Two Dominican air force pilots died during an air show in Santo Domingo that was held this last weekend (April 6th – 7th). Show Aéreo del Caribe (Air Show of the Caribbean) is an annual air show held each year in the capital of the Dominican Republic, Santo Domingo.

During this years show one of the planes stalled during a low-level maneuver and crashed into the Caribbean sea, killing both pilots. The pilots, from the Dominican Air Force were flying a Pillan T-35b when they crashed about 500 meters from shore.

Caribbean Air Show

The Caribbean Air show in Santo Domingo is a combination of military and non military pilots and planes. In addition to the Dominican Air Force, planes from the United States, Puerto Rico and other nations are invited.

During the last air show in 2011 the list included a (more…)

When you’re sitting in the Caribbean sipping your Rum and Coke or Pina Colada you really don’t expect to be thinking about how a snow storm is going to affect your vacation. That is until you remember your return flight or flight taking to the Dominican Republic takes you through New York. As of noon today (Friday the 8th of Feb) over 3000 flights were canceled around the New York and Boston areas (over 1000 in New York Alone) with more than 60 airports already affected. And at this point the storm has just begun. This affects all flights going to New York from Santo Domingo, Punta Cana, La Romana, Santiago, and Puerto Plata.

The main snowfall from winter storm Nemo is expected to come in the late afternoon to early evening and things are expected to taper off by noon Saturday.
JFK Friday Morning

My wife and I were sitting in the airport in New York this morning hoping our flight was going to make it out before the winter storm Nemo hit. As we watched the snow starting to fall many of our fellow passengers were starting to get anxious. By 7am in the morning airport employees were starting to mention the possibilities of delays and cancellations of flight within the next new hours.
Something else you don’t often see at the airports in the Dominican Republic (more…)

Well, we’re coming up on Carnival (carnaval in Spanish) season again. While there are carnivals throughout the Dominican Republic one of the oldest and biggest is in La Vega, the largest parade is usually in Santo Domingo and Monti Cristi is know for one of the most unusual festivals. For many this is one of the highlights of the year a month of parades, colorful masks, and a overall sense of abandonment of moral restrictions. This abandonment is what makes the La Vega Carnaval a major tourist attraction but also makes this a rather dangerous time of year for foreigners.

Dangers of Carnival

If you haven’t figured it out yet I’ll state it clearly, I’m not a big fan of the Carnival month of February (more…)

One of the things that surprised me when I first moved to the Dominican Republic is the openly gay community that you find here. While politically the Dominican Republic appears to be rather neutral, the predominant religion of the country Catholicism has historically been, at least publically, against same sex couples. Even with this pressure against this sexual orientation, homosexuality is more prevalent in the D.R than in any other country in the Caribbean.

While in the United States the more showy gay men (flamers) are usually only seen in the larger cities, it is not uncommon to see men in traditionally women’s clothing even in the smaller towns of the D.R. For the most part Dominicans are tolerant of this culture (either locals or foreign visitors), although there is frequent reports of “Gay Bashing”, either verbal or physical, reported in the news. It is not uncommon to meet younger men (15-20 years old) that are obviously experimenting with “alternate lifestyles”, even in the smaller towns.

Like the U.S. homosexuality is even more frequently observed in the larger cities, especially the ones that receive large amounts of tourist traffic. Prostitution, both straight and gay is open and readily accessible in most of the beach and tourist towns. (more…)

UK to Dominican Republic Travel Tips

The Dominican Republic is one of the most important Caribbean islands and one of the preferred holiday destinations for many UK holidaymakers. According to the Dominican authorities, more than 200,000 British tourists visit this Caribbean nation each year, and it is not difficult to understand why.

Although relatively small in size, this island offers a variety of attractions that go beyond its beaches and nightlife. The Dominican Republic is home to no less than 14 national parks and to numerous historical towns and villages that will delight the visitor with their rich heritage. The island’s capital, Santo Domingo, is a designated UNESCO site thanks to its well preserved examples of colonial architecture. There are 26 golf courses located in some of the island’s most stunning locations, and as a result, the Dominican Republic is a premier destination for golf enthusiasts from all over the world.

