside the gearbox when putting it together again. It looked like he had been using a hammer to put things together and parts were bent and broken all over.

Our stay in Boca Chica which was supposed to be about 3-4 days ended up being a 6 week nightmare. We had to order a completely new gearbox and get it shipped in. We mounted it ourself to avoid any further problems. Our plans to visit Cayman Islands went up in thin air. So did all our family and friend’s plane tickets. The marina ended up taking zero responsibility. They claimed that they didn’t know the mechanics who worked at the marina even though they had originally recommended him. They would not provide any discount for our stay either, and as the marina was highly overpriced the 6-week stay there turned out to be an expensive experience.

In addition, when doing immigration you are pretty much required to do it through Victor who will charge you USD 250+ for some paperwork. The marina claims they have absolutely nothing to do with Victor, but his desk is in the marina office building. Everything about this place seemed extremely corrupt and mismanaged. We were not the only people having trouble there either. Several other boats were “stuck” there while trying to do maintenance on their boats.

All in all, try to avoid Marina ZarPar. Visit Samana Bay instead. We had a great time there (and along the rest of the north coast of the country). In our six weeks we also got to backpack a lot of the country. It’s a nice country to travel around in as long as you don’t have to interact with the corrupt bureaucracy and unqualified mechanics

We are in Boca chica now. If you are a shoal draft boat, definitely talk to marina Whala off the beach resort that is further in from the bay from marina zarpar. No long term anchoring is allowed In the bay and the well known Zar Par marina charges thirty dollars a day for moorings.

The smaller Whala marina gave us a great price for two weeks even though they normally only rent by the month. The marina manager, Anthony is super nice and we are very pleased with this little used option in Boca Chica. 5 feet depth in one spot to get here on high tide, so shallow draft only vessels. Only 3-4 slips are available as it is a small marina.

Update on Boca Chica Dominican Republic for Noonsite Yacht Wapiti April 2015

All boats go to Marina Zar Par. On arrival, the marina organizes the various authorities for a flat rate for $250US (increased from $225) which also includes departure fees. We were not given the option of doing the clearance ourselves but told to go to the office where we were given a bill payable immediately. Customs and quarantine carried out a fairly basic search. However, on departure a customs official arrived very late and was on board for over half an hour, sticking his dirty ungloved fingers into our food and tasting it and also dropped a notebook computer and cracked the case. Fortunately, it still worked OK. They then insisted on an immediate departure after the issue of the clearance papers.

There is no room to anchor but moorings are available for $19US per day up to 50 ft
Marina berths are $1.18US per foot up to 60 ft including tax. A 10% discount is available for SSCA members. Water is free. Electricity is $3US per day without A/C
Travel There is a shuttle bus from a square a few minutes walk from the marina (30pesos) which goes to the village of Boca Chica where there is a helpful tourist office, ATM’s and Claro telecoms where you can get a prepaid SIM card for unlocked phones. The bus goes on past a well-stocked Ole supermarket to a bus terminus where express buses run to Santo Domingo – about 45 mins. (120 pesos) (Avoid the local buses which are extremely slow) You can get off at Independence Square and then walk to most points of interest in the town. It is hard to find the bus depot for return so the easiest way is to get a bus from where you got off which will go to the terminus. Taxis around town should cost 250 to 300 pesos but they will try and overcharge.

Santo Domingo is a very interesting town, in particular, the Trujillo museum (Museo Memorial de la Resistencia) – see Trip Advisor.

Supplies: There is an Ole supermarket near Boca Chica and the marina run a shuttle to another larger Ole. There is a small chandler near the marina and there is a large marine store called Auto marine at Santo Domingo.
Diesel is available and the staff will arrange for LPG bottles to be refilled at a reasonable charge.

At weekends there is a great deal of noise and numerous local power boats passing through the anchorage, some with total disregard for the moored boats. Almost all seem to have ear-splitting sound systems.

Although the official rates are US$73 per boat and US$ 15 per person, they are now charging an outrageous US$225 for clearance into Marina Zarpar. Speaking to another boat they have been charged different amounts but generally much less. The difference is clearly going into someone’s pocket – apparently, it’s a charge made by the marina.

We’re only staying one night to refuel and now I really wish we have never come.

Yes, the marina Zar Par people are great. Enrica bends over backwards to help. But and this is a big but. They only have two maybe 3 spots for catamarans and believe me you do not want to moor out on a weekend. The beach is a madhouse– multiple cars powered boom boxes all playing different music as loud as possible, jets skis driven by drunken young men, cigarette boats powering through the mix, and boats anchored out playing loud music until 12:00 am.

