This blog post was written earlier, but had to be deleted because we were threatened with prosecution in the Dominican Republic. It was revised after recent events and now finaly published. During the time we've spend in Luperón, we had already posted our so called "positive" impressions as we have been threatened with prosecution by authorities if we would report negative. So as the good things are already mentioned enough, let's get to the ugly truth and fulfill the real picture. Since we are out of the country and they can no longer blackmail us, we got back our right of free speach and it is time to complete the story with all experiences we had in the bay of Luperón, not just what they like to read about the "safe" hurricane hole.
 |
| The water is murky because it is very nutricion rich they said - rainbow colors every morning |
On the up-side should be said, that Luperón is in deed a safe hurricane hole regarding to weather, and just for weather. The corrupt clan living there will eventualy rob you and demand that you shut up so they can rob the next one as well. That is pretty much our conclusion after the last 3 years.
Apparently the local expat community is recently supporting these criminals in the region on this task and will lie to fellows in online forums to lurk them in as well. As we noticed the last recent burglary in Luperón in november 2019, which had the exact same signature as the incident we had 3 years before (we'll talk about later), we felt like it is time to get involved in the discussion to find a solution for the victims and clear out some common misrepresentations. The very first that shocked us, was that this community acted like this incident was something very unusual or even not true at all. Then they lied to fellows also regarding the quality and capabillity of the Marina Tropical in Luperón harbor. So it is time to tell the truth about this places without any censorship and other false promises. Everything we mention below comes with photo, survey and evidences, so we are not talking about rumors.
Within only one year, in Luperón, we experienced everything from fraud to extortion and
corruption, burglary and vandalism, cruelty to animals, and more.
Fraud in the Mooringfield
In August 2015 we sailed our catamaran to the port of
Luperón in the Dominican Republic. We had to choose Luperon as our port of
refuge because we had a damage to the hydraulic control system and had no other
choice.
We moored and the local "boatboy" Papo, collected the fees for one week in advance. The water was
smelly and murky and we immediately understood why this bay is called Pooperon
in the book "The sail oft
two
idiots". There is neither pump-outs nor scavenging tides. Anyway, it
was the most disgusting filthy broth I have ever seen. The locals like to tell you the water is nutricion rich, what may be right. Just what kind of nutritions? Rainbow colors of diesel fuel on the surface every morning and the fact, that Luperón greywater with a ton of floating garbage goes straight into the bay. Old scrapped Antifouling gets flushed from the Marina Tropical without any filteration in the water, together with the diesel, the holdig tanks of up to 300 boats with no pumpout might add up to a variety of ingrediences, but I would not really call it nutricion rich in that case.
 |
| The fisherman getting their Lobsters - yummi, can be found sometimes in the restaurants |
I went to the check-in
and learned my first lesson.
In
fact it is true what we read before that in Luperón, everybody pays a
different amount
of money for
check-in. The fees are arbitrary and rather estimated than
calculated. So it was not surprising that we had to pay almost 250,- US $ for
our entry. Included were
fees that belong to
commercial shipping, but as one would have to know, they request it from cruisers as well, what is of course way more
profitable.
Not included
had been the bribe that was asked for later on.
Two days later Papo was back in the bay and wanted to
collect the weekly mooring fees again. He was not deterred by the fact that a
whole week had not passed
already and he can not
collect after two days again.
He is not interested in receipts with date because he can hardly read and write
anyway. We should soon learn that this is his standard procedure. So he also
sold us 100 gallons of water which he allegedly filled into our tanks. These
tanks have a maximum capacity of 80 gallons. Papo has been known for years for
his crooked business in Luperón and he did not hesitate to demonstrate us his practice. It should be noted that Handy Andy also runs moorings in the bay. Andy has built strong screw moorings and unlike Papo he is honest, friendly and relieable.
 |
boats dragged on Papo's moorings quiet frequently
|
 |
| Suspecious things happening every now and then |
We posted our experience with Papo on the interactive
anchorage review portal activecaptain.com to point out this unpleasant business practice as others did
before. This led Papo to hitting us with a lawyer threat. In the Dominican Republic
there is no right of free speech. It does not matter if it is true or how it is
formulated. A negative review somewhere online is treated as slander and you
can be sued for it. We do not know how far such a procedure goes. Papo knew
very well that we cannot leave the Dominican Republic as long as he has an
active prosecution against us in court. So we had to delete our rating to get a
dispatio
to leave. From
other reports online you can see that Papo obviously likes
to do t
hat also with others. With an
indictment he decides when his client is allowed to leave and this happens as
soon as he gets what he wants,
as he decides when he drops the lawsuit. These lawsuits of locals
against gringos are always hopeless and only meant to bring in a donation to the
plaintiff, lawyers and courts.