And of course, there is the beach life. The coastal towns of Puerto Plata, Punta Cana, and La Romana are home to miles of beaches of breathtaking beauty, which are often the backdrop for weddings, honeymoons, and other special occasions. The popular resorts of the coast also make for a great base from which it is possible to explore other destinations, like the coffee growing mountains of the interior and other less well-known fishing villages on the island’s eastern coast.

However, being 9 hours away from the United Kingdom, the Dominican Republic still remains a long haul destination, and as such, booking a holiday to this Caribbean island can be an expense that turns out heavy on the pocket. If you are planning the holiday of a lifetime in the Dominican Republic and want to know how to go about finding the best deals to the island, this article will tell you everything there is to know about it.

Tips for finding the best deals from the UK to the Dominican Republic

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While those of us living in the middle and upper portions of the Dominican Republic have had constant rain and power outages (more than normal), there is far more damage due to Hurricane Sandy in the South and South west portions of the island.

By midday today (10/25/12) 625,000 people have been evacuated and 62 towns cut off due to overflowing rivers like the Yaque Del Sur and downed bridges. 11 provinces are on high alert with 48 communities in Azua cut off from the Yaque del Sur overflowing.

Higuero International Airport (aili) cancels flights

While the Las Americas International Airport (aila) is still operating normal, the Higuero International Airport north of Santo Domingo has had to cancel several flights due to the downpours.

Hurricane Sandy Causes Power outages

While this one has been a little tougher to prove, apparently the entire countries power system went down early this morning. While I frequently have power at this time (my time of writing this article), we lose power so often it is hard to tell for sure if it is just our time to have our power turned off or if the outage is due to the storm.

Either way, if you are running on inversor, it would be a good idea to (more…)

If your travel plans this week include checking out the Capital, Santo Domingo you should note that there is a protest, often called a huelga meaning strike, planned for Friday, Oct 12, 2012. Even if the protest remains peaceful that will mean heavy traffic jambs in the area with people blocking the streets and quite often burning tires and other objects in the street.

This protest is planned and there will probably be a heavy police presence so much of the damage and fires will likely be avoided, the congestion will not. You should try to arrange your travel plans so that you are no where near these two areas at any time on Friday the 12. It is not safe for foreigners to be caught in the local huelgas and protests.

There are two areas that will be directly affected by this protest:

• In Front of the Congress Building, with the official start of the protest beginning at 9am Friday the 12th
• At Parque Independencia, with the official start of the protest beginning at 5pm, Friday the 12th.

Past Protests and Huelgas

Huelgas and Protests are very common in the Dominican Republic. (more…)

If you live in the Santo Domingo area you are probably aware of the Agora Mall recently opening up. Along with giving you a new place to shop there is also a possibility of being able to get a job among the about 2000 jobs that will be offered by the 180 shops (when and if they are all opened). Before you get your hopes up too high though, if you are a foreigner Agora Mall Jobs might be a little hard to get.

Jobs For Foreigners

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Sambil Mall in Santo Domingo will finally be opening up. After years of delays the new mall is scheduled to be inaugurated on October 30th, 2012. This new mall will not only be bringing in quite a few foreign stores of interest to both ex-pats living here but also to locals looking to be able have a wider selection of American and other foreign products to choose from. Sambil Mall is also expected to in time bring over 10,000 new jobs to the Santo Domingo area.

Sambil Job Openings

Of the over 10,000 new jobs about 4,000 are expected to be directly related to the mall while 6,000 are expected as indirect mall related jobs. The new Sambil Mall Job Openings will be in a large variety of different skills. Along with the usual food, (more…)

(8/24/12) After a relatively peaceful night in the DR Tropical Storm Isaac’s storm force winds have reached the coast of the Dominican Republic. Wind speeds are considerably lower than predicted with maximum sustained winds of 50 mph instead of the expected 75+ mph hurricane force winds.

Tropical Storm Force Winds Reach the Coast

As seen from the illustration the 50mph winds (area in orange) are up against the southern coast of the Dominican Republic as of 8am Friday morning with the general path of the storm moving in a westernly direction. Later today the path of the storm is expected to return to it’s west by northwest direction taking it over a portion of Haiti.

It was expected that Tropical Storm Isaac would have gathered considerably more strength by this time. At this point the hurricane warnings and watches have been dropped for the Dominican Republic leaving only tropical storm warnings, although there is still a hurricane watch for Haiti.

Preparation for Isaac

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