E-mail from Sobeida Brito – Tourism office Luperon (bsobeida21@gmail.com)

We have been working so hard the last two months to make positive changes (in Luperon for visiting yachts) and passing resolutions (like agriculture now costs 20 dollars less). Also the Immigration tax per boat.

We have a new commandant who speaks fluent English.

Yesterday we finished with the Navy to organize anchoring at the entrance to the bay. There were 16 boats in the middle of the entrance. We fix the electricity. We also had a meeting with all the authorities to find the best way to keep and bring more visitors to Luperon.

There have been problems in the past, but not any more. Please…we aren’t bad people, give us the opportunity to show you we need and we want visitors…don’t judge by one case, one person’s mistake for all the citizens. Let’s tell the good things and we attract the best things.

Luperon is one of the best Hurricane Holes I have (come across). Avoid Marina Tropical, (but) the rest of the people and the Boaters community are great and very helpful.

Luperon: Vandalism
Reported by CSSN: 28 April 2017

A yacht was tied to a mooring in Luperon Bay for a few hours before the owner went ashore. Vandals released the yacht, and removed all lines from it and the mooring itself during daylight hours. The yacht was seen adrift, an emergency VHF call was made and the yacht was recovered undamaged . No police report was made.

Moorings in Luperon Bay:

I do not recommend using any mooring in the bay unless you see the installation. Last week 2 boats broke off in 20 knots of wind. Just drop you anchor with ALOT of chain. There is still a dinghy dock at the city. I recommend using a stern anchor for the dinghy.
We rented a car from Franklin for 25$US.

Here in Luperon, there is lots of fruit and vegetables at small stands. For meat take a ride with a car to Sosua.Super Pola..like a Publix.

Update of our May experience (see below). Thank you noonsite!

Departing Luperon recently was even more problematic. Took 2 full days to get a despacho. We lost a day on our weather window. The new Commandant seemed very sincere in his efforts to dissuade the portman from charging us $170 in harbour entrance and anchor/mooring fees. We had our receipts to show we had been at private dock/Marina the entire time….which paid for use of that private dock and various another usage. The portman “Freddy” refused to look at our documents….again.

He demanded US$ and would not accept DR pesos. We are now very familiar with all the issues of Luperon having been there over a season. We demanded a receipt with the English translation included. The receipt said for “use of the facilities and harbour entrance fee”. There are no facilities.

The dingy dock is partially sunk and is seriously broken to the extent numerous cruisers had nasty injuries. No lights at night, frequent theft. No viable garbage receptacles, and under no circumstances would we dare park our vehicles there near the dock. Trash and foul smells scattered about.

In October the Dominican Republic’s Attorney General Señor Brito, for President Medina, came to Luperon and inspected this situation. He declared all the harbour and tourist card fees charged there to be illegal. They stopped charging briefly, then started it again when a number of us cruisers departed a couple of weeks ago. They have had 4 different Commandantes during our stay. We were told explicitly that the portman has final authority over all other tourism agencies assigned to process entry. So, in fact, there are 6 agencies, not five, at Luperon. Freddy rules.

Interestingly, in the fall a national port authority “Escoto” went on a tv interview making it clear they were targeting Luperon for extra fees and spoke in terms of US$ which blatantly targets the US. ALL national rate sheets are in RD pesos. We have the transcript.

We are distraught at the suggestion of Papo to manage anything for cruisers. Please do not use him, or do so at serious risk. We did not use him but were witness to some tragic events that fell upon friends using him. There have been theft and extortion issues for cruisers associated with his ‘management’. Please contact Pantaenius Insurance to learn if they would recommend him is our advice. They had an in-depth experience.

We and another vessel did have fuel contamination issues from Luperon fuel in spite of using bios, Baja filter, fuel polishing and numerous filters to the engine that were new on departure. Our engine failed off of Cape France’s Viejo at 9 pm. Changed ALL filters again. Another that departed when we did had his engine fail numerous times while crossing the Mona from dirty fuel. He changed the filters several times underway, and feared he would run out of filters! He too had polished, used Baja, and new filters before departing.

Puerto Blanco Marina is very good. We were at their dock. As long as Leo is there you will have very good food, facilities, dingy and main dock, and safety. Our vehicle was always safe there, as are the cruisers who have motorcycles parked there.

Luperon is a great harbour, well sheltered, excellent holding and a nice town. Unfortunately, the port officials are very unpleasant. A young well-dressed man with a flash car and a G4S badge who works from the port authority office insisted we paid $10 US each for ‘tourist permits’. We checked with CESTUR in town (armed tourist security officials) and they told us we shouldn’t pay anything and refer the port guy to them.

We put off the payment for a few days, but eventually, we were no longer allowed out of the port into town. We had to accept a lift to the ATM, and pay up. Meanwhile, some people who arrived at the same time as we were not allowed to leave (because of the weather, which was poor for just a few hours) for over 2 days, and all five of them had to re-arrange flights. When we asked for a despacho to leave, we were told we’d have to pay another 1500 pesos and provide photocopies of our passports (again) – all the following day, which is the day we intended to leave.

Since the weather window for our trip was small and we were fed up with the officials, we did a runner at dawn (despite no engines and very little wind!). Be warned too that the bank is very unreliable. The only ATM is currently broken (somebody smashed it). When it worked, it only sometimes worked, and only coughed up smaller amounts than 2000 pesos. Changing money inside the bank never took less than an hour, sometimes two.

For some great photos of Luperon from a visit April 2014 see http://www.thelifenomadik.com/luperon-dominican-republic/