Travel with Indigo

Indigo spent quite a long time here, much longer than expected, due largely to the ponderous and corrupt local customs process.  Parts we had ordered were simply held at ransom.  The logjam was broken only when I happened to meet and befriend a local real estate developer whose good friend ran the customs department. One phone call was all it took.

In the meantime, I whiled away the time there, joined by my good friend Mike Fess visiting from Orlando, with golf on three fabulous courses, including one very private course that was in the condition of a PGA event.

At a piano bar located conveniently not more than 50 yards from Indigo’s boat slip, I met a group of guys in Casa de Campo for a seniors annual polo event. Peter, Marc and Les are from Zimbabwe but now reside in New York, if I recall correctly, and Will Burkman is from western Pennsylvania. All are great fun. They invited me to the polo matches and dinners afterward and joined me for an impromptu party on Indigo. Will and I played golf together and discovered friends in common.

Also at the piano bar I met Bruno Massidda, a Sardinian tenor and musician playing a gig there. Bruno joined me and the crew on Indigo for a fine pasta dinner that he prepared on board. Bruno’s home is in Porto Seguro, Brazil.  He invited us to visit there on our journey.

To give the crew, and me, a break from the stresses of daily life in the DR we took a side trip in Indigo to Samana on the northeast coast, where I took the tender on a tour of Los Haiteses National Park, which has a coastline something like you’d expect to find in Indonesia with palm covered islands, glimmering white beaches, and hat box islands dotting the shore. Joe, my “professional” guide for the trip and also the port captain, turned out never to have been to the park before and so got us lost among the mangrove forests. Without Joe’s help, I managed to find our way out of the jungle and also to locate a fresh water river that flowed out of a cave. The outhouse at the park office was a notably quaint affair, mounted immediately on the edge of the beach with its permanently open doors facing into the bay. While sitting on the john, an occupant can offer a friendly waive and big smile to passers by. I also took a rickety rickshaw sort of thing pulled by a motorbike about 10 miles to a beach front restaurant for fresh fish prepared creole style.

Upon returning to Casa de Campo, I took the tender about 5 miles up the beach to the simple village of Bayahibe, where I found, quite by accident, the delightful open air restaurant/bar owned and operated by Mama Rosa and her husband, Ben Obispo. There, laid up under a shade tree on a soft sand beach and serenaded by Mama Rosa’s collection of DR music on CD, I drank cold Presidente beers, ate Mama’s fresh grilled fish prepared local style, watched the fishermen at work and napped peacefully. I can hardly wait to get back there some day soon.

– Phil Phillips