Bribery on entry
It is remarkable that the Dominican Republic is the only
country in the Caribbean where we visitors are
literally treated like criminals. Like
almost every arriving boat, we
also
had the honor of being searched by 6 men with combat boots and weapons.
We have never been there before and
are hard to be mistaken for somebody else. We had all paper work in order and nothing to complain for them. Such a thing has never
happened to us during a total of over 10'000 miles and over 30 countries. They
rummaged through our private things disrespectfully like burglars and caused a
huge chaos. Our dog began to growl and the fat one with the
pilot glasses grabbed the gun that was
loosely in his waistband. He was from the drug enforcement whatever departement and made it clear to me that I should immediately take
the dog away, while
he pointed the gun on him. I understand only
little spanish, but what will he probably
plan to do with a weapon in his hand and my dog upfront? And where should
I go with a dog that lives on this
boat? It's a Rottweiler and not that small, but he listens well and went back down below. Of course they asked for some drinks that they found in the
cooler and after more than an hour they rummaged through it,
I was asked a
separate “gift
” for the Commandante to not fall out of
favour and not get into unpleasant problems, the fat one said. We had expected corruption and I gave him 20.- $US, but we were surprised how boldly and naturally these bribes were demanded.
Corruption and extortion
The crime in Luperón is very well organized and the
criminals know exactly how to proceed. We are not talking skin colors or origin, just about the fact that there are criminals in the bay.
An incident happened as two local women staged a brawl in
Wendy's bar one evening to encourage cruisers to intervene. Together with two
other cruisers we separated the two and stopped the fight unharmful. This was however intended by the ladies. The next day I found myself in police custody with the
accusation that I had beaten up one of them. I am a martial arts teacher and
know very well how to end a fight without hitting or hurting anyone. I hadn't harmed a hair on
either of them's shoulders, and I had over 20 witnesses who
agreed that it had happened in a
different way than claimed
by
that woman, but it didn't matter. The policeman said to me:"I
believe that you are innocent, my friend, but it doesn't matter for me. She says you
hit her and you're going straight to jail for that. If you think you have
witnesses or evidence against it,
fine then you will get a hearing in Puerto Plata in about 6
months but that is not my
problem
anymore. I'm just going to put you in jail now until then
, that’s my job. But you are lucky my
friend - she wants money. If you two can work it out, I can turn a blind eye.
Of course, it's gonna cost you a little something that I'm risking my job. But
we're not like that and you don't want to go to jail, do you?" I had to
pay 500 US $ to the
plaintiff for "compensation of pain and medication" and
another 500.-
US $ to 2 policemen, the chief
officer and a translator to have the case dropped and be free again.
 |
| of corse no receipt for the other 2 payments |
Marina Tropical - Critical boat damage
Meanwhile, we had the boat hauled out in the Marina
Tropical. This was probably the biggest mistake we made. The boat was not
lifted at the support points, but where the rusty trailer happened to reach.
This led to a total of 5 breakthroughs on both hulls. They tried to put the
boat, which weighed tons, on empty oil barrels because they had no functioning
supports. These barrels buckled like empty coke cans and
collapsed. The boat could be caught and
they finally placed it on a pile of wooden pallets on which the boat swung
comfortably back and forth. It took 2 weeks to get more supports, but the
damage was already done. A surveyor assessed the damage at a total of US$13'495.- and clearly identified the cause as a lack of care on the part of the shipyard during the haulout. The surveyor cost another US$2000.
 |
| Extract from the survey |
We handed over the survey together with the invoice to the German owner of the boatyard.
He laughed at us and said he would not pay any of it. This is my risk if I want
to have the boat taken out - that is what the contract says, he said. We had never seen
a contract, let alone signed one, and insisted on our claim.
