There’s a South Park episode where Kyle’s parents plan to take him and three of his friends to Casa Bonita, the disneyland of Mexican restaurants. Cartman gets super excited about going, only to find out he’s not invited, and the usual craziness ensues.

Phill and I feel about Puerto Bahia the same way Cartman feels about Casa Bonita. It was our first stop after we left Cofresi, and we spent a few days there before we explored the beautiful Los Haitises National Park and Santa Bárbara de Samaná.

It’s a fantasy land for homeless, unemployed seafarers like us, where we can convincingly pretend we’re rich. As guests of the marina, we had access to all the goodies The Bannister Hotel has to offer – five star luxury for less than a $1/ft per night!

We’re leaving for Puerto Rico tomorrow evening, and planned to make Puerto Bahia our last stop – to top up our fuel, water and get a last dose of R’nR. As we were leaving Santa Bárbara de Samaná this morning to come back to the marina, inspired by Cartman and like the goofs we are, we were singing:

Puerto Bahia! Perto Bahia!

à la Mexican Hat Dance.

The pictures in the links to the Puerto Bahia & Bannister Hotel at the top of the post capture it better than our pics, but here are a few anyways…

We’ll try to control ourselves and not make a last dash through the complex to sample every patio and pool before we leave tomorrow.