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A voyage of rediscovery in the eastern Dominican Republic,
where stunning beaches and world-class marinas beckon to American yachtsmen.
By Roy Attaway — Spring 2004
Where the eastern edge of Hispaniola juts to a halt
at the brink of the sea, the old karst plateaus plunge into the ill-tempered
waters of the Mona Passage, once part of the Spanish Main. It was the
original Yellow Brick Road, paved with gold and the remains of ships and
desperate hidalgos.
I remembered it from 35 years ago, when a green crew
cut of sugar cane topped the wind-swept promontories and mangroves and
mahogany backed the lowland beaches. Nothing more. Villages were few and
far between and so poor that many had no running water. Small children
dug pre-Columbian Taíno artifacts from seaside caves and hawked
them in the dusty streets.
What a difference a few decades make.
Today this sun-blessed fringe of the Dominican Republic
is a rollicking playground for the rich, the famous, the not-so-rich,
and those who care to remain anonymous. It is still a stunningly beautiful
part of the Caribbean and one long overlooked by American yachtsmen.
I was trying to reconcile this with old memories as
we pulled out of the marina at Punta Cana Resort and Club on a Sea Ray
340 Sundancer named La Turca and headed
south on a voyage of rediscovery—for me, at least. With me were my
wife Robyn, José Luis Prida, who is the Sea Ray dealer in Santo
Domingo (the capital), and the two-man crew of Capt. Rene Caridad and
mate Antonio Aquino.
I remembered Punta Cana as a grass landing strip behind
a tiny resort motel with one of the most glorious beaches in the world.
Theodore Kheel, the famous New York labor lawyer, had developed it. The
joke is, Ted and I landed here at about the same time, but he had the
money to snap up thousands of acres of land and I didn’t. Today the
grass strip is the largest privately owned international airport in the
world, with more than 200 flights arriving each week from Europe. There
are direct connections from the United States as well, including several
daily from Miami and New York on American Airlines.
Kheel’s dream was realized as he, with partners
Dominican hotelier Frank Rainieri, Sr., fashion designer (and Dominican
native) Oscar de la Renta, and singing star Julio Iglesias, lent their
cash and cachet to the project. The Punta Cana Resort and Club is now
centered around a glorious P.B. Dye golf course.
Among others who have built homes is Mikhail Baryshnikov.
The guest list is impressive, too: Barbara Walters, Bill and Hil, Henry
Kissinger, Harrison Ford, and Penelope Cruz, among many.
>> Next page >>
Part 2: Not far from the Punta Cana resort is the house built by Juan Ponce
de Leon in 1504. Page
1,
2, 3
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