A boatyard should have an insurance and the manager promised many times that they are well set and for sure have one. We never saw a Dime for our damages. The owner never showed us a contract which was signed from us, told
Joanna to better shut up and told me that he could bribe any official here and
that he wished me much fun in court. After the first experience with Papo we
knew exactly what he meant and gave up.
 |
| Strong bending because of wrong weight support |
 |
| the blue line marks the bulkhead where it should be lifted |
 |
| after the oil barrels, also the wooden pallets collapsed |
 |
| blue arrow shows the bulkhead support point, again far off |
 |
| no comment |
 |
| 5 cracks went all the way trough the fiber |
The boatyard owner offered
to repair the damage, which we declined for a reason. A Catana catamaran was lifted out shortly
after we were outside and there too the laminate had collapsed over more than 3
ft on the starboard hull. Water got into the sandwich laminate and it was laminated over quickly
without giving any drying time. The water was just trapped and dripped out still the day after the "repair".
So it was crap - we didn't want
that and did the work ourselfs to ensure it would be done properly. It is our home - no room for a botched job.
There would be so much more to mention regarding the Marina Tropical in Luperón but we will first scan and upload documents and evidences, before we have a closer look on that in detail.
Censorship and even more blackmail
It became exciting when friends of us from the USA started a
Gofundme action for us in this unfortunate situation and reported in the
description of the events in the boatyard. That happened without us knowing about it but somehow it found it's way to the authorities. There is Sobeida, she is supposed to take care for cruisers safety or something like that they said. I was summoned to the police station again
and found her and all sorts of important uniformed people running around very nervous.
They threw the printouts of this gofundme description on the table and threatened me
that this would have consequences for me. I should delete the contents in front of their eyes immediately and maybe prepare myself for a charge of libel. I reminded
them kindly that I am not the originator and author of the description and have
no influence on it
even if it
tells my story.
Somebody
else wrote and published it. However, it could backfire if I tell
some free Americans who are
not controlled by corrupt authoritys from
Luperon that I am now being threatened with censorship in
addition to all the other incidents. Since our problem could not be solved with
money, and we simply had to find a way to get the
boat back into the water, we asked our friends to stop the
fundraising and delete the text so that nobody in the bay would get upset. They would find
something new to silence me anyway and as a gringo with the
boat on
Luperon ground I had no choice.
We still had to go to court with the shipyard because they
refused to put the boat back in the water. The manager tried it once or twice,
realized that he would not make it without damaging the boat again and gave up.
He said he would not do it and that it was my problem now to find a solution. It was
impossible to get a crane or something like that to the shipyard because the
roads were impassable after heavy rainfall. It was decided and ordered in our
favour that the ship must be handed over to us, but surprisingly only under the following
conditions:
- We, the customers, have to carry out the process
ourselves and take 100% responsibility for the crane installation. So if there
is any damage to the trailer, shipyard or accessories, we have to take
responsibility. So we have practically only obtained permission to use the
shipyard's own broken trailer
and to put the ship back into water ourselves, even if we had paid for it
- The entire claim of the shipyard must be paid fully before the boat is launched. This claim was also submitted to us immediately
and included the longer stand rent that had arisen from the procedure, a three times higher amount than estimated for a horrible paintjob, electricity that was not delivered and daily rates for friends who visited us
and were simply
declared as external workers.
It did not matter to the present officers from the court
whether the claim was legal or not. It also did not matter whether the shipyard
had fulfilled its obligations
regarding
the damages to our boat and take responsability according the results of the survey. I had to pay cash in front of the
officers and only then was I granted access to the trailer. Fortunately, with
the help of a few liveaboards we managed to put the ship into the water without
further damage.
Burglary and vandalism
 |
| thieves searched our clothes for valuables |
A while later Hurricane Matthew devastated the Haiti
peninsula. We decided to collect donations and sail to Haiti to help. Only a
few days before our departure we came back to the boat one evening and found
one of the hatches broken
open. Someone had been watching us while we were on land and an accomplice had
broken into our boat in the hope of finding donations
or things of value. We had hardly any
cash on board and the donations were mainly tools, tarps
, medical supplies and water treatment
equipment. Worthless for thieves in Luperon, so he stole the Iridium satellite
phone, cameras, laptop, smartphones, GPS and other valuables.