I did like the Resturant. His conch salad is the best

The weekend traffic is busy no doubt. We stayed the first nite on a weekend day on a mooring ball. We lit up the boat very well and pulled the dinghy out of the fairway. Of course, accidents happen, especially when liquor is involved. Since the original poster was not involved in any way, I find his/her commentary pure hearsay.

The staff at the marina are excellent. Frank V. was awesome in his assistance to us for setting up a permanent slip, and care of the boat while we will be gone. The town is very interesting, however, I would not visit during the weekend. The only reason being it is very crowded with people as this is the goto place for the weekends. Weekdays are pleasant and the swimming areas are much less crowded.

The marina coordinated any transportation or checking in/out needs, as well as complimentary rides to the airport (we had relatives visit while we were here).

Oh and not to forget the little restaurant at the marina. It is awesome! Rubio I believe is the owner. While we where there a guy arrived in one of his 15 helicopters (just to give an idea that this guy could eat anywhere), just to eat at this little spot. He came here often.

Just as a footnote, we have no affiliation or interest what so ever in this enterprise.

Roark&Sheri
s/v Island Pearl

Posted on behalf of Gilben Camacho, the owner of the boat that was involved in the accident that caused the mast to fall down.

He says:

There are some errors in the report posted by Magic Brewer. I was not driving my boat, my friend was and I was with him. Coming back to the marina ZarPar where we keep the boat, he was distracted and looked away and at low speed, we hit the sailboat on the mooring. Unfortunately, we hit it on the turnbuckle that holds the wire to the top of the mast and the mast fell down.

No one was struck by any mast or injured in any way and I have agreed to pay for all the damages. Today I met with the owner of the sailboat and now that the boat is fixed enough to move he will go to St. Maarten to make a better repair to the mast on his boat.

I have been at the marina since it opened and do not find it dangerous as Magic Brewer says. There has never been an accident there before that I know of.

Marina ZarPar Warning. We sailed into Boca Chica late in the afternoon and cleared customs at the Zar Par dock before going to take a mooring directly in front of the docks. While at the dock I noticed a sailboat with its mast bent in two and laying on top of the boat. I asked the two young Canadian sailors what happened the said that they were hit by a boat while on the same mooring we were on. They said the harbour is insane on weekends, day and night.

It was dark and they could see the powerboat coming right at them, planning with its bow high in the air. They waved and shouted but it hit them right on a stay and brought the entire rig down on them. One person was stuck but saved by there solar panels and arch. Well sure enough on Friday the harbour was full of screaming jetskis and speeding powerboats passing within a few yards of the moored boats. These were not skiffs or small fishing boats, these were 25 to 30 ft. boats with music blasting away through most of the night.

It was frightening! The second day and night were the same. I had two anchor lights and the cockpit on even though we were hardly 25 yards from the marina docks. I was below reading about 10 pm and praying no one hit us when I heard a loud crash. Sure enough, a power boat went flying through the moorings and hit another party boat.

People on the dock who watched it said they thought for sure it was going to hit us. Evidently, he was going so fast he went right over the top of the other boat, injuring two people onboard. We were told the driver was jailed.

That harbour and the moorings at Marina Zar Par are absolutely unsafe on weekends. I would not recommend anyone visit there.

Problem number 2: This was just too scary to stick around so we decided to leave and sail to Salinas, DR. This is about a 60-mile trip so we needed to leave by 7 am to arrive at the unfamiliar anchorage in daylight. We explained this to the harbour master and asked to get our exit papers the day before and leave between 6 am and 7 am the next morning.

No, they said that was impossible. The papers could be delivered to us at 8:30 am the day we want to leave and I explained that does not give us enough time to get Salinas in the daylight. So we politely argued with them for the rest of the day until the harbour master said I’ll see what I can do and returned later saying “good luck, they will deliver the papers this evening” Great we thought after the police delivered the paper and I signed it. About an hour later at 5 pm the harbour master saw me on the dock and said you have to leave right now. No, I said we can’t leave now we would arrive in Salinas in the dark. No, you have to leave now before the police come. At this point, I abandoned the advice of the cruising guides and began screaming in his face and updated his English curse words.

He called in the Drug and Customs official who checked us in, whose English was better and he seemed to understand all my foul language. They finally called a guy they referred to as the police and I continued my rampage. Finally, they agreed that if I would give back the exit papers someone would deliver a new one at 6:45 am the next morning. So, we will see if this is true tomorrow morning.

In short, I will be so glad when we leave the DR for Jamaica and promise never to come back. I would recommend the same for anyone else. Spend your cruising dollars in a country that appreciates them.
s/v Magic
Jan. 13, 2014