January 21, 2016 – At sea between Florida and the Dominican Republic. A calm day with lectures by the very amusing Sir Tony Robinson on his life in the UK TV spotlight. Additionally a very interesting lecture by the UK historian – Simon Newman – about Winston Churchill and his close link with the USA (his mother was American) and was friendly with the high society of New York and Washington having made more trips to the US than any other European leader of his day. In the evening we were entertained by the brilliant Uruguayan Harpist – Shirley Dominguez. She played the electric harp with tunes as diverse as Zorba the Greek to Merrngue and Tango.
Today, Friday January 22, 2016 Amber Cove near Puerto Plata on the North shore of the Dominican Republic is on the agenda. A maiden call for Queen Mary 2, it has been 30 years since cruise ships stopped at this port, but the DR Government has heavily invested in the port with the idea of attracting cruise ships.
The first stop was the Cathederal in Puerto Plata. A modern structure on the main plaza, rebuilt after the earthquake a decade or so ago. The “Moto-taxis” or motorcycles that carry up to 5 “squished” passengers behind the driver are ubiquitous. After a stop at a handicraft tourist trap, we drove along the “Malecon” (road by the ocean) to the fort of San Felipe (Saint Philip). A somewhat delapadated structure on a promentory overlooking the Atlantic Ocean with numerous vendors pushing their wares.
After a 20 minute drive to a “finca” (ranch) that produces 4.5 million cases (12 bottles each) of Rum a year of which 2 million are consumed in the Dominican Republic. Chatting with the owner – Don Fernando – he also has 20,000 head of cattle, 5000 hectares of coffee and 20 rental homes in Miami. He purchases 15 million gallons of molasses out of the 100 million produced on the island a year for the run production which has an 80% market share of the local consumption. A few years ago he sold 42% of the rum distillery to the McCallum (whiskey) group for 20 million dollars.
The farm where we stopped was just a small 40 acre area where he plants fruit, cocoa, coffee and other plants and has an area for entertaining guests, where we had a nice sancocho lunch. This is the local soup / stew of chicken, pork, plantains, potato, cassava, and vegetables served over rice.
A local band was playing and all in all a fun relaxing time busing the ranch with its plants and animals (chickens, donkeys, geese, ostrich, cattle) and all the old instruments / machinery for making rum dating to 1888 when it wax founded.
Back to the boat for a magic show tonight. Pictures in next post
Roger & Anne Travels 
Fabulous!
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