We immediately reported the incident to the
navi by
VHF and then to the police
in person. No investigation was made and we almost had to ask for an officer to visit the crime scene
at all. We were immediately told that we would not get our items back. So somehow they knew already what happened with the loot.
 |
| broken hatch - burglar entry |
Traces were not secured
and except a shrug of the shoulders nothing else was done about it. Later I
noticed a guy who followed us and watched exactly who we talked to at the
police and N
avi.
I found footprints on the boat that
fit his big feet and he was on our boat earlier with some so called hydraulic
specialists. The bag with electronics that got stolen was in the same cabin as
he worked. Almost impossible to find if
you have to be quick like with a burglary. We don’t name him here. Even if all indications leave little doubt, we cannot prove his guilt. This man earlier watched our dogs for a couple of days and was one of the few people that could make it unharmed into the boat since the dogs have been on board when it happened. The dogs were given to one of the expats in the bay when we had to fly out for a yacht delivery job but somehow the dogs ended up on the suspected and he was able the befriend them. You will
very likely encounter him after checkin before you get your first beer on land.
So be careful who you talk to and even more who you let climb on board. We didn't report the
burglary to the insurance company
because we had failed to note down the
serial numbers of the devices before and the damage w
ould be only half
way covered.
This is the amount we have to pay for each damage anyway, so we waived it.
All we did was a report to the police and to CSSN.
We can only assume that this was a setup and that the
authorities would have lost their share of the loot if they had actually
pursued the thief. If you look at the reports on the
CSSN for the years 2016 -2019 you can see clearly that it is always the same scam and most likely the same
perpetrators. Recently, a burglary was reported in which apparently only the N
avi knew where to find
certain jewelry, since they had previously searched the ship thoroughly
by entrance.
Jewelry that is quiet hard to
find for a burglar in time pressure. It can be assumed that there is a whole
network of organized crime in Luperon where many different people play a role
and profit from it. For us there is no doubt that
even expats and authoritys are involved.
Here are just a few of the incidents since we left:
November 2016, burglary
January 2017, theft
April 2017, vandalism
October 2018, theft
November 2018, burglary
November 2018, theft
November 2018, theft
Dezember 2019, theft
January 2020, theft
February 2020, theft
February 2020, vandalism
March 2020, burglary
All this crimes have been happening in Luperon after we left. Sure one can say, crime is everywhere. But regardig how small the village is and how few people are there - it is a remarkable number and well worth to be called a crime pool.
After a flight-like departure in november 2016 we reached the
hurricane-destroyed Ile a Vache in Haiti and felt much safer there for the next
6 months than on any of the days in Luperon. Of course there is also a lot of
crime in Haiti, but it is not so thoroughly organized and the cruisers are left
alone in Ile a Vache. We helped the inhabitants to rebuild, lived in peace and
could not observe any crimes for more than half a year. Not to compare with Luperon. We had not the
slightest problems there in Haiti. Not even in Honduras, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Dominica
or any of the countless other islands we visited. Luperon is a notable
exception and the last place we would recommend. Even as a port of refuge, the
stress of corruption and incompetence is well worth considering
to skip that place.
A word about the local expat community
The local community cheers Luperon as a paradise, which is hard to understand
considering the stinky dirt soup. There is a community of liveaboard
sailors who live there permanently for different reasons. Some of them cannot
leave the place even if they wanted to. Out of respect for these people, we did
not report at the time and did not want to create another negative
review for Luperon, which
would only deter more cruisers and unnecessarily complicate the rebuilding of
the reputation. It doesn't seem that the community in Luperon is really
interested in reducing their crime rate in the port. Instead of this,
fellow cruisers are now lied
to and almost lured into the sticky trap. I read recommendations on how the
marina was perfect for catamaran haulout by a person who witnessed the countless damages and knew the trailer was a piece of junk. In the Luperon Sailors and Cruisers Facebook group another
burglary was reported and the
admins blocked and removed me immediately when I mentioned that this was not an
isolated incident and that there is a serious crime problem in Luperon.
