Hispaniola

Hispaniola is a major island in the Caribbean, containing the two countries of the Dominican Republic and Haiti.
 
Hispaniola is the site of the first European colonies in the New World, which were founded by Christopher Columbus on his voyages in 1492 and 1493. It is the ninth-most-populous island in the world, and the most populous in the Americas. It is the second largest island in the Caribbean (after Cuba) and the 22nd-largest island in the world.

Christopher Columbus arrived at the island during his first voyage to America in 1492, where his flagship, the Santa Maria, sank after running aground on Christmas Day.

The population of the original Indians, called the Tainos,  was rapidly decimated, owing to a combination of new infectious diseases, to which they had no immunity, and harsh treatment by Spanish overlords.

As Spain conquered new regions on the mainland of the Americas, its interest in Hispaniola waned, and the colony's population grew slowly. By the early 17th century, the island and its smaller neighbors (notably Tortuga) became regular stopping points for Caribbean pirates.

In the 1697 Treaty of Ryswick, Spain formally ceded the western third of the island to France.  Nicknamed the "Pearl of the Antilles," it became the richest and most prosperous colony in the West Indies, with a slave society based on sugar cane production when demand for sugar was high in Europe. It was an important port in the Americas for goods and products flowing to and from France and Europe.
In the 1795 Treaty of Basel (22 July,) Spain ceded the eastern two-thirds of the island of Hispaniola. This area later became the Dominican Republic.

European colonists often died young due to tropical fevers, as well as racial conflicts in the late eighteenth century. Thinking to regain control on the island that had produced so much wealth, Napoleon sent more than 20,000 troops beginning in 1802 to quell the slave revolt in Dominican Republic. Thousands succumbed to a yellow fever during the summer months and more than half of the French army died because of disease.   After the French removed the surviving 7,000 troops in late 1803, the leaders of the revolution declared the new nation of independent Haiti in early 1804.
 
Fearing the influence of the slave revolution, the United States and European powers refused to recognize Haiti, the second republic in the western hemisphere. In addition, the US maintained an arms and goods embargo against the country during the years of its own conflict with Great Britain. Haiti was saddled with unmanageable debt for decades. It became one of the poorest countries in the Americas, while the Dominican Republic gradually has developed into the largest economy of Central America and the Caribbean.
 
The Life Expectancy in Haiti is 61 years compared to 73 in its neighboring country.  The per capita income of Haiti is $1300 compared to $8200 in the Dominican Republic.

We survived our over-nighter across the Mona Passage although there was a lot of large swells rocking the boat.  We had downloaded a free Dominican Republic Cruising Guide from “freecruisingguide.com” which gave us some insight on what to expect as we arrived at Ocean World Marina.  They also have one on Puerto Rico…very helpful and they really are FREE!

Once you arrive and get your berth assignment you are instructed to wait for the authorities.  They arrive in a pack.  A Navy gentleman dressed in fatigues, another from Customs, another from the M2 Intelligence Service, and a Drug Enforcement gentleman.  They board your boat, check all paperwork to make sure it is in order and then the drug enforcement gentleman came below and snooped around for a bit (looked under Jonathons bed).  They asked us several times if we had any weapons aboard…NOPE (only our bear spray that they never notice).

Then the concierge from the marina comes by (because we are still not allowed to leave the boat) and gets us started on her paperwork.  She also informs us of all the tours and “things-to-do” going on.  We decided to go to “BRAVISSIMO” tonight because it does not show on Sunday or Monday.  It is an international dancing show with over 30 dancers in many costumes.  We decided to include dinner in our nightly activity.  It cost only $140 for all three of us dinner and show and dinner was awesome…filet and lobster and included all your rum, beer, and wine.

After the “PACK” leave, John is escorted to the marina office to finish up the paperwork there and get final clearance from Immigration and Customs.  The total cost is $43 USD plus $10 per person to clear in.  On the way back we detour through the casino to check out the action, then back to the boat for naps.  Tomorrow we will decide if we want to go to Ocean World Adventure Park where they have dolphin, sea lion, shark  and stingray shows and encounters.