This behave appears familiar - common practice in Luperon. Arguments
failed and I became the target of the attacks. I understand that it's not nice
to read such lines about the adopted country, but then to go out without
arguments to the stubborn victims and spread off topic stories about
them in a Facebook group
while block
ing from answering to
the ridiculous comments and attacks
? Pretty pathetic
but fits to the style of the bay.
We have carefully documented the incidents and still did not
publish them at that time to protect the people who now try to make us out to
be liars, block us in Facebook groups and make fun of us. After all what happened to us, we don't think that we deserve this acting in revers. We are now very happy to do our part
to inform future victims about the Luperon incidents. The only thing we would
protect with our continued silence would be unbearable conditions in the harbour of Luperon and a visually raising crime pool that might include also some of the expats.
On a sidenote, when it is a fact with evidence, it is not slandering, then it is only the ugly truth. Obviously these people have been living in the bay for so long that they don't
realize that corruption and censorship only exists in Luperon and its Facebook
group. Outside of this, freedom of expression prevails. So they seem not to be realy motivated to make Luperon safe again, but covering up crimes and attracting as many
unsuspecting cruisers as possible who support the community financially better
than some of us would like. The long-term cruisers in the bay are left alone
and may even know the perpetrators personally very well.
We advise you to study the reports on
Noonsite and
CSSN regarding Luperon
thoroughly and check out reports from independent cruisers, that don't lie to you and make you belive it is all paradise.
2019 report:
http://www.sv1wildchild.com/uh-oh-papo-problems/
https://dr1.com/forums/showthread.php/127129-Luperon-Boat-Thefts-(For-Cruisers-and-other-interested-parties)
https://safetyandsecuritynet.org/update-from-luperon-dominican-republic/
https://www.lonelyplanet.com/dominican-republic/luperon/practical-information/directory/dangers-and-annoyances/a/nar/79686b86-2961-4e76-a8fa-ae258a9c4ebe/1318020
https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/international-travel/International-Travel-Country-Information-Pages/DominicanRepublic.html
Please note
that it is absolutly common practice in Luperon to avoid negative
reputations with the threat of legal consequences. As we can see in the last conversation on facebook, even the expats lie to you and censorship is a big thing in Luperon. It is hard to find out the truth but with a little bit caution and comon sense - it becomes pretty obvious what's going on there.
Not
everyone reports once they have left the country, thus keeping the option open
to dock there again one day without fear of being arrested.
It is wise to not let anybody from the bay on your boat for no
circumstances. You may have to let the navi search your boat, but besides of
this - no locals and also watch out with fellow gringos that live there. Way to
often those good friend visits or repair jobs are just one good option to spy out
your boat. Certainly not everyone there in the bay
gets robbed
or fooled. Looking at the burglary
reports of the last years, it seems as if there are many sheep for
just a few wolves. As long as
only the newcomers at the edge of the group are caught, you are quite safe
inside. So if not too many wolves are involved and there are always new
victims, everything is fine.
Now
this would be a reason to do advertisement for this Harbor if one lives there. Do you want
to be the newcomer? Then you probably like Russian roulette, too. In the end,
our stay in Luperon cost us over 20'000.- US$ more than planned, not to
mention the big damage to the boat, the psychological strain and the constant
uncertainty what would happen to us next.
Never
again!
Cruelty to animals
Here are some more impressions we gattered within 12 months in Luperon we still can't understand and probably never will. Maybe the Luperon Sailors and Cruisers Facebook Group people, that keep telling you about paradise, can explain this...
 |
| Mathematics is not a major subject in the Dominican Republic |
 |
| but it would be helpful to calculate pesticides around Luperon little better |
 |
| burned everything, problem solved |
 |
| doesn't seem like they teach the Kids much animal care |
 |
| which is apparently not a subjet in Luperon at all |
 |
| seen and photographed on the way from Luperon to Puerto Blanco Marina |
 |
| not sure if this dog was alive when he left, but even if not - couldn't be more disrespectful |
 |
| Nobody stopped him for miles - That says a lot about mentality - it's not just this dude. |
In that regard, Luperon? No thanks! Better skipp and go straight to Puerto Rico or use the souther route with a stop in Ile a Vache - Haiti which is a way safer Harbor than "Pooperon" in the Dominican Republic.
